5 Key Steps to being Job Ready

On the 2nd of December 2017, the Andela Learning Community Supported by Google hosted its very first ALC Career Fair aimed at providing employment opportunities for 92 graduates from the first phase of the program.

The main goal of this event was to connect talent with businesses, but equally important was ensuring that these graduates were taught new things that improved their employability skills. We worked out a programme line-up that set out to help them with Career planning, Job readiness and a panel discussion where they could glean knowledge from different perspectives.

I was delighted to facilitate the Job readiness session (which was extremely interactive and turned out to be the favorite session at the Career fair #BraggingRights) to run them through what it really means to be job ready.

I consider the key points shared at the masterclass beneficial to every stratum and immediately actionable for anyone in the process of getting a new job. Here’s a summary of the key points below:

1. Know YOURSELF:

“Your own Self-Realization is the greatest service you can render the world.”

It is important that you know your skills, interests, and passion. At some point in our lives, a lot of us were confused on what we wanted to do, some of us are still confused and are in the process of discovering, some others are just getting to that point of uncertainty and confusion — It’s okay to not know what you want and to be confused. However, we must know that organizations want to employ people who are self-aware. Knowing what you want makes the job hunt a lot easier. Why? — you are able to apply for the right jobs and subsequently sell yourself better than most — simply because you know who you are and what you want.

At Andela, one of our core values is PASSION. We want to sense the enthusiasm, zeal, drive, and motivation for the job from our (potential) employees. You can only attain this level of passion when you have come to terms with who you are and what you want or at least have an idea.

2. Identify possible JOBS of INTEREST:

Don’t be that person that applies for any and every job out there. You’d be surprised how easy your job search becomes when you become specific about your interest(s).

At Andela, we’ve had cases of people who applied for every job posted on our job board — I mean same person applying for an entry-level role and an executive level role.

As much as we admire their tenacity and love the fact they REALLY want to join Andela, we usually question their interests, focus and even competence.

Always be specific about the roles that interest you and the capacity to which you can optimally function on the role before applying to any opening.

3. Create an AWESOME Resume or CV:

An awesome resume or CV for most recruiters is one that speaks! We don’t need it to be pretty, we need it to do a good job in speaking for you before the actual interview.

A speaking resume/CV is one that is comprehensive yet concise, keeps the recruiter engaged, gets the recruiter interested (or even excited) in speaking or meeting with you.

Here’s an example of a good CV: Sample CV

4. Be fully PREPARED for your Interview:

Preparing for your interview is paramount to your success. Failure to prepare is setting yourself up for failure. Look at it this way, you do all the work (above) to bag that interview opportunity — the perfect chance to sell yourself to get the job and you mess it up just because you failed to prepare?!

Research the company, the job role, organizational culture…everything! Take out time to rehearse possible questions and what your responses would be. Do this continuously till you’re completely comfortable and confident.

5. Be PREPARED even before the Job:

When you know what you want, it is expected that you start preparing for it; understand the job duties, the job expectations, skills required to succeed on the job and everything else that can better equip you. This is so when it comes, you would not be taken aback by the role in itself.

For more details on this, check out the masterclass deck on Slideshare.

All the best!