The Nation Newspaper

Tag: unemployment

  • ‘Easy access to loans ‘ll curb unemployment’

    The Association of Promotional Products Specialists of Nigeria (APPSON) has said access to soft loans by the government and financial institutions in the country will go a long way in curbing the rising unemployment index.

    Speaking during a briefing in Lagos earlier in the week, President of APPSON, Mrs. Ngozi Ezeonu, stated that they were committed to adding value to the economy and provide employment opportunities for many Nigerians, especially youths given the right kind of support from government and relevant organisations in the country.

    According to Ezeonu, the association was created to promote the best practices in the industry and also align with global standards of business by weeding out quacks that operate without recourse to safety and health considerations.

    She said: “Our industry is a big one and we decided to form an association to further protect practitioners and weed out quacks from the industry. We are already partnering with relevant government agencies like customs because most of the items we deal in come through imports even though a sizeable number are sourced locally.

    “At the formal launch of the association next week we are going to have the chance to interface with a lot of clients and major stakeholders in the industry. As part of efforts to sanitise the industry, every APPSON member has a special number assigned to them to show their authenticity.

    “But then there are key issues that affect our operations and these include multi-taxation, ban on the importation of certain items. We want government to initiate policies that will encourage entrepreneurs like us so that we can in turn provide more employment opportunities for people.’’

     

     

    That is why we believe that easy access to soft loans will help the industry a lot and make business better.”

  • Yenagoa Institute launches schemes to address youth unemployment

    The Institute of Science and Technology, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, has launched some innovative, practical job creation schemes designed to tackle acute youth unemployment and insecurity in Africa.

    The schemes are TeachFirst Solutions (TFS), Public-Private Partnership Job Creation Solutions (PPPJCS), and Youth Engagement and Entrepreneurial Training Solutions (YEETS).

    TFS is aimed at African governments experiencing unemployment among their university graduates in maths, science and technology fields, while the PPPJCS is aimed at both governments and private sector organisations and is, particularly, useful for addressing unemployment among educated or literate young people. The latter scheme is also designed to provide high technical skills to young people as well as aid workplace productivity. The third scheme, YEETS, is aimed at governments experiencing high unemployment among their artisans or low skill people. It is particularly useful in dealing with challenges pose by youth violence, kidnapping and insecurity.

    In all the three schemes, the Centre for Youth Employment and Job Creation at the Institute of Science and Technology will design and write-up the scheme and train people who are to implement them. Each scheme, which comes with built-in review, monitoring, research and evaluation – all designed to guarantee results and assure quality, guarantees jobs and training places for the unemployed young persons.

    On the innovations, James Ogunleye, professor of innovation and enterprise and Deputy Rector at the Institute, said: “A significant reason for the current high rate of youth joblessness in Africa is a virtual absence of interactions between education and the labour markets. Be that as it may, what is missing between the youth and employment is innovation”. According to him: “the Institute of Science and Technology solutions are both strategies to prevent and actions to address youth unemployment, kidnapping, gang violence and general insecurity anywhere in Africa”.  

    The Institute of Science and Technology is a new interdisciplinary research-led school dedicated to applied research and education in science and technology.

    Its main objective is to empower our generation and  contribute to nation-building by helping to uplift the progress in business, science and technology and to undertake cutting-edge research that will inform policy and development in Nigeria, Africa and the world at large.

     

  • Lagos moves to tackle unemployment with support for entrepreneurship

    Lagos State plans to create jobs and support entrepreneurship.

    The Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment, Dr Olanike Oduwole, said the ministry would partner individuals and organisations that will support the government in providing more jobs for the teeming population through the encouragement of innovations and creative ideas. There would be a form of paradigm shift from the conventional white collar jobs.

    Oduwole,  who spoke during a visit with officers from the ministry to Technology Incubation Centre in Agege, on the outshirts of Lagos, urged individuals to think of what they could do to earn a living, instead of pursuing or waiting endlessly for office work which might not be available.

    She told the management of the Centre to expand its reach to promote and increase patronage and create awareness about the Centre, adding that the visit was part of the drive of the Ministry to recognise and associate with both government and privately-organisations that had been at the forefront of incubating ideas and promoting entrepreneurial skills.

    She said the state government is interested in gainful and meaningful collaborations.

    Chairman, Cooperative Society of Entrepreneurs, Technology Incubation Centre, Agege, Lagos, Mr. Jude Okpala, said there was need to develop talent, technology, capital and technical know-how to leverage entrepreneurial talents in the state.

