The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Search

  • Search for moon on Sunday, says Oloyede

    Search for moon on Sunday, says Oloyede

    Secretary-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, NSCIA, Prof Ishaq Oloyede has urged Muslims all over Nigeria to look for the new crescent of Shawwal on Sunday.

    Oloyede said members of the National Moon Sighting Committee have been deployed with appropriate gadgets to various parts of the country for easy sighting of the moon.

    “It is an indisputable fact that the old (Ramadan) moon will set just before sunset in Nigeria on Saturday, 26. The new astronomic moon would be born few minutes before midnight of that Saturday. Consequently, the search for Shawwal moon is on Sunday 27th. It can be sighted in Nigeria on Sunday with optical instruments or with some difficulties with naked eyes. Any claim of sighting a moon that is yet to be born is not only false, mistaken or impossible but also ridiculous,” he said.

    He continued: “It is in this respect that the NSCIA wishes to remind all Muslims who know, and notify those who do not, that there is an established structure for moon-sighting in Nigeria. Due to its significance and technicalities, the Council has a National Moonsighting Committee under the leadership of an expert. The Committee is equipped with necessary equipment and technological gadgets that are relevant to the discharge of its assignment. The membership of the Committee is drawn from various segments of the Nigerian Muslim Ummah, including:

    “However, membership of the Committee is not exclusive to the above-listed personalities. The NSCIA expects people with requisite technical and demonstrable knowledge of moon-sighting to indicate their interests to the Secretary General, NSCIA.  It is also helpful for such persons to list their areas of expertise. We intend to have an expert in each of the Senatorial Zone of the Country.

    “The National Moonsighting Committee will advise the President-General of the NSCIA (The Sultan) through the Secretary-General, on the commencement and conclusion of Ramadan or sighting of Ramadan and Shawwal crescents.

    “When a Muslim sights a new moon, he should call any member of the Committee close to him, who will ask him series pertinent questions. These may include time the moon was sighted, position of the crescent relative to where the Sun sets, altitude of the crescent above the horizon and condition of the sky at the time of the sighting.”

    Oloyede urged Nigerian Muslims to direct their observations, notices and enquiries on the crescent to members of the National Moonsighting Committee.

    “It is on the backdrop of the foregoing that the NSCIA announces that in line with the Qur’anic verse and the tradition of the Prophet, as Ramadan draws to its close, any information on sighting the crescent (of Shawwal) should be conveyed to the National Moonsighting Committee so that the President-General of the NSCIA, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar may pronounce the end of fasting,” he said.

  • ‘Ultimate Search is boosting Gulder’

    The Guilder Ultimate Search (GUS), which is on its 10th  season, has enhanced the beer’s growth, the Marketing Manager, Gulder, Legend and Life Nigerian Breweries (NB) Plc Emmanuel Agu has said.

    He said: “The Gulder brand is experiencing exponential growth year on year. Gulder Ultimate Search is still a platform for the Gulder Brand. The impact ofGUS continues to rise and the popularity continues to grow brand equity.”

    Despite the show’s success, the brand handlers said the reality TV programme remains a major platform for the  brand to grow.

    Agu said: “Whenever you talk to any beer drinking person in Nigeria and ask if the person knows Gulder, even if the individual cannot remember any other thing about the brand, he will recall the Gulder Ultimate Search. Gulder Ultimate Search has helped grow Gulder’s brand awareness. I can tell you that if the return on investment were not positive, we would not be able to sustain the programme. Nigerian Breweries Plc commits a lot of resources to the production of Gulder Ultimate Search and this is only possible because the brand is very profitable.”

    He said strong consumer yearning for the reality TV programme remains one of the critical success factors of Gulder Ultimate Search.

    He added: “We are hosting Gulder Ultimate Search this year because it is still relevant to the lives of our consumers. And that is why we will keep on producing the programme until we get the feedback from the consumers that Gulder Ultimate Search is no longer relevant to them.”

    Also, the Corporate Media and Brand PR Manager of Nigerian Breweries Plc. Edem Vindah, who represented the firm’s Corporate Affairs Adviser, Kufre Ekanem, said  the deep Aguleri forest of Anambra State will play host to the 11th Season of Gulder Ultimate Search.

    Vindah said: “For 28 days starting October 3 to October 30, 2014, we will be entertained by an original Nigerian adventure programme produced to international standards. The daily highlights will be aired on national terrestrial and satellite TV stations.”

    While the Ultimate Winner will go home with N10 million and a brand new Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV), the second, third and fourth placed winners will earn N3 million, N2.5 million and N1.5 million. When evicted, the remaining contestants will win various sums, ranging from N1.45 million to N1 million.

    On why the brand chose Aguleri forest instead of other locations in Anambra, Agu explained: “When we set out to explore possible locations for GUS in Anambra State, we had three places in mind: Ogbunike Cave, Owerre Ezukala waterfalls and Aguleri forest. There were several factors we took into consideration like looking for a terrain with a suitable ambience for the kind of GUS tasks; places that have natural habitats and also with the least human interference and so on. The Aguleri jungle satisfied these criteria.”

