It was during my interview with two ASML managers in early 2022, while I was still a Master’s student in Germany 🇩🇪.
One of them looked at my CV and asked:
“You graduated with your Bachelor’s degree in 2017. Why did it take you until 2020 to start your Master’s?”
I loved that question because it gave me the opportunity to tell them my story and show them what it took for me to get to where I was at that moment.
I told them I graduated in 2017, completed the compulsory one-year national service in Nigeria, and initially hoped to start an academic career. I tried to get retained as a lecturer, but it didn’t work out. I eventually returned to my local town and started teaching Physics and Mathematics.
But I knew I wanted more.
I wanted postgraduate education abroad, particularly somewhere I could get exposure to advanced scientific facilities and technology. The problem was simple: my family couldn’t afford to sponsor an international education for me.
So scholarships became my only realistic route.
I applied to different countries and different programs. I got rejected multiple times. But I kept searching, sending applications, contacting people, and improving my profile.
Eventually, in 2020, Germany came through for me. I got the opportunity to move to Germany 🇩🇪 for my Master’s in Photonics.
By the time I finished telling the story, I could see it in their faces — they really felt for me 😭😭😭
Dem go dey think, “This guy don suffer!” 😭😭😭😂😂
By the end of that interview, I told my girlfriend (now my wife) that “I’m getting this job.” 😂
I even started putting extra effort into my Master’s thesis experiments in the lab because I was already imagining myself joining the company after graduation.
The next email I received was an invitation to another interview with some team members, and that one was very casual.
Then I got the job 🎉🥰
They sent a moving truck to pack my belongings from Germany, booked my flight to the Netherlands 🇳🇱, and lodged me in a five-star hotel for about two months while I settled in.
That question has stayed with me ever since because it reminded me that a gap on your CV isn’t necessarily an empty period. Sometimes, it contains one of the most important parts of your story. 💯
Image frame: First week at the job 🤩🤩🤩
What is the best question anyone has asked you in an interview?