My New Year Resolution

It's a new year again. 2015 was an awesome year for so many reasons, while 2016 is pregnant with so many opportunities.

At the office today I got talking with a colleague and the topic of activities outside of work (hobbies) came up.

COLLEAGUE: Loves music and plays instruments

ME: Ummm...I used to write but currently I don't do much outside of work except for looking for ways of making money (does that qualify as a hobby?)

This got me thinking about what I could do as a hobby...a proper hobby..apart from looking for new ways of making money to supplement my salary (still asking myself if this doesn't qualify as a hobby).

So I got on Google to search for activities classified as hobbies which I can start up (yea I know...its unprofessional to be doing this during work hours but my 'hobby' life desperately needs help since I'm still not sure that seeking ways to make more money qualifies as a hobby).

From my search I settled on the following:

a) Blogging: Already on it but I'm very inconsistent. Trust me I could come up with about seventeen valid reasons in a heartbeat as to why I inconsistent.
b) Web Design: For years I've told myself that I'd learn this skill but I've been procrastinating.


NEW YEAR RESOLUTION:
a) Blogging: Post to my blog at least every week (fingers crossed).
b) Web Design: Commence a web designing course before March 2016

By the way, I'm classifying 'thinking up ways of making money' as a hobby!

Clearing the cobwebs...

*Clearing the cobwebs*...It's been so long since I was last here. Since then lots of events..good, bad and downright ugly.

There's been BH doing terrible things up north and a singular strike in Lagos (God help us). Then, Patrick Sawyer visited Lagos bearing a evil gift which sadly has claimed a few lives, but we have also seen the Nigerian spirit of survival kick in and about five people have been cured of Ebola! Who says Nigerian doctors aren't awesome. Keep it up guys!

Career Tips: My CV is not Working!

Work. It can get so frustrating and almost unbearable at times (that period between Sunday night and Monday mornings are the worst!). Thank God for employment all the same. 

Now I bet a number of people, myself inclusive, have applied to a number of jobs, and you either get that dreaded response: "Thank you for your interest in our organization, unfortunately...." (the polite organizations) or no response at all (organizations with HR units that need extensive lessons in courtesy). Bottom line regardless of courtesy: no job.

Thing is, the problem may not be from that shrine in your village that you think is working against your progress and that of your unborn generation; it may just be your CV.

Now it may be your “one-CV-for-all-job-openings” approach. Or maybe, just maybe, it’s the words you used on your CV that are ‘scratching’ the recruiter’s eyes.

Squeeze. Throw. Into the dustbin. Stainless shot. 

Below are words/phrases commonly used in CVs that you should avoid as if your life depended on it (the change in your employment status just might):

• Salary negotiable: It’s quite obvious that your salary is negotiable. With a fixed inflexible salary demand you most likely wouldn't get the job anyways. Afterall, multitudes of unemployed people would gladly do the same job for 25% of whatever salary it is you are demanding for (as in dem plenty). Take this obvious statement out of your CV, thank you. 

• Responsible for _________: Ok, so your oga told you that a certain task was your responsibility to see to completion, and you're bragging about that? The recruiter is probably thinking "so dis person thinks he/she deserves a cookie for executing a delegated task, probably without adding 'jara' on top of the work to provide extra value". That doesn’t look so good you’ll agree. Instead of 'responsible for', use phrases such as 'managed' or 'led'. 

• Experience working in ________: Fine let’s be honest, in Nigeria experience is a huge deal (they fit use job experience sideline like 80% of job applicants in Nigeria for a given opening). Still, to better stand out in a crowd, describe yourself in terms of your achievements instead.

• Problem solving skills: I'm sure this one was on my CV at some point in time...lol. Thing with this one is, every living thing that has breath possesses problem-solving skills. Check this out. Do you have rats in the house..get a cat. Tired of your neighbor's kids climbing your fence and taking paw paw from that tree in your backyard..a dog (Rottweiler preferably *cue evil laugh*) might help! 

• Detail-oriented: Hian! Everyone pays attention to details so what’s so unique about that? God help you if your resume or cover letter come contain ‘gbagaun’. Mehn see as recruiter go use you catch groove.

• Hardworking: Come! Na yam harvesting you dey apply for? This is where "walk the walk and lose the talk" would apply. It is a lot more convincing if you describe situations in which your hard work benefited an employer in detail.

• Team player: There are very few jobs that don’t involve working with other people (unless na mortuary be your office). If you have relevant experiences relating to collaboration and teamwork, put them on your resume. Discuss about the type of teams you worked on, your role(s) and how you contributed to the success of the team(s).

• Proactive: Story! Again, “walk the walk and lose the talk”.

Do you have tips, advice or stories related to preparing CVs as it affected search for employment? Please share. 

Ageism in the Job Market

Hi people! Hope you had a great weekend. Mine..really busy. Didn't feel like a weekend at all.
However I found time to gist with one of my guys, and he mentioned the curious (and sad) story of a 36 year old man with years of working experience seriously trying to get a job position at a firm. What's wrong with that you wonder....well the fact that the position requires less than 2 years working experience (infact 20 year-olds straight out of university could occupy this position) and the firm is based in Nigeria is what's the problem.