    However, the Senior Brand Manager, Gulder, Onyeka Okoli, said the 11th Season of GUS would be exciting.

    He said: “This year’s GUS would be innovative and suspense-filled. There are a lot of things that we are not revealing. We are keeping these secrets because we want you to really pay attention to this year’s edition. These secrets will be unravelled as the show progresses.”

  • More foreign experts join search for abducted girls

    More foreign experts join search for abducted girls

    •Pope calls for prayers

    Israeli counter-terrorism experts have joined the search for the Chibok girls, presidential spokesman Reuben Abati said yesterday in a statement after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to President Goodluck Jonathan.

    Abati said Jonathan was “very optimistic that with the entire international community deploying its considerable military and intelligence-gathering skills and assets in support of Nigeria’s efforts to find and rescue the abducted Chibok girls, success will soon be achieved”.

    He said the President accepted the Israeli offer to send a team of counter-terrorism experts to assist in the ongoing search and rescue operations.

    “The President briefed Mr. Netanyahu on actions already being taken by Nigeria’s armed forces and security agencies to locate and rescue the girls, saying that Nigeria would be pleased to have Israel’s globally-acknowledged anti-terrorism expertise deployed to support its ongoing operations.

    “Mr. Netanyahu, who expressed Israel’s total condemnation of the mass abductions, said the team of experts from his country, who will soon arrive in Nigeria, will work in collaboration with teams from the United States and Britain who are already in the country and their Nigerian counterparts to intensify the search for the girls.

    “He reaffirmed Israel’s willingness to give the government and people of Nigeria all possible support and assistance to overcome terrorism and insecurity.”

    The United States, Britain, France and China had earlier offered to help. The UK and the US team are already in Nigeria, working with the military.

    Close to 300 youngsters were kidnapped from a boarding school in Chibok, Borno State on April 15. It is believed that 53 managed to escape, but 273 are still missing.

    One of the teenagers who escaped from the Islamic extremists has said the kidnapping was “too terrifying for words”, and she is now scared to go back to school.

    Sarah Lawan, a 19-year-old science student, spoke yesterday as Nigerians prayed for the safety of the 276 students still held captive. Their prayers were joined by Pope Francis.

    Lawan told The Associated Press that more of the girls could have escaped but that they were frightened by their captors’ threats to shoot them. She spoke in the Hausa language in a phone interview from Chibok, her home and the site of the mass abduction.

    The failure to rescue those who remain captive four weeks later has attracted mounting national and international outrage. Last week, Nigeria accepted international help in the search, after ignoring offers for weeks.

    Pope Francis lent his voice to the ongoing social media campaign #BringBackOurGirls.

    The Pope asked Catholic faithful to pray for missing Chibok schoolgirls.

    The Pope tweeted:

    Let us all join in prayer for the immediate release of the schoolgirls kidnapped in Nigeria. #BringBackOurGirls

    — Pope Francis (@Pontifex) May 10, 2014

    Prime Minister David Cameron promised Sunday that Britain “will do what we can” to help find the girls.

    He made the comments as he held a sign bearing the #BringBackOurGirls hashtag on the BBC’s “Andrew Marr Show.”

    Cameron and Pope Francis are the latest high-profile supporters of the social media campaign. U.S. first lady Michelle Obama tweeted a photo of herself with a similar poster last week.

    #BringBackOurGirls has become the most popular hashtag in Nigeria this year, with the Twitter trend hitting over a million tweets. The hashtag has gone from a local trend to receiving international attention in the last seven days.

    The hashtag is also very popular on Facebook and Instagram, receiving over 150,000 posts on the latter.

    It has been posted by a number of global celebrities and personalities, actress Angelina Jolie and singer Chris Brown.

    The International Criminal Court said the number and intensity of attacks has risen sharply this year.

    It called on Boko Haram to release the girls immediately.

    “The troubling phenomenon of targeting females during conflict, this time, in Borno state, cannot be tolerated and must be stopped,” said prosecutor Fatou Bensouda. “No stone should be left unturned to bring those responsible for such atrocious acts to justice, either in Nigeria or at the ICC.”

    CIA Director John Brennan told the TV network Fusion that the United States is doing “everything we can” to determine the girls’ location, a mission President Barack Obama has made a priority.

    Worldwide protest continued yesterday. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, the Reverend Al Sharpton, and at least 200 local residents, and elected officials, all representing a cross section of activists and concerned citizens, took part in a rally in front of the Nigerian Consulate on Saturday afternoon. It was the second such gathering in front of the Consulate.

    The New York Mayor weighing in on the issue is significant for a locally elected official in the U.S.

    Most U.S. mayors and governors avoid speaking out on a global issue not directly touching their jurisdiction, even one as controversial as the kidnapping of the 200 plus female students in Nigeria.

    That mayor de Blasio spoke out, and marched alongside fellow citizens will likely change the tenor of the debate in America’s most international of cities. De Blasio, who addressed the crowd of roughly 200, said the kidnappings in Borno State “should be denounced around the world”. His wife and daughter at the march that assembled in front of the consulate joined the mayor.