    He appealed to the state government to assist in the provision of more land for entrepreneurs to enable them to further contribute to the development of the state, rather than them seeking for lands outside the state.

    He said the Centre seeks to develop and sustain collaborative linkages with research institutes and tertiary institutions, adding that this would help to develop a technologically competitive industrial base through grassroots approach that would link talent, technology, capital and technical know-how to leverage entrepreneurial talents.

    “The Technology Incubation Centre (TIC), Lagos is a joint project between the Lagos State and Federal Government. It is established in 29 states of the Federation and six extensions across the country with over 826 products in the market, creating more than 4,756 direct jobs nationwide,” he said.

  • Unemployment, war… Concerns as Nigerians, Syrians, others invade Europe

    Unemployment, war… Concerns as Nigerians, Syrians, others invade Europe

    The influx of asylum-seekers migrants from Africa and troubled Syria into Europe is giving Europen nations some nightmares. Eupean governments are divided on how best to manage the crisis. 

    Two days ago, about 40 people drowned off the coast of Libya after a vessel carrying 140 people deflated, causing panic on board. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said the victims include Nigerians, Somalis and Sudanese.
    The death toll for migrants from Nigeria and other African countries drowned in Mediterranean Sea since the beginning of this year is already worse than the death toll for Titanic catastrophe.
    More than 1500 people have died in its waters since January, comparing with 96 for the same period of time in 2014.
    A record 50,000 migrants hit Greek shores in July alone. They were ferried from inundated islands to the mainland by a government already floundering in financial crisis and keen to whisk them north into Macedonia, whence they enter Serbia and then Hungary.
    Hungary said it had recorded 165,000 entering so far this year. Countless others may have crossed its borders without registering.
    Determined to stem the tide, Hungary is building a 3.5-metre (11.5-foot) high fence along its border with Serbia.
    At the weekend, the Budapest parliament adopted measures the government says will effectively seal the frontier to migrants as of 15 September.
    But, Austria and Germany threw open their borders at the weekend to thousands of exhausted migrants from the east, transported to the frontier by a right-wing Hungarian government that had tried to stop them but was overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of people.
    Left to walk the last yards into Austria, rain-soaked migrants, many of them refugees from Syria’s civil war, were whisked by train and shuttle bus, first to Vienna, and then on by train, to Munich and other cities in Germany.
    By early evening on Saturday, about 6,000 had arrived in Munich and nearly 2,000 more were expected on two trains due after midnight, said Christoph Hillenbrand, head of the Upper Bavaria regional administration.
    Last Thursday, Germany and France ordered the European commission to come up with a new “permanent” and binding regime for spreading the refugee load around all of the 28 countries in the union. British Prime Minister David Cameron and Home Secretary Theresa May want nothing to do with the scheme and have absented themselves from the policymaking, carping from the sidelines.
    Last Friday, the prime ministers of Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic told Paris and Berlin to get stuffed, arguing that west European-style multi-culturalism is nothing but trouble and that they have no intention of repeating the same mistakes.
    The commission has already done what Berlin is demanding. On Wednesday, its President, Jean-Claude Juncker, will unveil proposals obliging at least 22 countries with a combined population of almost 400 million to absorb 160,000 people from Italy, Greece and Hungary, which are struggling with influxes from the Middle East and Africa.
    The all-powerful busybodies of Brussels are relatively impotent when it comes to immigration.
    The seven countries of central Europe and the Baltic are being asked to take fewer than 30,000. It should not be a problem for big international cities such as Warsaw, Prague and Budapest. But the east Europeans is retreating into parochialism, digging into their national bunkers while nursing resentment at what they perceive to be German bullying.
    Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is the cheerleader of the “Europe is useless” chorus, but Robert Fico, the Slovakian Premier, and President Milos Zeman in Prague are not far behind. Ewa Kopacz, the Prime Minister of Poland, sounds more moderate, but she looks likely to lose an election next month to the nationalist right. Her hands are tied.
    When Europe’s leaders last met to grapple with the crisis, in June, they argued until 3.30am and dispersed without agreement, bringing Matteo Renzi, the Italian Prime Minister, to lament: “If this is Europe, you can keep it.”
    Things have worsened considerably since then. Governments are floundering, pirouetting on policy in response to front-page pictures of tragedy on a Turkish beach, engaging in a blame game which, coming on top of five years of division over Greece and the euro, is exposing major divisions.
    If the euro proved to be a fair-weather currency whose structures and rules buckled and nearly collapsed in a storm, the same is now evident on immigration. The system is flimsy, not fit for purpose in an emergency.
    There is no “European” immigration policy or regime. There is a mish-mash of national policies, a patchwork of systems and criteria which are contradictory, incoherent, fragmented. Italy is very far way from Finland, not only geographically, but when it comes to immigration and asylum. France and Germany have quite different historical approaches to integrating newcomers. Sweden and Denmark are neighbours with a close shared history, but their immigration policies are chalk and cheese.
