DON'T IGNORE THAT TINY VACANCY ADVERT

As Program Officer of Media Career Services part of  the job schedule of Tayo Babalola was to track job vacancies and advertisements in newspapers and magazines.
She once spotted what she considered a very small advert on vacancy for the editor of a new publication. She was not sure if  the advert was worth including in her compilation and asked for my opinion.
I almost agreed with her but for a quick recollection of how I got my first job in 1986.
The advert through which I got my job then in the defunct Daily Times was smaller than the one we were considering.
Back then, the publishing organization indicated it required the services of writers and marketing executives.
The writers should be graduates of English or Mass Communication. I applied for the job and it turned to be that of a magazine called Contractor . I never heard of the magazine before then despite being familiar with major magazines in the country. As a student I bought magazines and newspapers regularly.
I got hired at Contractor magazine as a writer but it was not the kind of place I wanted to work or the kind of job I had dreamt of.
I endured for months combining my work as a writer with that of being a marketing executive and executive errand boy when the need arises.
My break came on a day while on duty.  I ran into a classmate who gave me a note to   a Public Relations Manager of an Advertising agency.  The manager told me there was no vacancy in his place but gave me a note to another editor who in turn sent me to another colleague of his in another newspaper where  I eventually got a job  I did for about 12 years.
However small the vacancy is, don’t ignore it. It may be the stepping stone you need for your breakthrough like in own my case.

By Lekan Otufodunrin is a journalist and media career development specialist