Puzzled on what to do after completing your National Service Program? I know this thought has been going through your mind.
Deciding your next step after NSS is a big task for almost anyone and as you go through the process of taking this decision, kindly go through this article as we outline key routes you can consider taking after NSS.
Offering your best during NSS is a guaranteed way of retaining your position afterwards. However, knowing what to exactly do in regards to offering your best may be relative. If you are in a position with well described roles, you can easily review your performance and improve. But if you are an additional member in the department with no desired roles, you may have to multitask and support various key staff on a daily basis.
This means, you have to be proactive by reaching out to your supervisor if there are any available job you can do, if you can be of service in any department.
Avoid chatting unnecessarily during work hours and always put on a smile when your services are required. Don’t make your supervisors or superiors have the impression you are tired or not ready to work.
Again, as you give out your best in your department and also assist others all around your office, you will get good recommendations which may lead to getting retained.
You will also have to lookout for areas you can best serve and where the HR looks at recruiting soon. You can either pick a course on Coursera to gain more knowledge and skills in that role and quickly reach out to HR about your new certification.
As you are fresh in the job market, interning in a company could be your start to finally landing your dream job. Almost everyone start as a rookie. You need to choose a company and a department that is suitable for you and do your best to deliver to secure an actual job in the company after the internship.
The best way to secure a place for Internship after NSS is by placing a request to the HR at the company you offered your NSS. In instances you do not get the chance to, you may want to look at a list of companies that are doing well and wouldn’t mine having you on to learn and get some experience. The best place to get started is the startup community.
Throughout the year, many startups secure funding and grow significantly. As they keep expanding their team, you may be of great help to the team as you consider interning with them.
In some cases, you just get a job right after NSS. If you are not retained at the company you did your NSS, you may be required to apply for various job opportunities. You will be required to put together a decent CV/Resume and for a more skilled job like graphic design, web design and other related programs, you may be required to include a portfolio to show works you have done and the areas you are most skilled at.
It may not be ideal, but sometimes getting your Masters Degree right after NSS is helpful in getting the right job. If you find yourself in a saturated job market, you may need a Masters Degree to level you above the competition. Sometimes you can lookout for scholarships and other opportunities to get you started.
If you are quite entrepreneurial and posses the skill of running your a business, you can leverage on that to start a micro business of your own. This could be a small buy and sell business which you make profit on commissions or if there is something you are really good at like cooking, cleaning, packaging or decorating, you can also start a business out of it to generate revenue.
If you have skills that can fetch you money but do not intend to build a business right away, you can offer these services as a freelancer. For example if you are great at decorating or taking photos/videos, you can build a profile for yourself online and market yourself locally to get gigs.
If you already have great following and engagement on your social media, you can build more on that to become an influencer to get paid for marketing products and services for brands and companies. You can also build on that to start a YouTube channel or blog to get revenue from Adsense. However, entering the YouTube partnership program or getting your website verified for Adsense is tough journey which may not convert in just a few weeks.
If you have access to a car, you can register to drive people around and get paid using Uber or Bolt. If you do not have a car, you can find someone who owns a car but do not have the time to drive people around. You can drive their car, save and then invest in getting your own car. You can make close to GHC3,500 monthly driving Uber or Bolt in Accra.
As you go through NSS and hope to get retained or get a better job placement afterwards, you need to keep in mind that others are also looking out for same opportunity so you need to give it your all. If you do not get retained or get a job right away, that is also fine, it’s a great way to start over again in finding yourself more and creating your own path. Good luck on your journey!
Credit: Marian Cudjoe Miller