    National governments guard these prerogatives jealously. “Europe” in the form of the European Union (EU) authorities in Brussels has minimal say over policy-making. Almost all power here lies with heads of national governments and interior ministries.
    Yet, in this crisis, Brussels-bashing has become routine, the cheap and easy option for shameless national leaders acting unilaterally, blocking every suggestion that comes out of Brussels and then blaming it for the ensuing chaos.
    Orbán proved the point in Brussels last week. “Europe” had failed, its leaders had irresponsibly created this mess, their response was “madness”. He has put up a razor-wire fence on the border with Serbia and announced he was fast-tracking legislation to establish a zero-immigration regime within 10 days, with the army deployed on the border.
    Brussels cannot stop him because these powers are national. If need be, he said, he would put up another fence on the border with Croatia, a barrier between two EU countries. On Friday, Brussels shrugged and said it did not like this, but could not do anything about it.
    Cameron responded to growing international and domestic pressure for Britain to take more refugees fleeing the Syrian civil war and other conflicts by saying that the United Kingdom (UK) will fulfill its moral responsibilities.
    In a marked shift of tone, as Europe’s human rights watchdog criticised Britain for failing to offer shelter, Cameron spoke of how moved he was by the picture of Aylan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian boy, whose body was washed up on a Turkish beach.
    Speaking at a Hitachi train plant in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, the prime minister said: “Anyone who saw those pictures overnight could not help but be moved and, as a father, I felt deeply moved by the sight of that young boy on a beach in Turkey. Britain is a moral nation and we will fulfill our moral responsibilities.
    “We are taking thousands of people, and we will take thousands of people.” his remarks stopped short, however, of a specific commitment to take more refugees. Cameron said he will keep the issue under review, a stance that gives Whitehall time to work out a scheme with the Home Office, local councils and international agencies.
    Cameron said Britain had already stepped up to meet the challenge of the refugee crisis facing Europe by assisting in the rescue mission in the Mediterranean, spending 0.7 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on international aid and donating money to fund Syrian refugee camps in the Middle East.
    He insisted, however, that taking more refugees was not the only answer to the problem. “We need a comprehensive solution, a new government in Libya, we need to deal with the problems in Syria.
    “I would say the people responsible for these terrible scenes we see, the people most responsible, are President Assad in Syria and the butchers of Isil (Islamic State) and the criminal gangs that are running this terrible trade in people. And we have to be as tough on them at the same time.”
    The Btritish prime minister’s intervention came as he faced growing domestic and international pressure, including from within his own party, to start to take the numbers already being taken elsewhere in Europe.
    The Scottish first Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, accused him of adopting a “walk on by on the other side” approach after he said on Wednesday that the UK would not take any extra refugees.
    Harriet Harman, the interim Labour leader, has called on Cameron to convene an emergency meeting of Cobra cabinet committee to coordinate the government response.
    The Shadow Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, stepped up her criticism of his refusal to accept more than a few hundred refugees. “It is shameful, utterly shameful, that our prime minister is just turning his back,” she said.
    “My problem with the prime minister’s response is that he only wants to talk about the things that he will do to help far away, but he won’t actually do anything here at home. We have a responsibility to act.”
    London’s Mayor, Boris Johnson, became the most senior Conservative to call for more action, saying it was Britain’s moral responsibility to take those fleeing persecution. But he said the UK must not become a magnet or pole of attraction for “economic migrants”.
    Johnson said it was time to look harder at resolving the Syrian problem. “No one would say non-intervention is working,” he said.
    The chancellor, George Osborne, speaking during a factory visit in Sunderland, said: “There is no person who would not be very shocked by that picture – and I was very distressed when I saw it myself this morning – of that poor boy lying dead on the beach.
    “We know there is not a simple answer to this crisis. What you need to do is first of all tackle Isis (Islamic State) and the criminal gangs who killed that boy.”
    In a letter to Cameron, Harman urged him to adopt a four-point plan to help more refugees. She urged him to:
    •Agree now that Britain will take more refugees, both directly from Syria and from the southern European countries where most refugees have arrived.
    •Convene an urgent meeting of EU leaders next week to agree a process for resolving the immediate refugee crisis on Europe’s borders.
    •Convene an urgent meeting of Cobra so that a cross-government plan can be agreed and implemented. This was now a problem spanning beyond the Home Office, affecting transport, small business, tourism and local communities, she said.
    •Bring together a summit of local authority leaders to agree a framework on what more can be done locally to support refugees and asylum seekers.
    She added: “We are all proud of Britain’s historical role of offering a sanctuary to those fleeing conflict and persecution. We are an outward-facing, generous-hearted nation, not one that turns inward and shirks its responsibilities. I know you will not want to be the prime minister of a government that fails to offer sanctuary while our neighbours are stepping up to respond.”