    The Reverend Al Sharpton, and some members of his National Action Network team in Harlem, took part in the march and rally, bringing further media attention to the issue. Some Harlemites, like Lesha Sekou, marched the five-mile trek from uptown to the mid-town Nigerian consulate. Sekou, an anti-gun violence organiser, led a group of about 50 Harlem residents to the rally. She said that she was there because the 200 plus Nigerian school girls were abducted at gunpoint.

    Some Ghanaian women yesterday marched through the capital Accra, to demand the release of the schoolgirls.

    They presented a petition signed by over 300 people to the Nigerian High Commissioner to Ghana, saying: “We are just a representative of the swelling voices of Ghanaians and other people round the world who believe that any extra second we spend not finding our girls is one second too many.”

    They held placards, which read: “Bring back our girls”; “Release the girls now”; and “We want action now’’.

    One of the leaders of the Ghanaian women that marched, Eugenia Techie Menson, Chief Executive Officer of Young Educators Foundation, said: “Girls have the basic right to be educated and to be girls; girls have the inalienable right to be girls.”

    The Nigerian High Commissioner to Ghana, Ademola Oluseyi Onafonoka, after receiving the petition, said:”… Let me thank you for your out pouring of emotions, solidarity, for your empathy; I am assuring you as a father that our daughters will be found and brought back to all of us alive and well.’’

    The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has intensified collaboration with the Federal Government to combat cross border terrorist activities carried out by Boko Haram, ECOWAS Communication Director  Sonny Ugoh said yesterday.

    Ugoh says the regional bloc is also working with other neighboring regional organisations including the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) to improve security in their member states, following the girls’ abduction.

    “There is a collective sense that ECOWAS is willing and determined to support the Nigerian government to address this menace, because what affects one member state affects the others; that is the spirit of the ECOWAS Integration project.  There is a sense of solidarity [and] the value for the support of each other,” said Ugoh.

    His comments follow a U.N. Security Council demand for an unconditional release of the girls abducted by Boko Haram militants.

    The chairman of the ECOWAS commission, Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama, issued a solidarity statement to President Goodluck Jonathan to assure him of the regional bloc’s support to combat the Boko Haram militants.

    “There is recognition, both locally and internationally, that this is an unacceptable behavior.  And in response to that the international community has risen to support the ECOWAS position,” said Ugoh.  “ECOWAS is ready and willing to work with the Nigerian government to see how this [violence] can be addressed, and use the opportunity to also make a point about the need for us to now increase collaboration within West Africa.”

    “Some of the terrorism issues that we have to deal with have to do with the situation in the Sahel.  So there is a larger issue of the Sahel impact on [us],” said Ugoh.  “We are actively working to have a holistic response to these and then working beyond West Africa with our neighbors to see how we can collaborate in responding to the dynamics and the specifics of this in terms of the various manifestation of terrorism in West Africa.”

  • Boko Haram: JTF, police in house-to-house search

    Boko Haram: JTF, police in house-to-house search

    SOME suspected gunmen were yesterday arrested in Kano State by a combined team of the Joint Task Force (JTF) and the police.

    The team launched a house-to-house search for explosives and weapons, following recent killings and rampant gun attacks in Yankaba and Dakata areas of the city by suspected Boko Haram sect members.

    Their efforts paid off with the arrest of suspects in the wee-hour raid on Hotoro, Mariri and Zango communities – all identified black spots.

    According to an eyewitness account, several gun shots were heard in the neighborhood as early as 5am.

    One person was reportedly killed in the crossfire between security operatives and the suspects.

    Kano Police Command spokesman Magaji Majiya, who confirmed the incident, identified the lone victim as a tricycle operator.

    He said the driver was shot by gunmen on the rail track crossing in Dakata/Yankaba. Majiya informed that the victim’s tricycle was taken away.

    The spokesman also confirmed that security operatives have spread their dragnets in the area in search of fleeing gunmen.

    It was learnt that the JTF began the house-to-house search in suspected flash points like Hotoro, Mariri, Hausawa. The areas are believed to be harbouring suspected Boko Haram militants.

    Dakata/Kawaji area has been under Islamic extremists’ siege, a development that has claimed several lives and ruined businesses.

    About 900 National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) members out of the 2413 deployed to Kano State for orientation have been redeployed to other parts of the country. Their redeployment followed the March 18 bomb blast that rocked the New Road Motor Park, in Sabongari Area of the city, which claimed more than 20 lives.

    But Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso assured the corps members of adequate security, urging them to respect the norms and culture of their hosts.

    Speaking with reporters shortly after the passing out parade of “Batch A, at Karaye Camp, the state coordinator, Alhaji Bashir Yakasai, said prior to the explosion, very few corps members indicated interests to be redeployed after the orientation programme.

    However, soon after the bomb blast, many corps members irequested to be redeployed and their request was granted, he said.

    Yakassai said: “Despite the Director General’s intervention, the corps members insisted on their redeployment. There was a directive that corps members should be redeployed to four key areas of agriculture, rural infrastructure, education and health.”

