Facebook Live with Edleen B. Elba: Steps to landing your dream job (June 30)
Year after year, companies, and recruiters change their job eligibility requirements, expecting job seekers to acquire some certain skills – first class degree or not. Whether you’re a fresh graduate trying to jumpstart your career, or an oldie in the job market looking for better opportunities, we have one question for you. Are you fully prepared for your next interaction with a recruiter? To help you get started, we’re bringing you this Facebook Live session with Human Resources expert Edleen B. Elba, on Friday, 30th June. She’ll be sharing some insights on job search and how young professionals can land their dream job. Edleen owns and manages JobSearch, a human resources management company based in Sierra Leone, which provides recruitment, skills development, and human resources advisory services to clients of all sizes and within all sectors. [bctt tweet=”Looking for a job? Learn the do’s and don’ts for job seekers from @JobSearchsl -(June 30)” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] Register below to gain access to this opportunity. Some of the topics we’ll cover How and where to find a job What employers really look for in applicants Principles to remember: The do’s and don’ts for job seekers Top 7 career fields in demand Case study: Persistence and determination Facebook Live Details: Date: Friday, June 30th, 2017 Time: Freetown 2pm // Lagos 3pm // Joburg 4pm Place: facebook.com/sheleadsafrica/ Watch here: https://www.facebook.com/sheleadsafrica/videos/1904771329746178/ About Edleen Edleen B. Elba is the founder of JobSearch, and a Chartered Human Resources Analyst, with almost a decade of Senior management experience within the private and public sectors She started her career in 2003 with KPMG, working in the Advisory departments in Sierra Leone and Ghana. In 2005, she created the Human Resources & Risk Management departments at KPMG and managed both for 3 years. Over the years, she has acquired skills which include financial management, strategic human resource management, strategic risk management, presentation, software applications, team leadership, time management, effective communication, assertiveness, negotiation, and analytics. Edleen is also the Chairman of the MEPS Trust Well Woman Clinic fundraising committee and a member of Heaven Homes’ fundraising committee. She is passionate about skills development and women’s empowerment.
Odunayo Eweniyi: I kept going on interviews but was never hired
Odunayo Eweniyi’s story is one that is probably familiar to most young graduates. Leave school excited for the real world. Apply for several roles and go out on interviews. Wait to hear back from the interviewers. Keep waiting. Keep waiting. Keep waiting. Give up hope and become a permanent indentation on your mother’s couch. Instead of just wasting away until a job found her, she went out and created her own job by forming PushCV. The Chapter Lead for the Nigerian chapter of Women in Tech Africa, wanted to create a platform where qualified candidates could get connected directly to job opportunities and cut through the delays. Odunayo shares with us where she thinks most young Nigerians struggle with getting a job, how she’s differentiating her company and what she believes is the most important element of a CV. Why did you start PushCV? We started PushCV right out of university. When I graduated I went on a couple of interviews and I never even heard back, despite being told that I passed the interviews. It went on like that for a bit, plenty of CV submissions and no call backs. So PushCV was borne of a personal need. I wanted to be more involved in how employment is done. We started PushCV because we thought that employment and recruitment could be done better. Every other service was going digital, so why couldn’t recruitment move with the times? Hence we launched PushCV for people – both employers and job seekers – to fully harness the power of technology in the search for the perfect candidate or the perfect job. In what areas do you think most young Nigerians struggle when it comes to finding a job? I have heard employers complain that great candidates don’t exist and I have heard job seekers talk about the lack of jobs. While there’s a degree of truth in these claims, the problem is more of a divide between the employers and job seekers. The struggle is essentially in two places. Employers struggle to find the best suited candidates for their vacancy, and the truth is that sometimes, those candidates do not exist. As a result job seekers struggle to mold themselves into the cast of the perfect candidate. But really the biggest problem is employability. Most of the graduates in the country currently lack the technical or soft skills that would satisfy prospective employers. That is why PushCV is committed to bridging that divide. We created the Elite Employee Quest for this purpose – to isolate the already built up candidates and put them in front of employers; and to work with and on the jobseekers that are lacking in some respect, and make them better. We aim to make every candidate into the perfect candidate by building all aspects of them – soft skills, innate employability, interpersonal skills etc. We do not send candidates who have not met our rigorous standards for interviews. How do you ensure Push CV stands out against all of the other job search platforms on the market? We never stop innovating because we listen to our customers. We believe that we can only move forward when we are fulfilling a pain, not just a need. We have a robust feedback system that we use to track customer preferences of employers and job seekers. What do they want? How can we make it better? Those are the questions that we answer and use those answers to develop a constantly evolving product. What can we expect to see from Push CV over the next 6 months? Over the next 6 months, I think that you can expect to see us gaining an even stronger foothold in the market. The next 6 months will see us pushing the boundaries and bringing better alternatives into the very traditional world of recruitment. Unemployment is one of the biggest problems that Nigeria is facing. As someone who is committed to education and labor and I feel privileged to run a startup that wants to solve this problem. I think that the one thing I can promise is that we will do our absolute best to bring unemployment to the barest minimum. We often employ unconventional methods, so people can expect more outside the box thinking from PushCV over the next few months, What is the most important element to a CV? Here, I should tell you that it’s your “Work Experience” or your “Education”. But really it’s just the top third of your first page. The average resume gets about six seconds of review time before it’s either retained or pitched. So, you need to make a compelling argument for yourself in those six seconds. If the top of your resume works hard and quickly makes your case, you will be retained for review consideration.