  • Wriggling out of unemployment with your CV (II)

    Wriggling out of unemployment with your CV (II)

    Last week, we said many graduates are searching for  jobs without success because they are ignorant about how to package their curriculum vitae (CV). We added that your CV has a persuasive purpose and it is basically an advertisement. We said as such, you must be clear on what the employer is looking for and what you have to offer before you begin your CV.

    In writing your CV, you need to organise your thinking such that you will be able to see some new connections between what you have done and what the employer is looking for. You need not confine yourself to work-related accomplishments. Therefore, base your composition on your entire life accomplishments. The essence of this is to cover all the talents you bring to the market place. If you are making a career change or are a young person and new to the job market, you are going to be especially creative in getting across what makes you stand out.  One important part of the planning process is to decide which CV format fits your needs best. Do not automatically assume that a traditional format will work best for you.

    Segmentation

    There are three types of CVs, and these are chronological, functional and combined chronological functional. The most effective one is the combined chronological functional CV that takes care of the combined deficiencies of chronological and functional CVs. A great CV has two sections. In the first section, you make assertions about your abilities, qualities and achievements. The second section, the evidence section, is where you back up your assertions with evidence that you actually did what you said you did.

    This is where you list and describe the jobs you have held, your education, etc. Most CVs contain the evidence section without assertions. The assertions section usually has two or three sections. In all of them, your job is to assert that you are the best candidate for the job. You start by naming your intended job. This may be in a separate Objective section, or may be woven into the second section, the Summary. If you are making a change to a new field, or are a young person not fully established in a career, start with a separate Objective section.

     

    Assertions Section

     

    (A) Objective

    Targeting your CV requires that you should be completely clear about your career direction. The way to demonstrate your clarity of direction is to make the first major topic of your CV be your objective section. Suppose the owner of a newspaper house puts an advert in the paper looking for an experienced sales person. Then later, the company receives 800 CVs. The applicants have different backgrounds.

    The recruiting person has no way of knowing whether any of them is really interested in selling the company’s product. He or she remembers they have all applied for a job they do not really want. He or she knows that many of the CVs received are from people who are just casting their seeds to the winds. Then, he or she comes across a CV in the pile that starts with the following: “OBJECTIVE: To work as a sales person in a reputable media organisation where an extraordinary record of exceeding sales target and excellent customer relations would be needed.”

    Magnetic effect

    This will automatically attract his or her attention. It works well because the prospective employer is smart enough to know that someone who wants to do exactly what he or she is offering will be much more likely to succeed than someone who does not. And, he or she (the applicant) will probably be a lot more pleasant to work with as well. Also, this candidate has done a good job of establishing why he or she is the best candidate in the first sentence. It is noteworthy that even when people are clever enough to have an objective, they often make the mistake of composing a selfish objective such as, “To work as X in an organisation where I can hone my skills….” The employer is interested in hiring you for what you can do for him or her, not for fulfilling your personal goals and agenda.

    To write your objective, therefore, you first of all decide on a specific job title for your objective. Go back to your list of answers to the question, How can I demonstrate that I am the best candidate? as suggested earlier. What are the two or three qualities, abilities or achievements that would make a candidate stand out as truly exceptional for that specific job?