    He urged corps members to utilise the skills acquired during their orientation, so as to achieve self reliance.

  • Effective pep-ups for job search

    Effective pep-ups for job search

    Go out and do a Google search on how to conduct job searches, and you’ll come up with literally a billion different articles and pieces of advice… with a lot of the ideas out there contradicting each other. One person says, “Do it this way,” and then the next person has a different take on what you need to do.

    Whatever, you improve your job search, motivation and energy doing all or some or any of the following:

    Be nice to everyone

    “Nice guys finish last” doesn’t jive with me in job search situations. If you are kind, thoughtful, caring, and supportive – people remember that as your personal brand. We are, in essence, more motivated to do things to help others who treated us well, while we are less inclined to even give people (who burned us previously) the time of day.

    Have a polished, accomplishments-driven resume

    If you cannot own your accomplishments and demonstrate value to a prospective employer, how on earth do you expect to convince them to hire you? Drawing up a resume to get you “any job” is not smart.

    Don’t hide behind your computer …

    Between a consultant and a client:

    “ I have emailed my resume to no less than 76 different job openings, but hadn’t heard anything back.

    “How many did you contact personally or network with?”

    “Zero.”

    Unfortunately, hitting “send” 64 times isn’t going to do it, especially in this job market where everyone else is out there pulling strings, making contacts, and cultivating powerful referral networks. An excellent resume is important, yes, but if you don’t have anyone interested in receiving it, you obviously are missing the critical component of a job search.

    Never, give up hope

    Believe in yourself. Remember, you are driving this bus … and while the job search can be incredibly defeating when you get rejection after rejection, but once you give up hope in yourself, all is lost. Sure, you have have the occasional pity party, but then you need to grit your teeth and get back on that horse again. Keeping the job search in action is the only way you’ll have a chance of snaring something.

    Manage your personal brand

    Think about this quote (author unknown):

    • Watch your thoughts; they become your words.

    • Watch your words, they become your actions.

    • Watch your actions; they become your habits.

    • Watch your habits, they become your character.

    Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

    Keep the faith; never give up, and remember your biggest recipe for job search success boils down to having a focused job search, polished resume, and networking, networking, and networking. And having patience.

    Get out daily

    Visit your local library, and yes, the local unemployment office. Being unemployed doesn’t mean you need to be in seclusion, facing the uphill battle all on your own.

    Don’t overlook transition assistant programs for those who’ve left the military, the resources provided from local employment centers, and the benefits that result from just talking with people.

    Here’s another “insider tip” that few use: Visit your Chambers of Commerce. You’d be amazed how wonderful the people are who man these offices… and wow, what a terrific resource they can be. These people are so helpful, and I guarantee you won’t leave your Chamber’s office unsatisfied.

    For example, they can provide details on upcoming business networking events (great for meeting professionals in your area), provide you with a membership directory (packed full of local companies, addresses, and sometimes, contact names), and on occasion can provide job leads.

    Grab a drink and curl up with a good book

    Never overlook the calming effect of just sitting still and taking time for yourself. If you feel guilty stepping away from your job search, opt for a self-help book to brush up your time management skills, or whatever skill you wish to improve upon, or go with something like the following:

    • What Colour is Your Parachute written by Richard Nelson Bolles (Great read!)

    • Who Moved My Cheese written by Spencer Johnson (Funny stuff!)· JobsearchGuru’s JOB HUNTING MANUAL- Just published for purposeful job hunters in Nigeria.

    You may be jobless, but you are never, never useless or worthless. And don’t you forget it.

  • The search for a new Pope

    The search for a new Pope

    The Catholic Church enters a period known as “Sede Vacante” (Vacant See) starting at 1900 GMT on Thursday during which a senior cardinal takes over interim powers until a new pope is elected.

    The cardinal, referred to as the “camerlengo” (“chamberlain”), in this case will be Italy’s Tarcisio Bertone – a powerful prelate whose handling of Church affairs in recent years has been hugely divisive within the Vatican hierarchy.

    The camerlengo has traditionally had the role of officially certifying the death of a pope – he once did so by tapping the pontiff’s forehead three times with a special silver hammer and calling out his birth name.

    The Vatican post office on Friday will issue stamps for use during the “Sede Vacante”.

    General congregations

    Starting on Monday, cardinals from around the world will hold a series of meetings known as “general congregations”.

    The roundtables are ostensibly aimed at identifying the priorities for the Roman Catholic Church of the future but they are also a good way of vetting “papabili” – possible candidates for next pope.

    Cardinals over 80 cannot vote in the conclave but are allowed to take part in these meetings, which also include meditations.

    The cardinals will decide on a date for the conclave, which Benedict has decreed may begin earlier than the traditional timetable of 15 to 20 days after the start of the Sede Vacante, given that no mourning period is needed.

    The conclave

    Cardinals will meet in a secret conclave to choose the next pope from among their peers under a system adopted in the 13th century. Conclave literally means “with a key”, reflecting the cardinals’ seclusion without permission to leave until a new pope is found.

