My First Job In An Organization; learned from my mistake.
There is always a first time to everything in life and even if that first experience doesn't end well, we will benefit from it even though it might not be immediately and as long as we learn from the mistakes we made, the experience won't be in vain.
My first job definitely didn't end well but it taught me what it means to be working in an organisation. I did a few jobs before my first job but they were just menial jobs which I have shared before and wouldn't want to repeat the same story.
I started working even before I finished secondary school because I needed to do it. I washed cars at people's homes, fetched water and others but my first job in an organization was a teaching job.
The job started unintentionally but it ended intentionally because I couldn't stand being cheated. My mom somehow knew the owner of the school and when she told me that they were short of nursery school teachers, I decided to fill the space temporarily. She told the woman about it and after a small test, she took me in. I didn't submit an application since it was just a week or two before the teacher who was absent returned.
It was immediately after secondary school so I was not qualified for the job. My WAEC result wasn't out yet but it didn't matter since it was just nursery class, I can teach them even when tipsy. The owner of the school was available to support me so we were handling the class together.
Within a week, she was surprised at how the kids became very fond of me. The absent teacher returned and I was paid 2500 for a week and two days if I am not mistaken. It wasn't a huge amount but it meant something to me and the short time I spent there made me discover my passion for teaching.
At the beginning of a new session, the woman reached out to me for a vacant class and I took the job happily. I taught Primary One class and since I was officially a teacher, I learned how to prepare lesson notes and do other things required of me.
I fell in love with the job and made friends with other teachers even though I was the youngest of them. It was fun and I didn't find any issue with the job until it was the end of that month.
The headmistress called me to her office and gave me an envelope. It was very light and I wondered how much could be inside because I didn't discuss salary which was a big mistake I made.
"She will treat me well," This was what I told myself when I took the job because of the relationship between the proprietress and my mom.
I finally settled in my class and checked the envelope, I was shocked to see 3500 naira.
"What's this for?" I asked myself and went to meet the other teachers to ask what their pay was and they were just a few thousand more than mine. It was annoying to receive such amount after screaming for a whole month.
One of them said probably because I didn't come in with my result which I think could be the reason as well. I told my mom about it when I got home and she told me to do as I please, she didn't want to interfere.
3500 is something I would make in less than two weeks on the street with menial jobs but I was enjoying the teaching job so I chose to stay. Before the end of the second month, I got my results and presented it to the proprietress who applauded me for clearing my papers in style but that didn't influence my salary in the second month.
I asked the proprietress why and she said that was the salary for my qualification. At that point, I felt like quitting the job but the term was almost over and it would affect the pupils because they might not get another teacher immediately.
I waited till the term was over and quit even though I didn't inform the proprietress. My fellow teachers knew about it and some of them decided to quit as well for reasons best known to them. Reality dawned on the proprietress when the new session kicked off and she didn't see about 3 of her teachers. She called my mom and I told her, I couldn't cope with the salary.
She told me to come so we can talk about the salary but I wasn't interested in her school anymore. I went on to search in another school where they started with 7,500 naira for me and it increased to 10,000 within four months. The new proprietor didn't believe I was just a secondary school graduate because of how I taught and handled my other responsibilities.
The experience I gathered from the first job helped me a lot at the second job. I worked there for over a year and was really committed to the job because I had great students and colleagues.
Going back to my first job is a no for me because I am not even sure the school still exists. The new school I went to made me realize that the former school had poor management, they were only concerned about their profit and the teachers well being means nothing to them.
Hello, George. We share similar experiences. I started working in a primary school shortly after I graduated from high school. My boss was not only strict, but she was also rude and disrespectful. Unlike you, I didn't get paid at all. I worked for 3 months without getting a dime.
I think the problem is generally with private schools, they treat their teachers like shit no matter how much effort you are putting into the job.
These things they do discourage a lot of people from taking teaching job. School owners will have luxury cars when their teacher wear one show everyday, many of them are just cruel.
Wow.. some private schools can treat you so badly if you aren´t smart enough. My first teaching experience was kind of a rough one as I felt cheated too by the proprietress. Glad I took that action, if not, it would have been the worst regret for me. How can you be paid 3500 monthly as a teacher considering how you scream and shout when teaching? Handling those classes isn´t easy aswear.