    Understanding

    The person in the above example understands that the prospective employer would be very much interested in candidates having the ability to exceed sales targets, generate new accounts and effectively relate with customers. Therefore, he or she makes that the very first and convincing point of the CV. Ensure that the objective is to the point. Experts such as Nicholas Lore, an international career management coach say it is better to avoid fluffy phrases which are obvious or do not mean anything, such as, “Allowing the ability to enhance potential and utilise experience in new challenges.” The objective may be broad and still somewhat be vague in some cases, e.g. “A senior-level management position in the banking industry”.

    Effectiveness

    Having an objective statement that is really catching is the best.  One format is:

     

    “OBJECTIVE: An X position in an organisation where Y and Z would be needed.” X refers to the name of the position you are looking for. Y and Z are the most unique qualities, abilities or achievements that will really make you stand out from a crowd of applicants. The research previously done, to find out what is most important to the employer will provide the information to fill in Y and Z.

    If you are actually not sure of the type of job you are looking for, adapt your CV to each type of job you apply for. There is nothing wrong with having several different CVs, each with a different objective, specifically composed for a different type of position. This is so because you are only writing an advertising copy, not your life story that is objectively fixed.

    Annex

    You may or may not need to use a separate Objective section if you are looking for a job in your present field. You may just include your Objective in your Summary section. The point of using an Objective is to create a specific psychological response in the mind of the reader. If you are making a career change or are a young person, you want the employer to immediately focus on where you are going, rather than where you have been. If you are looking for another job in your present field, it is more important to stress your qualities, achievements and abilities first.

    The following are a few examples of the separate objective section:

    • A mid-level position in the insurance industry where a background in public relations would be needed.
    • An English language teaching position where a special ability to motivate and communicate effectively with students would be required.

    (B) The summary part

    The Summary (of qualifications) segment consists of several concise statements that focus the reader’s attention on the most important qualities, achievements and abilities you have to offer. Those qualities should be the most compelling demonstration of why you should be employed at the expense of other candidates. We will continue next week.

    PS: For those making inquiries about our Public Speaking, Business Presentation and Professional Writing Skills programme, please visit the website indicated here for details.

    GOKE ILESANMI, Managing Consultant/CEO of Gokmar Communication Consulting, is an International Platinum Columnist, Professional Public Speaker/MC, Communication Specialist, Motivational Speaker and Career Management Coach. He is also a Book Reviewer, Biographer and Editorial Consultant.

     

    Tel: 08055068773; 08187499425

    Email: gokeiles2010@gmail.com

    Website: www.gokeilesanmi.com

  • ‘Entrepreneurship answer to graduate unemployment’

    INCULCATION of entrepreneurship skills into graduates is the only way to tackle unemployment, experts have said.

    They spoke at the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) during a four-day workshop for rectors, provosts and directors of entrepreneurship programmes of tertiary technological institutions at the Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH), Lagos.

    NBTE’s Executive Secretary Dr Mas’udu Kazaure, said for President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to achieve success, there must be effective delivery of technical and vocational education (TVE).

    He said unemployment is rife because of lack of technical and vocational skills in graduates.

    Represented by the board’s Director, Planning and Research and Statistics, Mr  Ekpenyong Ekpenyong, Kazaure noted that the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) survey records 1.3 million Nigerians entering the job market yearly while the National Committee on Job Creation recorded 49 million unemployed Nigerians.

    Consequently, he said the army of the unemployed has led to an increase in urban violence, kidnapping and militant insurgency.

    He listed the challenges facing the TVE, as low access, low motivation, low societal esteem and discrimination as well as inadequacy of facilities.

    Lamenting students’preference for universities, he said: “The trend is that so many children have become lazy in their studies. They run away from Mathematics and Sciences. They go into universities to read Business  and at the end of the day, they want to be managers of a bank.’’

    He continued: “This trend is not good for our country because when you go to a developed  world, it is not the government that is driving the economy but the private sector, and until we go that way, Nigeria may still remain where it is.”

    Coordinator of the event Alhaji Abdul Isa Kafarmata, noted that TVE is though expensive, yet receives less attention from the government.

    “If you want to train a university student in Political Science, Sociology, Law etc, you need only a chalk and a board but for you to train a technician or mechanical engineer, you need much millions of naira for equipment, workshop, laboratories. Unfortunately, the priority of the past administration and also the attitude of our country men is not favouring technical education, and as such parents may find it difficult to come to terms with the disparity that exist between the university and polytechnic education, and they are misled most of the time.