    All conclaves have been held in the Sistine Chapel – a Renaissance jewel adorned with Michelangelo’s frescoes on its ceiling and walls – since the late 19th century.

    The cardinals are sworn to absolute secrecy, under pain of ex-communication, during the voting. Two ballots are held in the morning, and two in the afternoon, until one candidate wins two-thirds of the votes.

    At the end of each session, the ballots are burned in a stove by the chapel, releasing smoke above the Apostolic Palace. The smoke is black after each unsuccessful ballot, white once the vote succeeds. The bells of St Peter’s will peal to accompany the white smoke.

    The new pope will be led into a tiny sacristy by the Sistine Chapel known as the “sala delle lacrime” or room of tears where he can ponder the immense duty before him.

    The dean of the College of Cardinals, currently Cardinal Angelo Sodano, will ask the newly chosen pontiff if he accepts his election, and if the answer is yes, he immediately becomes the bishop of Rome and pope. He also chooses the name he wishes to use, a centuries-old tradition.

    The new pope is helped into his vestments (three sets are prepared of different sizes), and one by one the cardinals pay homage to him.

    Shortly afterwards he appears on the loggia of St Peter’s Basilica. The senior cardinal deacon, currently Jean-Louis Tauran, will then pronounce the famous phrase in Latin: “Habemus Papam!” (We have a pope!).

     

  • 10 things that can go wrong with your job search (III)

    Looking for job is not fun. Not at all. It can be lonely,frustrating and discouraging. And it can be tough on your ego. But then, it is something nearly everybody past the age of consent will have to go through; at least once in a life – time, most likely five times. And like most things, there is a right way of going about finding a good job … well not exactly – if what you are expecting is a fool-proof mathematical formula!

    Really, more accurate thing to say is that these is a way of looking for work that definitely increase your chances of finding a good job, and there is also a way that not only reduces these chances, but also makes your job search miserable and discouraging to the bargain.

    True, it is possible to get a good job today even when you doing everything ‘the wrong way’. But the point is this: The more you know about what works and what does not in job search, the better the chances that you will be one of those to get the dream jobs, which was the purpose of this series. Let us proceed to examine the last three factors that they injure your chances of getting a good job in the shortest possible time.

    • Poor conduct and presentation. “Qualifications are important,” said one respondent in a survey, “but it is the whole person that I am interested in. How much does that person come across? How enthusiastic is this person. How positive is this individual? That is so important.” But how do you communicate this in the course of job interview? It is not only about what you will say, but also about how you say it, including non-verbal expression. Findings upon findings indicated that within the first few minutes of any personal meeting with somebody who has the power to hire you or screen you out, the decision has pretty much been made.

    And to your personality/traits. For example, are you stable? Don’t answer yes or no. Employer has their way of discovering people with extreme behaviour of any type: inability to stay focused on an issue, disorganisation beyond the normal range, personal drive for success and achievement, honesty and integrity, people and interpersonal skills, dependability, loyalty, sense of responsibility etc. Good candidates who cannot effectively communicate their ‘goodness’ have lost out in the race for good jobs notwithstanding their impressive credentials.

    • Poor interview skills as competence as often said in this column. There are basically five questions you • Why are you here?

    • What can you do for us?

    • What kind of a person are you?

    • What distinguish you from the other if people who have the same ability as you have? And finally:

    • Can we afford you?

    So, if a job seeker does not have answers to these questions before any interview, then he/she hasn’t started to look for work.

    When an interviewer looks at your resume and says: “You’ve been out of work for quite some time, haven’t you?” Or when you resume reveals a record of perhaps six jobs in eight years or when you are considered too young, too old, too short for heavy etc. Do you have defence for these questions and other uncomfortable questions that may come up?

    • Ineffective job hunt strategy. If you are not going to anywhere in particular, any road will lead you there. For us, the fundamental of job hunt strategy is to determine your job target/objectives i.e, which job would you want to do. Where, in terms of which sector or industry or company or geographic locale. In short, you need to construct a thoughtful, practical and achievable job target/objective statement. A job that’s “interesting”, “challenging” that offers “opportunity” for “personal growth” or “personal expression” look good and adorable as job objectives. But they are inadequate unless tied to some fairly concrete goals: How much? Where (industry, location, level, etc. And it is such beautiful prose of no value, or sometimes bombastic phrases that recruitment personnel see most of the time. Most of them consider them empty and irritating

    If we assume that you have your job objectives /target, the question then, how do you reach this objective? How do you get a shot at your dream job without which you stand no chance of getting it at all?.

    For most job hunters, opportunity rarely knocks, not even once. Job seekers who want to succeed will have to do the knocking, the digging, the searching. It must be done actively or better still, pro-actively. You have to develop your own leads, and figure out the test way to follow them up. Most job hunters rely on the conventional route. Unfortunately, the conventional route is in job hunting is crowded. The odds are long, and the going is slow.

    One of the worst mistakes you can make in a job search is to stop moving forward: to sit back and wait for jobs or job leads to locate them, for employers, for recruitment agencies to call, for job advertisements that appeal to you to appear in the newspapers. Most job seekers spend 90 per cent of their time working hard to fail by doing just that – waiting!