Is it a good idea to move back to Nigeria?
It seems like everyday, there’s another of your friends who is moving back to the promised land of Nigeria for a shot at making it big. They either grew up or attended schools in the UK, America or South Africa, etc. Our generation seems to be leading the great diaspora exodus from the comfortable Western world and jumping back into Nigeria for a chance to “make it”. But for those of us who aren’t yet convinced that moving back to Nigeria is the right move, there are typically a couple of questions that come to mind: – Are there are any real opportunities there that I can’t find anywhere else? – How do I even get situated in the job market and meet the people who can help me find a job? – What things should I be looking out for to make sure I don’t get hustled? – Should I ask for the same salary I made before? As founder of a recruitment firm specializing in connecting diaspora returnees (Nigerians who have studied/worked abroad) with top companies in Nigeria and a returnee myself, I’ve faced all of these questions and more. Here is some advice for you on the areas with the biggest opportunity and some helpful do’s and don’ts. Ready to move back? Employers want what you’re offering. Diaspora Nigerians (aka repats) are the ideal package for employers as they help bridge the capacity gap in-country while simultaneously fulfilling local content obligations. As Nigeria becomes more globally competitive, repats are in the best position to maximize on the opportunities that accompany such growth. Those on the fence about moving back are being seduced by the promise of endless champagne nights, parties, and lucrative money making ventures. However, as likely as this may be, it’s extremely important to make sure that you are fully prepared for dealing with all sides of Nigeria, not just the glitz and the glam. You must have a clear plan about meeting your basic needs, that aren’t so basic in Nigeria (e.g. housing, transportation, electricity), otherwise you are on a fast-track to misery and likely to leave without maximizing your full potential, but I digress! All things being equal, lets assume you’re prepared for the move, let’s move on to what opportunities are on ground that aren’t available in more developed markets. Opportunity: Old dog, new tricks Major multinationals that have been on the continent for decades have refocused their global priorities to favor their sub-Saharan markets, Nigeria, in particular. Their increased investment is due to the market size opportunity available here. Several companies have instituted specific programs for moving diaspora Nigerians to work full time in Nigeria indefinitely or for a set period of time. If you’re working in a company that has an office in Nigeria, definitely enquire about this, and move back corporate style. Nigeria’s new wave of transition has led to an increase in development projects in established industries such as infrastructure (power, water, roads, etc.), agriculture, manufacturing, telecommunications, healthcare, you name it! Innovation is driving Nigeria at the moment, so you have to find the right opportunity at a major firm for what you are passionate about and drive it home. Ecommerce Start-Ups This is the golden goose for young Nigerian professionals considering moving back. Start-ups are great ventures to move back to work for, especially if you have long-term entrepreneurial ambitions. I actually moved back with a popular ecommerce company many moons ago and my experience there was invaluable! They are extremely ambitious, have long-term growth strategies for Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa, and are looking for repatriated talent that has local understanding to really drive their objectives. There is immense opportunity for growth but just make sure you do your research on the right ones to join and ask detailed questions about your role, responsibilities, short-term and long-term objectives. If you are on the same page, the sky is the limit with a start-up. Do your thang If you have a bright idea, pursue it. Do this intelligently and fearlessly. The opportunity potential here is true, the time for new ideas is not dead, even if someone is doing what you want to do, the market is big enough for both of you. I have friends that own bakeries, fashion labels, financial services companies, blogs, consulting firms, farms, you name it and are actually successful (no expensive hobbies here). If you know what you want to do, do some serious research, speak to the right people, and carry-out your plan. If you provide a great service, you will have clients. This is a huge consumer population with growing pockets. Create, plan, and deliver. Do’s/Don’t DO be open minded to different opportunities that you wouldn’t have previously considered. You moved back for a change, so go ahead and try something different. DON’T just take any job that has the highest paycheck. Find something you’re passionate about and don’t feel pressured into a role that you won’t perform in. DO network with people that have different backgrounds. This is the best way to find new opportunities and friends that can help you get acclimated in a new city. DON’T have an entitled attitude. If you’re coming from abroad people are looking for you to show that, so surprise them. DO find things to do that remind you of your life back home (e.g. weekly manicure, grocery shopping/cooking, intramural sports teams). Moving back can move you out of your normal routine so find the things that keep you sane and feeling settled. DO keep following She Leads Africa to stay motivated and help you achieve your dreams Compensation This is an area that causes frustration for both returnees, the employers and the recruiter (aka me ☺). Employers tend to find repats “entitled” for expecting higher pay than market rate; repats expect to be paid internationally competitive salary’s given their education, and experience in other markets, and I, the recruiter, am stuck in the middle! When discussing salary with potential employers, it’s always best to do the following: Research