    “However, what I want to emphasis ise is that the economy should be allowed to dictate the manpower needs of the country. Do we really need this bachelor degree all around, turning our millions of graduate in Humanities, Natural Sciences without any skill?’’  Kafarmata, a Director with NBTE, Kaduna, asked.

    The Rector of YABATECH Margret Ladipo, argued that entrepreneurship  could make graduates become self-reliant, adding that this is only possible through changing the mindset of graduates and inculcating the spirit of entrepreneurship in them.

    She said it would also bring out the skills and competence, making them job creators and, ultimately, reducing the number of unemployed graduates.

    Stressing the significance of polytechnic education, she said: “We are talking about bridging the gap between the classroom and the industry. We are talking about skills and competence, by the time we bridge that gap, we will not be looking at paper qualification or what you can actually do; we are talking about what you can do, if you are skilled enough, you will be employable.”

  • Wriggling out of unemployment with your CV

    Wriggling out of unemployment with your CV

    Given the latest report by
    the National Bureau of
    Statistics (NBS) regarding the worsening employment situation in the country, we have decided to discuss relevant employment solutions as a guide to the different types of employment challenges contained in the report. We will discuss job-search and self-employment solutions.

    Many graduates are today roaming the streets in search of jobs without success just because they do not know how to package their curriculum vitae (CV) in the right way and convince prospective employers. The fact that our school curriculum is not reviewed to accommodate topics on job-search strategies and entrepreneurship to reflect the realities of the 21 century globalisation does not help matters.

     

    Proper definition

    A CV has a persuasive motive. Indeed, it is an advertisement. A great CV does not just tell a prospective employer what you have done but presents you in the best light. It convinces the prospective employer that you have what it takes to be successful in the new position. Nicholas Lore, an international career management expert says it is a mistake to think of your CV as a history of your past, as a personal statement or as some sort of self-expression. Surely, most of the content of any CV is focused on the job history. But, endeavour to write with the intention to create interest, to persuade the prospective employer to call you. If you write with that goal, your final product will be very different from when you are writing to inform or catalogue your job history.

    Most people write their CV anyhow. If you realise that a great CV can be your gateway to getting your dream job, you will definitely develop real interest in creating an enviable masterpiece, rather than the despicable ones most people compose.

    Research shows that only one interview is granted for every 200 CVs received by a prospective employer, and that each CV is quickly scanned, rather than read. A period of between ten and twenty seconds is all the time you have to persuade a prospective employer to read further. The implication of this is that the decision to interview a candidate is usually based on an overall first impression that his or her CV is able to create.

     

    Extension

    Therefore, the top half of the first page of your CV will either make or mar your chances. By the time a prospective employer has read the first few lines, you may or may not arouse his or her interest. This is why it is said that your CV is an advertisement. Ensure that it has the same result as a well-written advert: to get the reader to respond.

    To write a CV that is effective, you need to learn the strategy of writing a powerful, but subtle advertising copy. Note that the best-advertised product is often bought more than the best product. If you have a masterpiece of a CV, you will always get a better response from prospective employers than people with better credentials but without a good CV.

    However, do not make false claims on your CV just for the sake of getting invited for an interview. Integrity is very important. You should focus on the prospective employers’ needs not yours. Usually, the person who makes the hiring decision is also the person who is responsible for the bottom-line productivity of the project or group you hope to join.

    This is a person who cares deeply about how well the job will be done. Therefore, you need to write your CV in such a way that will appeal directly to him or her. Ask yourself questions such as What would make someone the best candidate? What does the employer really want?

     If you are in search of a job in a field you have enough knowledge of, think of what would make someone a superior candidate. If you are not sure, you can ask other people who work for the same company or in the same field. You can even call the prospective employer and ask him or her what he or she wants because if you are not addressing his or her real needs, he or she will not respond to your CV. Putting yourself in the position of the person doing the hiring is the first and most important step in writing a CV that markets you rather than describes your history. Every step in producing a finished document should be part of your overall intention to convey to the prospective employer that you are a truly-exceptional candidate.

     

    Clarity

    Therefore, be clear on what the employer is looking for and what you have to offer before you begin your CV. Write your answers to the first question What would make someone the perfect candidate? on a sheet of paper, one answer per page.

    Prioritise the sheets of paper, based on which qualities or abilities you think would be most important to the person doing the hiring. Then, starting with the top priority page, fill the rest of that page with everything you have ever done that demonstrates that you fit best and perfectly with what is wanted and needed by the employer. We will continue next week.