    Babies are born everyday. But that is not to say that the process of conception to delivery is a sure, certain and riskless endeavour. Many things can, and often go wrong, ending the story in an entirely different, sometimes tragic direction.

    Many things can be wrong with your job search, which may be responsible for your prolonged stay in the unemployment queue. These last three articles were not meant to weigh you down; but to give you a framework to execute your job search campaign. It can also give you a rear-mirror view for the purposes of correcting your ‘unforced errors’. So, it is useful in evaluating your efforts and strategies employed so far in the quest for that your dream job. And then seek to change things that need be done differently.

    People get jobs everyday. Yours is at hand.

    A personal NOTE to you: The job market in Nigeria is competitive. Passing aptitude tests is not enough. Give yourself a bigger and unfair advantage. Visit www.jobsearchhow.com.ng/jobhuntingmanual for more information.

  • 10 things that can go wrong with your job search

    10 things that can go wrong with your job search

    I am sure you had asked: “Why am I still unemployed in spite of my serious efforts and very strong desire to get the job my dream job?” This is even very pertinent at the beginning of a new year. In the next three weeks or so, we will go further to help you get this your out-of the-world dream-job you want so badly. That was the promise we made earlier. We will take you through the dash-board of job hunting and see the value that not right/correct/within range.

    Many expect a simple, short and precise answer to the question above. Unfortunately there is nothing like that. The reason for this is that the employment process is complex, and usually in stages. And progress often depends on success at the previous stages.

    The other reason is that the recruitment process is imprecise, varying from company to company, and from one individual responsible for recruitment to another. The least you can do is to position yourself for better chance by acquiring the relevant job hunting skills. For you, it may just be that you are not getting one particular stage or skill right; for others, it may be two or three or more! So, what can be wrong?

    • Poor understanding of self

     

    I hope this do not surprise you-most of us do not know ourselves enough to make informed decision about our job/career direction. I was talking to an applicant sometimes ago.

    He majored in one of the Modern European languages, worked in one of the nation’s security services for four years, and has been ‘helping’ his uncle for the past three years. Now what does he want from me? He wants me to advise him on what work he should be looking for. I asked him what skills he thinks he has for a possible clue on career direction.

    He could not say precisely. This is often the case when an applicant says he/she is ready to do ‘any job that is available’. Really your job and career goal depends on the skills you have, personal preferences/aptitude, and life and career, goals. Skills are the foundation of job search. Employers want to know what it is you can do for them.

    What are skills you may want to ask? A simple but appropriate definition is that a skill is anything you can do now. Everyone has skills, hundreds of skills, many of which employers are looking for. Yet most people can only identify a few, and are not able to describe then to the employer. Experts agree that skill identification is essential to a successful job hunt.

    Now do you have personal goals in life? Where do you want to be in five, 10, 20, 30, 40 years with a vision, most young people today are just drifting in the sea of life?

    For a job search to be purposeful and focused, applicants need to have a job objective- please not the meaningless verbosity you see in most Résumé/CVs. What do you enjoy doing? What are your personal qualities and traits? Does your identified attitude, style and temperament fit your career direction?

    • Poor understanding of hiring process

    The second thing that may be the cause of your prolonged unemployment is your poor understanding of the employers hiring process and attitude. In most situations, employment/hiring has been turned to a two- lane expressway – where there is little or no contact between on coming and on going vehicles. For example, declaring a vacancy via newspaper advert is the last option for most employers.

    Unfortunately, a significant number of applicants depend on want-add alone for their job lead. However, over 80 per cent of positions are not advertised before they are filled. When was the last time you saw job advertisement from Guaranty Trust Bank, NNPC, CBN, Shell, Dangote Group, etc.

    When you desire to work for any organisation what do you do? You approach the personnel department for information and possible assistance. Right? Wrong. The major role of personnel department in the recruitment process is to screen you out!

    • Poor management of change/joblessness

    Whether you are unemployed, under employed, employed by looking for a better job, or entering the work for the very first time, or entering after a long absence, you are facing change. And change affects our emotions – relief, anticipation, or renewal, or you may fell anger, sadness, fear, depression or confusion. These feelings are natural.

    The key to successful management of change (and attendant transition) is attitude. Williams James, the father of modern psychology, said: “We can alter our live by altering our attitudes.” If we learn to manage our attitudes, we won’t feel paralysed, and benefits will follow. Related to this your attitude to job search. Are you hopeful or pessimistic? Do you feel challenged or defeated?

    The next important consideration is how much of you time, energy and money are you willing invest in yourself, or better still in your future? I have seen a lot of applicants who feel that they should not be expected to pay for seminars/services that will enhance their chance for good employment in the shortest possible time (never mind that most of them possess state-of-the-art GSM handsets and make at N50 or more worth of call or take at least a bottle of Coke everyday).

    If you are looking for a job that will pay you N800,000 p.a., how much should you invest to make it happen this year, and not next year? If your current pay is N900,000 p.a., how much should you invest to get a N2.9 million job instead of a N1.7m p.a. job?

