Originally Posted by
monell55 
It’s going to be a very lengthy piece so i ask that you be patient.
For a month or so, i have been watching a movie boston legal season 4, it’s a film about a law firm. In the movie, the law firm handled what you could refer to as the most outrageous and ludicrous of cases, cases that could easily be dismissed by anyone who just hears it. But these cases get a court hearing anyway and even if the plaintiff doesnt get to win, at least he/she gets to make some noise over issues affecting society that everyone has kept quiet about. I have somehow drawn inspiration from this movie because somehow the lawyers in it have made sense out of total nonsense cases. And it somehow has informed my decision to act.
Now here’s my story.
We all know how gatecrashing aptitude tests is what job-seekers in nigeria do best. Through this magnificent forum, i heard a certain consulting firm was recruiting for an organization, i saw the email where cv’s were sent and i just sent my cv. I didn’t get an invite but all the same i went for the aptitude test. When i got there, they seperated those who had an invite from those that didn’t, those without invite were made to write the test after the ‘eligible’ ones had written (those with the text message). i wrote the test shaa, it was okay! And in a few days, i got a message that i passed the test and i should come for “documentation” which i did with all my credentials plus my “birth certiicate”. The lady checked everything and certified me fit and “qualified” and as such put down my name in the list of those to be forwarded to the organization. Within a short while i got a message from the organization for an interview at their ‘saka tinubu’ office on a saturday, i went all dressed up, i got there and there was yet another documentation again, checking birth certificate most especially, and we were set for a “written interview” which i did with about 30 other elegantly dressed nigerian job-seekers. It lasted 30minutes and we were told if we scaled that stage they would definitely get back to us.
Two days later i got a call by 8pm, telling me i was among the last 16 who had made it to the interview stage and that i was scheduled for mine the next day. I was unquantifiably excited and started to visualise myself as a member of staff of the firm. I prepared like hell for the interview and i was so “good to go”. When i got to the place by 3pm in readiness for 3:40pm when i was to go in, i met 2 guys who were also waiting and as usual we got acquainted and shared one or two ideas. Those 2 guys went in and about 3:40pm a man came, called my name and instead of taking me inside, took me to a corner and said: ‘we noticed ur age is beyond the required age limit of 26 and as such we cannot allow you go on with the interview because company policy says the maximum age requirement is 26, i am sorry’. He also said they made it clear to the recruiting firm that they needed 26yr olds, and i said why then did they clear me when they saw i was beyond that, why did the organization also clear me on the day of the written interview when i came still with the same “birth certiicate” indicating my real age written boldly? The man sympathised with me truly, i saw in his eyes that he himself felt my pain.
My fellow nigerians, i had hardly reached the gate when i broke down in very very serious tears, i cried, no…i wept like a baby who was refused its mother’s care. I mean, imagine an adult in suit crying in broad day light? It was uncontrollable. I tried so hard to fight back the tears. I cried home! I had told my mom that morning that god was going to do something wonderful that day, that i had unwavered faith that i would get the job. So imagine the eagerness she had to see me return with glad tidings, only for her to see me looking much less of what i looked like in the morning, my eyes were so red, i cried for days, she couldn’t help but cry with me and consoled me with motherly words. The aftereffect was that i felt distraught and felt like i have taken a very heavy blow. 15 of the other candidates have all started work, i know i would have excelled in that job, i ate the job, slept the job, dreamt the job, visualised myself as a staff of that orhanization. Imagine coming so so close yet so far away, all bcos ur a little older than the required age limit. This age limit discrimination thingy is wrong, totally. Well if companies want to enforce it no problem, but why did they after seeing that i was not 26, still allow me go through all the stages of recruitment which i passed by the way only to be denied in the very end. It is painful. Someone has got to say something about this; someone has got to “make some noise” as it were. For crying out loud, in america; a developed country, age is not a factor when it comes to getting employment, why is it so in nigeria?
I want to file a lawsuit against the firm, i mean i feel i should make some noise about this; just as i mentioned in the beginning about the movie, not all lawsuits may seem sensible but they get to make some noise and in most cases, they win! I am not out to speak for just myself but for may of us out there who one way or the other have been affected by this epidemic “company policy”.
I have discussed this with a top-notch attorney at law and he shares my sentiments.
I have put this up here in nhj bcos i know nhj has got nigeria’s finest men and women (intellectually).
This is my story!
What do you guys think!!!
