Job hunting/Recruitment and selection processes in our Dear country Nigeria(Part 1)

Job hunting/Recruitment and selection processes in our Dear country Nigeria(Part 1)

From the way we were brought up in our culture, the ideal thing to become an important person in our society is to pass through the nursery,primary,secondary and tertiary institution(1st degree) and if possible go further to study a postgraduate course in order for you to earn a masters degree. Those who are lucky to come from a the middle class family can afford to send their children to study abroad for a better educational background.
Having passed through all these phase you believe, that ideal job is waiting patiently for you to grab in a multinational  oil company( that is always our first dream), or an FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) company because we believe that we deserve to be paid well after all those struggles we passed through in order for us to achieve our degrees. My mum always said to me while i was undergoing my Msc programme in the UK "degrees are not plucked from mango trees, you have to work for it".

You finally get those degrees that are not plucked from mango trees and you are moving into the labor market, first of all you start by applying for jobs adverts  you see on newspapers,job sites, etc... you believe in your mind, i will soon hit that job i know, by the time am applying for my fifth job i know i will get that big job in ECOWAS (oh well its always good to dream big), you are in your tenth job application still no response from the previous  jobs you have applied for, you are about loosing faith and hope, but if you are lucky to come from a supportive family just like mine trust me you won't give up that easy!

You search every newspaper, email to see if, oh i might be lucky, but still no chance of any luck. You decide to keep applying because you have faith. You are getting calls from friends" babe how far now any luck for job? family members ask how far with the job hunt any luck yet?just hold on tight and don't give up something good would come" And not forgetting the other side (your boyfriend is asking "hey girl any luck? you need to get a job soon oh! but don't worry you would soon get"). From every corner your hearing "how far with getting a  job? I can't give you money again oh" " you have to look for something to do my dear no matter how small it is at least its something, so far you are getting paid  you can buy your toiletries and recharge card". In your mind you are thinking are you serious? You mean all those sleepless nights trying to meet up with deadlines and preparing for that almighty seminar, you now have to now apply for a job as a secretary in a consulting firm? so you can at least have something up in your resume that your working and you have gained the amount of experience, while waiting to get that (BIG JOB) in your mind, you still believe.                                                                                                                               Thinking in your head, you can't believe you are still jobless,

applying for your twentieth job and just when you are about to give up, you get a call from a company....OMG you can not believe your ears you are being called for your first interview...excitement taking all over you, answering the HR manager with so much zeal and you can't wait to get the date of the invite for the job.

You finally get the invite and guess what? you have to travel out of your place of stay, by road 4hrs or by flight  which is an estimate of 1 hr 30 mins to meet up the interview which is to take place in two days time.
 The night before your trip you are so excited you pack up all your things, you read some HR likely asked questions, your dad and brother give you tips on how to act and answer questions during an interview. They advise you on how confident you should be, dress well and try to answer all  questions well. The day of your trip, you say a prayer to your God asking for favor.

The next day you pack up and you are set for your trip, before you leave all your family members wish you luck and hope for the best and raise your confidence level high by hailing "we are expecting to see your offer letter".

You start your trip, you continue reading likely HR questions. After four hours you arrive your  destination ,check into a hotel, have a shower and study some questions and have ideas on what the company is all about. Finally the "D" day is here and you are all set, you wake up 5.30am and you are ready to check out by 7am cause your interview is by 12noon.

You get a taxi and you embark on your journey to that almighty company, passing through traffic, you start thinking "hope the Human Resources Manager would like me", "i hope i can  impress him or her", "i hope i nail it and  get an offer letter" and the major one "i hope the offer is worth it"(literally  "hope the pay is good"). you finally get to the gate of the company you are greeted by the security man , you sign in and then you are ushered into the waiting room. heart pumping,adrenaline flowing.....all the prayers you can think of at that moment is flowing through your head..... 3 mins to 12 noon you are summoned into the Human Resources manager office...

"Hello miss Clara good afternoon welcome to ***** company can you have a seat"


TO BE CONTINUED...




HR SUGGESTIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS

• As an HR specialist when advertising a job vacancy which is not restricted for applicants only in the company's location, try and give a maximum duration of weeks for applicants who are coming from faraway, so they have enough time to prepare for their trip to the precise location of interview.

• Do not advertise for a job vacancy, the company does not require, this will only waste applicants time in applying for the job and also waste of money for transportation to the precise location of the interview venue.

• Try and delete old job vacancy posts from company's job archives, doing this would help the job applicant to know the most recent job that he or she should be applying for.

• As a Human Resource Manager or personnel you deal with people everyday of your life, you should be easy going and an attentive listener.

• A Human Resource specialist should never be a dictator.

• Employees look at the HR folks like they have the power to hire and fire so basically employees always try to avoid the HR department or try and be familiar with the HR folks in an organisation in order to be favored, as an HR specialist you should follow the right rules of the law of Human resource management, which is: Every body is equal and has the right and  freedom to express him or her self