The day I got my employment letter I was shocked with the salary offer. Not because it was much, but because I realized I devalued myself by giving too much value and settling with something less. Let's say during the interview I was asked what my salary expectation was, I immediately said 250,000 naira (for example). And then they are like, what if we offer you 200,000 and then I was like I don't have any issue with that. The next week I saw my employment letter stating I was offered 300,000 naira. At first it felt good, but being in the company for over 6 months now I realize that I was well played being that the former ICT personnel who was less qualified than I was when I started working received twice the amount they offered me.
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The offer they gave me was to protect their own reputation as a company especially when National and international bodies come to do the periodic financial audits. But then again apart from the fact that I do not like my current salary, there are certain things that are still keeping me in the company to date. One of them is the periodic training that staff have to undergo. These are trainings in the oil and gas industry that cost lots of money and are very rare to come by. Adding the certifications of these trainings to my resume would definitely make me stand out in future if I decide not to continue with this company again. I've worked with a number of corporate firms, and very few offer such training without trying to tie you down as an individual.
Although part of my contract states that I can not sell any product or offer any service the company is currently doing within the first three years after I leave the company (That is if I choose to leave). Which I think is fair enough compared to others. A friend of mine who got a job in a similar oil and gas industry had to turn down the offer at the last minute after seeing the company's policies. One of which states that for the training he's getting he would not be allowed to resign within the first 5 years of working with the company, and if he chooses to resign, would have to pay 100% of the training fee. As if this wasn't bad enough, the fees for each of these training sessions are undisclosed in the contract, meaning there's no way for him to know the worth of the training he would be receiving and thus the company can charge him any amount they deem fit if he chooses to leave.
After seeing more than three oil companies do similar things, I'm happy that I got to work in a place where I am not tied down with anything giving me leverage to leave at will. Although I'm still discussing a new salary structure with the company, I hope for a better offer as it's the only thing that is capable of making me leave the company sooner than expected. Truth is I love my job, although it can be stressful, as a matter of fact, I'm stressed as it is, but I'm happy that I have room to express myself, and bring my creativity to the table with a lot of room to learn new things. The free data I get is also an added bonus, I mean a man needs every data he can get at every point in time.
