Success Stories: How Ejiro Secured a BA Role He Did Not Apply for
May 20, 2024When Ejiro had a major misunderstanding with his Supervisor and was asked to join an agency and become a forever-contract staff at a company where he was hoping to build his career, he knew he had to make a change…very quickly too!
Before Ejiro arrived in Canada, he was a banker in his home country, Nigeria and has built a wealth of experience in the banking sector. He was hoping to leverage this on arrival in Canada, but unfortunately, it wasn’t the same. So he managed to land a personal advisor role with TD, one of the top banks in Canada. Which is excellent as a stepping stone to your destination and not as the destination, which is a mistake a lot of people make.
While working at TD, he met a gentleman who would completely transform his life named Tosin. Tosin also worked at TD but was also taking the TCA Business Analysis program. When Tosin told Ejiro about this program, Ejiro did not believe that this could work so he brushed it aside.
Both Ejiro and Tosin secured a contract position with CRA, where they were making about 60k, which is way better than their previous role. The goal was to transition from a contract staff to a full-time permanent staff after 2 to 3 years. While they were still getting acclimatised to the new role, Tosin resigned. This news struck Ejiro like a lightening bolt. On further enquiry, Ejiro learnt that Tosin has now secured a fantastic job as a Business Analyst through the help of TCA. This was the wake-up call that Ejiro needed, so he quickly signed up for the program.
When the program started, Ejiro’s commitment to delivering an E-Commerce platform (TCA’s Live Project) was evident in classes, assignments, and the quality of questions he asked. However, there was one problem. Even when Ejiro received his optimised resume, he did not apply for a single job! This is what happens when we let go of our dreams of a great life and settle for an okay life. Unfortunately, Ejiro fell into this trap of complacency and was hoping to play workplace politics with people who were not as skilled or as educated as he was. This was until he had a major misunderstanding with his Supervisor and was pushed to join an agency and become a forever-contract staff at a company where he was hoping to become a fulltime staff and build his career; he knew he had to make a drastic change…very quickly too!
Ejiro decided to use the tools he was given by TCA. He dusted up his Resume – made a few minor adjustments, consumed the Interview Coaching Masterclass and started applying. A lot of people are in this exact situation where they have acquired the knowledge, skills and experience but for some reason (Fear, Imposter Syndrome, Laziness, Nerves, Valid excuses etc.) they choose not to use what they have. Please, Please and Please don’t let this be you.
Ejiro got his fair share of rejections and recruiter calls that led nowhere. However, two interviews shaped Ejiro’s story/journey.
The first interview was with a major company in Alberta; after the first interview, Ejiro was called for the second interview with the hiring manager, and after the second interview, he was invited to the final stage with the Director. According to Ejiro, the interview went very well; however, he was not selected for the position. This made him sad and depressed. The next day, he received a call from the hiring Manager, who felt compelled to give him a call and provide him with some feedback. They spent about 30 minutes on the call, during which the manager commended his knowledge, skills and experience and even confessed that he was the best person for the job – just that the person who was selected for the role was referred to the position internally. For some people, this will be disappointing news, but for Ejiro, it was a confidence booster to realise that he had an untapped wealth of knowledge gained from TCA which he wasn’t aware of. In his words, It was like discovering that I have a superpower!
The second interview was pretty much the same - he passed the first interview, which was with a panel interview of 4 people; for the second stage, he noticed another gentleman join the panel for the second interview and this gentleman asked questions related to his background, which he answered excellently.
After this second stage interview, he received another rejection email! This was devastating as he thought he nailed the interview. The next day, he received a call from the gentleman who was at the second interview – saying that he needed someone for another project that he was working on and through their interview process, he had never met someone as good as Ejiro! On further discussion, Ejiro realised that it was the e-commerce project that he worked on at TCA that attracted the gentleman, and the new project was payments-related.
This is how Ejiro secured a fantastic Business Analyst role with the government that he did not apply for and was not interviewed for and with a salary of almost double what he was making previously.
It's always impossible until it is done! If Ejiro can do it, you too can.
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