Nigeria is all about respect for elders, suffers from a serious case of ageism in the job market (if you're over 26 years and you've never worked in your life, you better go rent shop for market because most likely, as Lagbaja says "nothing for you..."), and the competition to outshine your "neighbor" and make the next person look bad, don't get me started! Now imagine our 36 year old friend, lets call him Joe, were to miraculously (remember this is a private company located in Nigeria) get this job, what would he face:

a) Joe would be at the same level with 20 - 25 year old, automatically his name will change from Joe to 'Baba Joe' (or Papa Joe, or maybe the less severe 'Uncle Joe')

b) Joe's manager/oga would most likely be aged 23 (private/foreign university graduates) and above. Striking a balance between being a junior colleague and way more senior to the young turk forming manager would require the mercy of God

c) Joe's age mates are all senior managers, directors and even "ogas on the roof". As in your mate go send you to buy N5,000 recharge charge, you go scratch am, help the boss load am. The boss won't even tell you thank you..."Close the door on your way out"

d) Everyone would think Joe is a topshot at the company, until introductions have to be made that is. As in...Joe go dey form deaf and dumb for office.

e) Now Joe's co-workers know that he is pretty much at an entry-level position and treat like him to a cocktail of derision and mockery, with a slight dose of pity (shaken not stirred)

f) Now Joe is bitter and wondering just how his life turned out this way

g) Reality Check: Wake up, the chances of Joe getting the job in the first place are close to nil

With existing labor laws, or the lack of them, alot of Nigerians dread birthdays because the chances of getting gainful employment, especially in a privately-owned establishment fade with each birthday (employability menopause).

Sad thing is that there are so many 'Joes' out there who suffer from the lack of enabling legislation to eradicate ageism in the job market.

So now Joe wants to start a business, but electricity (NEPA/PHCH/ECN) is inadequate, the roads have potholes big enough to create Olympic-standard swimming pools, area boys come around weekly to collect tax (for market-based business people), air rather than water flows out of taps, interest rates payable on bank loans could have you feeling suicidal, and the government is not implementing laws and legislation to encourage the setting-up and growth of small and medium enterprises, which just so happen to be critical drivers of economic growth.

This January the government is running a scheme to provide funding for the start-up of  small businesses. Fantastic initiative by the government by the way! Now all we need is an enabling business environment.

Finally, lets say NO to ageism in the workplace, after all no be age person go use buy garri for market.

Fast-forward 100 Years Later >>>>> Colonial Mentality Intact

Hello people! Hope your day's going great, whether you're knee-deep in the hustle and bustle of daily life or just taking things "jejely". 

This year marks 100 years of the amalgamation of this great nation going places (positive mindset people!) Lots of developments (social, political, infrastructural, and any other indices ending with "al") have taken place during this period, yet the passage of time has failed to alter the colonial mindset which is deeply ingrained in the psyche of the average Nigerian. 

Despite your vigorous protestations to the contrary, our default mode as a nation is to pick foreign people, accents (all those people that acquired British accents without leaving the shores of Naija you know yourselves)  brands, education, even food (Pringles over boli) over the available local equivalent.

Latest Personal Experience

From the title above it's obvious I've experienced a few instances of this phenomenon. Two days ago I traveled with some colleagues of mine to a city in Ogun State (work things). The guest house we were lodged at just so happened to have an "oyibo" resident. The HR Manager of the company lodging us (and for which we were executing a project for) held an impromptu meeting with my colleague, top priority, the contents of which were to be debriefed to the rest of the team.

Debrief: We have a foreign guest staying at the same guest house with you. He likes a quiet environment and complains if there is excessive movement while he is within the house. So please ensure that you do not inconvenience him. He will be gone in a few days (I can imagine the HR Manager giving a toothy grin at this point).

Reaction

"Ahhhh!! Kilo nsele! What does he mean by that! Ahhhh!" (see vexation with professional packaging).

So in order to please our foreign housemate we have to conform to a template (aka be fake, lacking in originality) in order to be considered accommodating. Seriously!! 

I'm pretty certain I speak for the majority of Nigerians worldwide (except for people like area boys and yahoo boys wey too dey show themselves for the wrong reasons) when I say that we are warm, friendly, helpful, positive (and very religious) people who love to have a great time. Part of our appeal is our individuality and uniqueness, after all didn't the Nigerian accent rank 5th on a global poll of the world's sexiest accents? (though I don't know whether it was a Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba or Calabar accent that won 5th position for us)

Pride in what makes us who we are is what, if harnessed correctly, will take us places. 

Good people, great nation anyone? 

Feel free to share your thoughts/experiences on this topic.

New Year, and yet...sameness

New year, new things, finally made my first post on this blog. Its 2014, and yet some things just never change.

There is still unrest in the PDP (old and new), Nigerians are still anti-gay rights as President Goodluck Jonathan signed a bill signed a bill on Monday, January 14, 2014 that criminalizes same-sex relationships (and of course Western nations are still mad at us for our stance). Lagos is terribly hot with long lines of convoluted traffic consisting of humans beings and mechanical wonders (you've got to marvel at how LASTMA can blatantly ignore the rundown commercial buses plying our highways as they spew out industrial quantities of smoke). That toll gates on the Lekki-Epe expressway (for island commuters) definitely doesn't help matters!
PHCN (NEPA abeg) remain consistently epileptic yet the monthly electricity bill in some areas is just slightly below the minimum wage paid to workers.
Adolescents are still hawking on the streets, doing a twisted version of a 9 - 5 shift.
Oh, we keep hearing about how the economy is growing at a rate of between 6-7% and yet education, employment, infrastructure and every other indices of development is retrogressing. The majority of Nigerian students at federal/state universities are still trying to recover from the latest ASUU strike which lasted for about six months (for some it is nine months due to pregnancy).
Sad thing is, this issues listed above and numerous others are so rampant that is now the norm rather than the exception.
On a lighter note, Nigerians are gradually "porting" (finally!) from Blackberry to iPhones, Android devices and even Tecno, thanks to the availability of BBM on non-Blackberry devices.

Well, new year, new things, certain things have to change for our society to move forward. To paraphrase a great man, let's be the change that we seek..and 2014 is definitely a great time to commence this journey together.