Mr Phiri , Operations do not start until August . I am afraid you will have to help Mum in the shop for a little more , We will call you back in 3 months , Just see the cashier to give you back a refund for your bus fare from Kitwe . . . I could not believe what I was hearing , This CFO had just sent me an email telling me that I was hired and congratulating me on joining the team . I had gone to the offices that afternoon to get my offer letter. I think all I said was “ooohhh okay “when I was told that. I saw the cashier, took my K250 bus fare for travelling to Lusaka. As I walked back I felt ichikonko and wanted to cry , I think I may have even cried as I walked those streets in longacres . I was already suffering from a depression caused by a heart break from a relationship and I thought this opportunity was a break from all the drama I was going through by being unemployed. People had been stepping on me and kicking me when I was down .What was I going to tell the people I announced loudly and arrogantly that I had found a job , not just a job but a good paying one after 3 years unemployment .

Not even 4 months before this incident I had reached out to another CFO at a company , I worked before and asked if I could rejoin the company . He said yes and I was called by an HR Officer when I was on my way to mazabuka to sell phones . She told me that I had to report for the interview the next day at 09 hrs because the same CFO was leaving the country later on that day . That was 11 and I was on my way to Mazabuka . I reached Mazabuka , Got on a ka Noah back to Lusaka and arrived at around 16 hrs . Went to heros stadium to hike at 17 hrs because they where no buses going to Kitwe . I hiked and hiked until I reached kitwe at 05 hrs the same day . I just bathed and went for the interview in chingola without sleeping . They interviewed me and asked me to get some police clearance and other medical papers . I did all that and waited , and waited , and waited for months . The company had vacancies and was even looking and hiring but no one called me . One of my friends there just told me that your ex boss had given you a negative referral that is why there was a delay and that the CFO had changed his mind ( See why I say put supervisors at own risk , I wouldn’t have thought in a million years that that good boss , who I looked upto and even got advise from all the time would betray me like that ). Now imagine what was going on in my head after this latest rejection .

I think within 3 months another opportunity arose , I did an email blast for myself and I got called for an interview at a company someone I knew well was finance manager and was going to be my boss . I tore those interviews apart and really cemented my victory . They said on Friday they would give me feedback , I was so sure that with my experience and the way I murdered those interviews . I was going to get it . On Friday around 16hrs I got an email saying that I was not successful , can we keep your information for future use blah blah blah . I murdered those interviews , when I answer a question the HR and the managers would look at each other and smile , You know those interviews where you just feel like you have it BUT they didn’t call me . So I had to go back to kitwe AGAIN .

These defeats ate at my self-confidence so much such that I stopped believing I was valuable. That is why I even took a job where I was getting paid K2500 . From earning K20,000 to earning K2500 !! per month , even the general workers were getting paid more than me .

CONCLUSION

What I have learnt in this life especially where jobs are concerned is people DO NOT CARE about you . Whether they know you or not, whether they are family or friends , sometimes even your own husband can play devils advocate to you getting a job . Noone is losing sleep about you not having a job . The only time they think about you is when you are right there infront of them . People will not give you a job even when you are starving , they will give it to a person who already has a job and it hurts to know that people just left me to dry . They knew what I was going through .

When it comes to job hunting , do not rely on anyone , do not give your CV and sit on the sofa hoping that person is doing something , that person probably put your documents in the drawers before you even left the building never to be seen again . That person will string you along , lie to you for months about a process that is not even happening . Take job hunting in your own hands and don’t wait on one interview like I did . Go for interviews , get rejected , bleed , patch , rinse , repeat . Keep doing that and applying and before you know it , you will have a job . The key is to move fast and not bank on opportunities no matter how convenient they are to your situation or how much you think they will pay or how confident you are about getting it . JUST KEEP MOVING and applying . There is a bemba saying that “ Relish is what is in the pot “ . The job is not yours until you see the offer letter .

Also don’t let people dog you around during the job hunting process like they did me . Hiking is dangerous , I would have died , I remember a close call we had on the road as I went for interviews rushing in the night for unfruitful interviews . The way I went to Lusaka with my katundu without even seeing the offer letter , only to be rejected . Had I asked for the offer letter , the CFO might have thought twice about hiring me . Even though you are unemployed you are still valuable , Don’t go for interviews without an agenda or accept jobs that promise to pay you after 3 months . Don’t be dogged around , it hurts when they dog you around and then not even give you what you want . These employers can decide to not give you a job but do not let them take your dignity too .