No more “Foul Play”

“I don find job tire.” is a usual cliché among Nigerian graduates with a national common attitude of criticism and whistle blowing of “foul play” or “Rigging”. We surely have a long list of persons to blame.

Some people and circumstances could have contributed to this disgraceful state of our economy and education, but nothing can change the fact that everyone has all he/she needs to live above excuses (synonymous to The Mediocre’s Haven).

Friends, we need to be true to ourselves. We urgently need to be double prepared for our Magical Moments (when we receive the rightly addressed appointment letters for our dream jobs). The stage is set; we must excel every expectations of any serious- minded employer. Despite the limited opportunities, it is unfortunate that some recruits barely last for 6 months at work. Why? Their content falls short of the job's demands, but ignorantly, our friends cry “foul play”.

To save us from such disillusion, let’s run a check on the 5 As to Evaluate Job Seekers’ Readiness for Their Dream Jobs.

1.       Ability

2.       Attestation

3.       Accomplishment

4.       Awareness

5.       Attitude

Ability

This encompasses all skills and competencies we profess, whether on job seekers’ resume or during interviews. We have lofty claims which may get us recognition and sometimes juicy offers.

These abilities often referred to as skills, competencies, and qualities can be categorized as follows:

General skills:

These are skills expected from any Nigerian graduate, employees (prospective or satisfied). These skills are developed or imbibed in the course of growing, interacting with our environment and learning. By the virtue of our claim to have gone through primary, secondary, and tertiary education we ought to be able to communicate our learning. It is unfortunate to hear the following from a supposed graduate:

“I go to university now!”; “America is a country like Africa.”; “Coke is a mineral in Nigeria.”

Technical skills

Imagine a computer engineer who cannot identify the components of a PC; a microbiologist who does not know how an autoclave looks or functions, or cannot maneuver a microscope. This really invalidates our claims. Evaluate yourself.

People Skills

Leadership, Interpersonal and Team-playing skills are commonly quoted by many job seekers as their abilities but very few can defend these claims. We sometimes find it difficult to get along with a nagging neighbour or an irate customer. From where will our prospective clients and co-workers come from? HEAVEN? How best do we put these skills into practice in our everyday lives? We better evaluate these claims.

IT Skills

The advent of smartphones has made communication better and worse and we will stick to the consequences. Hey friends, how smart are you with the PC?  This is the time we ask ourselves, what can I do with a PC other than to power it on/off, play games, listen to music or watch movies? How dexterous am I with the apps and functionalities on my smartphone, tablet other than for the “Effizy”?

The list is not exhaustive; but evaluate yourself. We can either make our dream jobs memorable for pleasurable performance or for painful pressure. Evaluation is not enough, we must make up for the lapses by acting purposefully while we have the time and chance.

A thorough job seekers’ ability evaluation can be self-conducted or done by help from experienced professionals available in any good career centre such as the Afterschool Graduate Development Centre (www.graddev.com). Whichever way, we need to evaluate our claims.

…to be continued.

Author: Adebayo Moradeyo @bayomoradeyo