    Form the foregoing, it is obvious that job hunting is complex, and requires some specific skills, knowledge and attitude. So we won’t be able to cover everything today. We will continue next week. Good luck in 2013.

     

    PS

    From me to you: You really want a good job. I know. But do you know how to get one? I am not sure. Get yourself a complete job-hunting toolkit- visit www.jobsearchhow.com.ng/jobhuntingmanual for additional information.

  • Seven drivers of effective job search (I)

    THIS year, I am almost sure you strongly desire to get your dream job. As far as this is concerned, we are one. We will like to see you succeed.

    Last week’s presentation and today’s are geared towards ensuring you achieve your objective. In fact, we will give you set of “Quick Guide” to get you off the unemployment line in these first set of articles in the year. Let us continue on the drivers of effective and fast job-hunting in Nigeria’s competitive job market. We have considered five drivers.

     

    Getting set for job

    The starting point is skill analysis. Skills are the fundamental basis of job search. Employers are looking for certain skills, and the best jobs are those ones where your skills match the needs of the employer. There are three types of skills job specific, self-management and transferable skills. You also need to put together an arsenal of accomplishments. This is for those with fairly long working history, highlighting their career achievements.

    You need to understand your strength(s), weakness (es), interests, aptitude and potential. What would you like to do with your life, all your life? Using the input from the above, you will determine and write your career/job objective statement. It is a statement that describes or states what career or job (or a range of closely-related occupations) you desire. A job/career objective statement must highlight what skills you have to offer the employer as well.

    Job hunting strategy

    I am sure the question floating in your mind is “where are the jobs? You are already on your way to uncovering the job market. The next step is to analyse the job and business environment. There are opportunities in education/training, agriculture, accounting/banking/finance, insurance, manufacturing, healthcare, service, government, civil-society/social/professional organisations, oil/gas, media/publishing sectors of the economy. All you need to do is to develop special interest in specific job market/segment that holds promise and potential of a good job for you.

    You will now generate a list of potential employers in respect of your chosen job objective. Necessary information may be obtained from friends, relations, consultants, vendors, newspapers, trade journals etc. Once you’ve made your choice, go after them- using conventional and unconventional means.

    How do you intend to pursue these job opportunities? Specifically, what is your job hunting strategy? I can only tell you what is working and what is not working Let us start with what is working poorly.

    Five ineffective job search strategies are:

    • Internet-posting your CV/Resume on the Internet, and expect potential employer to visit the board/site and make a choice, depending on the match between your skills and their requirements. It has four to 10 per cent success rate

    • Mailing out Resume CV to employers at random (Resume blasting). Seven per cent success rate.

    • Answering ads in professional/trade journals. Seven per cent success rate.

    • Responding to Newspaper ads. five to 24 per cent success rate. The higher the salary/position, the lower the success rate

    • Using employment agencies, five-28 per cent success rate.

    • The higher the salary/position, the lower the success rate

     

    Best five ways to search for job

    • Ask for job leads from family, friends, people you know, etc – “Do you know of any job at the place where you work, or elsewhere?” Thirty-three per cent success rate

    • Knocking on the door of any employer, factory, office etc, whether they are known to have vacancy or not. Forty-seven per cent success rate

    • Identifying subject/field of interest, identifying employers on that field and calling on them to ask if you they are hiring for the position you desire and that you know you can do well. Sixty-nine per cent success rate.

    • Do the above in a group with other job hunters. Seventy-six per cent success rate

    • Doing a life-changing job search (identifying your skills, proffered places, interest and acceptable working environment and going after the job you desire). Eighty-six per cent success rate.

    There is still a better method: combining the strategies (experts suggest it should not more than four!).

    A fact never to be forgotten: the major difference between successful and unsuccessful job seekers is not some factors out there, or the ‘barrier’ listed earlier. It is the way they go about their job hunt. A successful job search requires organisation and effort. Don’t think of yourself as unemployed.

    You have a job, full time job. If you are employed, think of your job search as a part-time job. If you are unemployed, the working hours of five to eight are available for your job search. If you are employed but seeking new opportunities, you need to make time for your job search, and be consistent.

    Job search requires that you develop a new set of priorities and schedules. Be aware that there will be distractions. Just about anything will sound better than looking for work. Don’t be fooled, your number one priority is finding that new job. Don’t let anything get in your way. Here are some tips:

    • Establish measurable goals, on daily and weekly basis. If you set 10 am-3 pm every Tuesday for research, your goal could be to identify 10 new employers you can pursue. Wednesday’s goal could be to contact the employer you identified on Tuesdays. Be realist, but challenge yourself.

    • Make yourself accountable. Check your progress at the end of each day and each week. Set new goals. It is a good strategy to involve someone else in your search. Give them permission to hold you accountable for your plans. Or join/create a job-hunters club/group.

    • Keep accurate records if you are conducting a serious job campaign. You make hundreds of contacts and generate new opportunities regularly. Don’t rely on your memory, develop and maintain a filling and/or a recording system – binders, pocket calendars and notebooks.