Teaching job is not easy and because we were young, many school owner always behave like they were doing us a favor because we were just secondary school graduates meanwhile they didn't employ people who were trained teachers just because they didn't want to pay them.
The experience wasn't cool though but I learned a few things there that helped me at the new place.
I love the job but can't do it except I eventually build a school someday.
That's why I don't like working for people I know. Over familiarity.
What can 3500 do
That's what people use for data subcription
So bad. Thank God you left
Yeah, familiarity doesn't help when it comes to work. If we had negotiated from the onset there is a high chance that I don't do the job and that made me take salary negotiation seriously.
Yeah that's right
You learnt your lesson
This are the crazy things i used to hear about these school people ,the cheat a lot , and they are making plenty money but be giving their teachers penny .I have a sister who experienced this too
School owners are very greedy, they just want to pack all the profit for themselves which is a bad thing. That's the season why a lot of young people are running away from teaching jobs.
Virtually mosy young school leavers has gone through this same route, working as a teacher and not getting paid. It's crazy how this so called proprietors treat teachers, not as if the money is not there. No wonder I never liked teaching in the first place.
They have the money but wouldn't just pay, they want everything for themselves. A lot of them of are cheats and I don't know why they do such.
They take advantage of unemployment to treat thier employees with wickedness. The only valuable thing from this kind of school is experience. It can't be purchased.
This is beyond unemployment because many of us only did the job before we got admission into the university.
Many proprietors and proprietors just act wicked because I don't see any reason that justifies their evil act.
As you left the school, many would come with their CVs. If it is difficult to find replacement, they would be nice. That's where unemployment comes in.
You can really be a good teacher.. Why don't you go back? Find a better school.
Or, do you have 51Talk in your country?
It's for online teachers..
You can be a teacher online too if you want..
Teaching online can be a very good idea, I will check if 51talk is available in my country.
I love the profession though and it would be great if I can own a school someday, I don't mind if it is just a primary school.
Some employers can be mean, I guess she must have felt like you are in need of the money and any amount she give to you would be acceptable and also I don't think I can work for anyone without discussing my terms of employment and what my salary entails because in this country people wont hesitate to take advantage of ignorance.
I messed up not negotiating and learned my lesson so that didn't happen again. It even helped me boost my negotiating power.
Yeah it will, like they say experience is the best teacher.
We all have passion for different things but I don't think I can teach, I see some people doing that and I admire them. As at then 2,500 was good money not now bro.
It was a small money because I was making more than that already on the street.
Yeah, we have a passion for different things which is why our interests are different as well.
Some owners of schools can be so heartless especially private schools they will prefer to use someone and squeeze the juice out of them for peanuts as salary..
They don't even care at all
I taught before in a primary school and I know how I suffered
Thank God we learnt lessons that shaped us to who we are today
Thanks for sharing 💕
The lessons we learned from our first job did help us afterwards and the experience was important.
There are lots of cruel schools owners and there are good ones two because I found one after and the man made me love teaching job.
Just imagine the difference , 3500 compared to 7500, I also know of a friend back then, when I was collecting 6500, the proprietress was paying her 4000
Those proprietress no get joy, they just want to make all the money for themselves. They don't care about what's happening in the lives of their teachers.
This post has been manually curated by @bhattg from Indiaunited community. Join us on our Discord Server.
Do you know that you can earn a passive income by delegating to @indiaunited. We share more than 100 % of the curation rewards with the delegators in the form of IUC tokens. HP delegators and IUC token holders also get upto 20% additional vote weight.
Here are some handy links for delegations: 100HP, 250HP, 500HP, 1000HP.
100% of the rewards from this comment goes to the curator for their manual curation efforts. Please encourage the curator @bhattg by upvoting this comment and support the community by voting the posts made by @indiaunited.
#3,500, Haba! That's too poor. Even a sales girl hawking on the street cannot be placed on that salary. Many private school owners love quality services, but they are not ready to pay the teachers well. In your own case, familiarity was one thing that made her treat you like that maybe. Familiarity bring contempt in some ways. Glad you got another job that paid you 3x of what she paid when you were with her.