     

    PS: For those making inquiries about our Public Speaking, Business Presentation and Professional Writing Skills programme, please visit the website indicated here for details.

     

    GOKE ILESANMI, Managing Consultant/CEO of Gokmar Communication Consulting, is an International Platinum Columnist, Professional Public Speaker/MC, Communication Specialist, Motivational Speaker and Career Management Coach. He is also a Book Reviewer, Biographer and Editorial Consultant.

     

    Tel: 08055068773; 08187499425

    Email: gokeiles2010@gmail.com

    Website: www.gokeilesanmi.com

  • VC urges varsity administrators to tackle unemployment

    The Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the Adekunle Ajasin University in Akungba-Akoko (AAUA), Ondo State, Prof Igbekele Ajibefun, has urged university administrators to focus on entrepreneurship and skill acquisition programmes to enable the nation fight unemployment.

    Ajibefun made the call while declaring open the maiden Faculty of Education International Conference held at the Nelson Mandela Hall on Tuesday.

    The three-day, with the theme: Promoting entrepreneurship opportunities for sustainable development in the 21st Century, brought together experts from various institutions to discuss unemployment and its solutions.

    The VC identified peoples’ unending search for white-collar job and their neglect of vocational education as causes of unemployment, saying the conventional education emphasised paper qualification at the expense of skills.

    He said: “Early in the 21st Century, we discovered this anomaly and we made efforts to set the records straight, through the incorporation of entrepreneurship in the curriculum and making emphasis on vocational education. We called for government’s supports by releasing funds to start it.”

    The VC said AAUA had inculcated entrepreneurship in its curriculum and set up Centre for Entrepreneurship Development to focus on teaching on self-reliance in partnership with private firms.

    “There can be no doubt that, in a nation where more than 60 per cent of its youths are jobless and some are criminally-inclined, the best contribution that any organisation or an individual can offer is to make entrepreneurial skills and training available to the unemployed youths to enable them achieve personal empowerment and self-development,” he added.

    Earlier in his address, the Dean of the faculty, Prof Sunday Amuseghan, said the initiative was part of the commitment of the faculty to vision and mission of the university. He praised the management for giving support for the conference.

    In their separate keynote presentations, Prof Richard Cooper of Temple University in Philadelphia, Unite States, Prof Olufemi Bamiro, former VC of University of Ibadan (UI), and Prof Ibukun Williams, Director, AAUA Leadership Institute for Public Policy and Sustainable Development, outlined a number of recommendations for the promotion of entrepreneurship opportunities in the country.

  • ‘Technical education key to solving unemployment’

    ‘Technical education key to solving unemployment’

    How vocational education can be used to solve the nation’s employment crisis was the focus of discussion at a seminar organised by Nigeria Vocational Association (NVA) at the Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH) in Yaba, Lagos, last week.

    At the forum with the theme: Partnership in Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET), discussants agreed that human development and skills acquisition have the potential to create millions of jobs for youths if explored.

    NVA President, Prof Patrick Egbule, said the strategic relevance of TVET in promoting culture of skill acquisition was being recognised daily. He said partnership for development in any area of human endeavour was not new, noting that it remained the goal of many societies facing development challenges, including environmental sustainability, peace, security and economic development.

    He noted that the nation was being daily threatened by vices, such as armed robbery, kidnapping, corruption, poverty and insurgency, observing that unemployment remained the cause of the problems. He said TVET had aims to address the challenges and strengthen individuals to intensify their reach in entrepreneurship and production-based business.

    Former Registrar, National Business and Technical Examinations Board (NABTEB), Emeritus Professor Olu Aina, said lack of adequate funding of vocational education compounded the nation’s challenges. He said African Union, in 2006, called for constant investment in vocational education for African countries to combat poverty and give opportunities to the youth.

    He said countries could achieve this by partnering with private sector to boost technical education, which, he said, would train youths in relevant skills and upgrade their competence.

    The NABTEB Registrar, Dr Aworanti Olatunde, said public-private partnership in technical and vocational training would make a huge difference in job creation. He said there is no nation that could achieve development without skilled workforce, noting that there is the need for effective collaboration among stakeholders to change the youth orientation.

    YABATECH Rector, Dr Margaret Ladipo, said vocational training was part of national development strategies in many countries, because of its impact on productivity and economic growth. She emphasised that no nation could grow without well-equipped technical and vocational institutions to train youths in practical skills that would lead to economic growth.