    Your destiny is in your hands in the year.

     

    PS: Give yourself a big advantage in the job market- get a copy of our recently published book, JobSearchGuru’s JOB-HUNTING MANUAL. Visit our website for details.

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Seven drivers of effective job search (I)

    In 2013, I am almost sure you strongly desire to get your dream job. As far as this is concerned, we are one. We will like to see you succeed. Last week’s presentation and today’s are geared towards ensuring you achieve your objective. In fact we will give you set of “Quick Guide” to get you off the unemployment line in these first set of articles in 2013. Let us continue on the drivers of effective and fast job-hunting in Nigeria’s competitive job market. We have considered five drivers.

     

    Getting organisedfor job search

    The starting point is skill analysis. Skills are the fundamental basis of job search. Employers are looking for certain skills, and the best jobs are those ones where your skills match the needs of the employer. There are three types of skills job specific, self-management and transferable skills. You also need to put together an arsenal of accomplishments. This is for those with fairly long working history, highlighting their career achievements.

    You need to understand your strength(s), weakness (es), interests, aptitude and potential. What would you like to do with your life, all your life? Using the input from the above, you will determine and write your career/job objective statement. It is a statement that describes or states what career or job (or a range of closely-related occupations) you desire. A job/career objective statement must highlight what skills you have to offer the employer as well.

     

    Develop a job-hunting strategy

    I am sure the question floating in your mind is “where are the jobs? You are already on your way to uncovering the job market. The next step is to analyse the job and business environment. There are opportunities in education/training, agriculture, accounting/banking/finance, insurance, manufacturing, healthcare, service, government, civil-society/social/professional organisations, oil/gas, media/publishing sectors of the economy. All you need to do is to develop special interest in specific job market/segment that holds promise and potential of a good job for you.

    You will now generate a list of potential employers in respect of your chosen job objective. Necessary information may be obtained from friends, relations, consultants, vendors, newspapers, trade journals etc. Once you’ve made your choice, go after them- using conventional and unconventional means.

    How do you intend to pursue these job opportunities? Specifically, what is your job hunting strategy? I can only tell you what is working and what is not working Let us start with what is working poorly.

     

    The five most ineffective job search strategies are:

    • Internet-posting your CV/Resume on the Internet, and expect potential employer to visit the board/site and make a choice, depending on the match between your skills and their requirements. It has four to 10 per cent success rate

    • Mailing out Resume CV to employers at random (Resume blasting). Seven per cent success rate.

    • Answering ads in professional/trade journals. Seven per cent success rate.

    • Responding to Newspaper ads. five to 24 per cent success rate. The higher the salary/position, the lower the success rate

    • Using employment agencies, five-28 per cent success rate.

    • The higher the salary/position, the lower the success rate

     

    Now, the best five ways to search for a job

    • Ask for job leads from family, friends, people you know, etc – “Do you know of any job at the place where you work, or elsewhere?” Thirty-three per cent success rate

    • Knocking on the door of any employer, factory, office etc, whether they are known to have vacancy or not. Forty-seven per cent success rate

    • Identifying subject/field of interest, identifying employers on that field and calling on them to ask if you they are hiring for the position you desire and that you know you can do well. 69 per cent success rate.

    • Do the above in a group with other job hunters. Seventy-six per cent success rate

    • Doing a life – changing job search (identifying your skills, proffered places, interest and acceptable working environment and going after the job you desire) 86 per cent success rate.

    There is still a better method: combining the strategies (experts suggest it should not more than four!).

    A fact never to be forgotten: the major difference between successful and unsuccessful job seekers is not some factors out there, or the ‘barrier’ listed earlier. It is the way they go about their job hunt. A successful job search requires organisation and effort. Don’t think of yourself as unemployed.

    You have a job, full time job. If you are employed think of your job search as a part-time job. If you are unemployed, the working hours of five to eight are available for your job search. If you are employed but seeking new opportunities, you need to make time for your job search, and be consistent.

    Job search requires that you develop a new set of priorities and schedules. Be aware that there will be distractions. Just about anything will sound better than looking for work. Don’t be fooled, your number one priority is finding that new job. Don’t let anything get in your way. Here are some tips:

    • Establish measurable goals, on daily and weekly basis. If you set 10 am-3 pm every Tuesday for research, your goal could be to identify 10 new employers you can pursue. Wednesday’s goal could be to contact the employer you identified on Tuesday. Be realist, but challenge yourself.

    • Make yourself accountable. Check your progress at the end of each day and each week. Set new goals. It is a good strategy to involve someone else in your search. Give them permission to hold you accountable for your plans. Or join/create a job-hunters club/group.

    • Keep accurate records if you are conducting a serious job campaign. You make hundreds of contacts and generate new opportunities regularly. Don’t rely on your memory, develop and maintain a filling and/or a recording system – binders, pocket calendars and notebooks.

    Your destiny is in your hands in 2013.

     

    PS: Give yourself a big advantage in the job market- get a copy of our recently published book, JobSearchGuru’s JOB-HUNTING MANUAL. Visit our website for details.