Post by Ahmed Azhar

Today, I celebrate! Alhumdulillah I am fortunate, humbled and beyond excited to start off my career at Citibank upon graduation. Although, this is a big call for celebration on its own but today I celebrate YOU - the job seeker. I celebrate the journey you’re on. I celebrate its highs but more importantly the depths of its lows. I celebrate the countless automated emails that start off with “Thank you for applying” but end with “…we regret to inform you”. I celebrate the frustrating days of no response when you expected one from your prospective employer(s). I celebrate that even after all the storm of uncertainty and challenges that saw no end and made you feel like you were shooting your shot in the dark with chances slim to none you STILL stuck to your grounds, you stayed on your path and you kept faith that it will all soon subside and that you will be exactly where you were meant to be by the finish line. My journey as a job seeker was surreal and it always will be. And as this journey ends another begins with its challenges I look forward to tackle God willing! A special thank you to my recruiter Karen Tang for guiding me throughout the recruitment process and the recruitment team for making it seamless. I thank my family, friends, peers and mentors that believed in me and were there for me every step of the way. As I end this post, I remind you that one may face a thousand NO’s but it only takes one YES to show for it all. No doubt, as a job seeker your long-awaited email that starts with “We are pleased to inform you…” will soon be yours. I leave you with two quotes that kept my head above water “If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate” - Thomas J. Watson “So, surely with hardship comes ease” - Quran Thank you to all that were a part of my job-seeking journey. Please feel free to reach out if I can help in any way. I’d be more than happy to assist. God bless! P.S: I respect and admire the resilience of my batch of graduates as we graduated into a highly volatile job market never seen before the pandemic. This past year I, among many, flew in these difficult times to be with my family residing abroad. I was seeking out job opportunities across Canada and the US while stationed in Pakistan. And in all honesty TOUGH does not even begin to cut it. After a couple rounds of interviews I noticed a significant number of recruiters never got back immediately after when they learned I was calling in from Pakistan finding it odd that I was there, while they couldn’t reach my local phone number as we scheduled interviews on Zoom because of it. I was convinced that seeking a job opportunity locally while abroad would be next to impossible. Nevertheless, I am glad that this thought was soon DEBUNKED. I was reassured that there are plenty of considerate recruiters out there ready to assist and open doors of opportunities for those seeking them. Alhumdulillah!