    The Chairman, Organising Committee, Mr Demola Oladipo, said government should take opportunity of the event to increase its investment in technical education. Highlight of the event included presentation of award and confirmation of Dr Francis Aghedo, Chairman ITOTEC Group of Companies, as fellow of the body.

     

  • Wriggling out of unemployment cobweb (II)

    Wriggling out of unemployment cobweb (II)

    Last week, we said the latest report of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on labour market indicates that the population of the working-age people (between 15 and 64 years) rose to 103.5 million in the second quarter (April to June) of 2015 from 102.8 million in the first quarter (January to March).

     

    We added that more emotionally disturbing is the fact that the NBS report shows that about 1, 317,700 Nigerians lost their jobs within the period while the number of the under-employed people soared with new engagement of about 1,362,274 workers in this category of employment during the period.

    We expatiated that the number of the unemployed people in the labour force jumped to 6,063,500 from 5,533,600 recorded in first quarter of 2015, leading to a rise in the unemployment rate to 8.2 per cent.

     

    We said the matters arising from this NBS report border on the multifaceted issues of those looking for jobs; those who are under-employed and those who have lost their jobs.

    We said to tackle this problem, we will discuss relevant employment solutions as a guide to the different categories of people identified in the report. We then discussed halfway, how job-seekers can get a job. We will continue this week.

     

    Findings

    According to findings, only about 20 per cent of job vacancies are ever publicly known or advertised. The main avenue for informing the public about these vacancies is through adverts in the mass media as well as on the Internet. Recruitment or employment agencies and executive-search firms are other sources of open-job-market vacancies. About 80 per cent of job vacancies are never advertised and thus regarded as “closed”.

    This means it is difficult to find out the vacant positions unless we do our research well. The research often takes the form of making a compilation of the list of all the companies in your field that you might be interested in working for, and contacting them for possible employment.

    Exploring the closed segment of the job market that has about 80 per cent of job vacancies necessitates that you send out your CV accompanied by the type of cover letter technically referred to as the “uninvited” or “cold-contact letter”.

    This job-search tool can be very effective, especially if you have a specific set of companies you want to work for, or are looking for a job in a specific geographical location. The uninvited cover letter allows you to take a proactive approach to job-hunting instead of just responding to vacancy adverts.

    The “uninvited” or “cold-contact letter” letter can make such impression that you will be remembered as soon as there is a vacancy in the desired organisation.

    It is also possible to brilliantly create a vacancy for yourself by convincing the prospective employer that the company needs your talents or skills. In the process, you can secure an interview. It is noteworthy that whenever possible, ensure that your uninvited letter is sent to a named individual.

     

    Alternative strategy

    It is also possible to enhance your job-search strategy by writing another type of letter technically called “referral letter”. This is the type of letter that is very close to the cold-contact letter. This letter, too, is uninvited but has some edge. It prominently displays the name of a person your addressee knows.

    Referral letters are the product of networking that many experts say is the most effective method of job-hunting. In its simplest form, networking in job search involves using everyone you know as a resource for finding a new job. Referral letters can come from a variety of sources. You may talk with someone at a meeting of a trade association in your field who will tell you about a vacancy.

     

    A friend might tell you about a job he or she saw through his or her company’s internal job-posting. As once stressed, the value of the referral letter lies in its name-dropping. If you can arrest the prospective employer’s attention in the first line of your letter by mentioning someone he or she knows and accords recognition, then you are on your way to successful job search.

     

    One of the variations on the referral letter is an approach like: “Pharm Uzamat Akinbile, CEO of Musaroq Nigeria Limited told me that you may have a vacancy for a Pharmacist” or “Mr. Odeyeyiwa Kazeem, CEO of Repton Group Nigeria Limited said you may have a vacancy for an Accountant.” We will continue next week.

     

    PS: For those making inquiries about our Public Speaking, Business Presentation and Professional Writing Skills programme, please visit the website indicated on this page for details.

     

    • GOKE ILESANMI, Managing Consultant/CEO of Gokmar Communication Consulting, is an International Platinum Columnist, Professional Public Speaker/MC, Communication Specialist, Motivational Speaker and Career Management Coach. He is also a Book Reviewer, Biographer and Editorial Consultant.

     

    Tel: 08055068773; 08187499425

    Email: gokeiles2010@gmail.com

    Website: www.gokeilesanmi.com