Okay! Career
fairs aren’t common place in Nigeria, in fact fairs are not common place here
except of course for the Lagos trade fair and church bazaars (that’s if you’re Catholic). The first fair I ever attended was an Edufair that had foreign
schools looking for prospective students, that was back in Benin during my
campus final year.
All those
reasons above kind of heightened my expectations for this fair and well, it was
worth every bit of the sacrifice I put in. So here’s my review. If you were
there, just read and drop your own comments or write your own review (don’t
forget to share with me sha!).
Career
fairs are usually free opportunities where job seekers (unemployed, under employed,
graduates and even students) meet to network, learn new stuffs and possibly meet
recruiters, well this particular fair didn’t fail in that standard. My review will cover the following aspects.
Then a
general score (on a personal basis).
Okay! Here
goes;
Reception and ambience: while
locating the church wasn’t all particularly hard, thanks to the naming of Lagos
streets and the nice banner by the Toyin street junction, the hall itself was
nice and beautifully decorated. Those by the door where very welcoming. The
registration process was smooth, though the spaces for filling in data could have
been made larger, all the same, the whole place was welcoming.
Publicity:
Holding a free career fair in Lagos (lasgidi itself) without too much shout
needs little publicity, with nearly 18 million people and a bulk of Nigeria’s
job seekers, I was expecting a larger turn out. I guess the event planners didn’t
want the whole of Lagos youths to turn up to make the event a daylight hell
hence the registration and limited publicity. If the event was shared on say Nairaland
for example, crowd control would have been needed. All well and done, this was
just the first edition; I know the next one would make the whole Lagos stand
still.
Time Management: True
to Naija saying ‘Time, nah money”. The event started a bit behind schedule but
again the program planners did a great job. By reducing allotted time for break
and cooperation on the part of the speakers, the event ended before the real
expiration time (not including the profiling section).
Logistics and Organizing: Planning
for the smallest event needs proper logistic planned out. The materials
(jotters, fliers, resource materials, slides etc) got to everyone and the
ushers were excellent, they made sure everyone was properly seated and the mics
available for asking questions and getting feedback.
Talk and Seminar: Yeah,
this is the crux of the matter, so I will write on all four speakers and how I think
they fared.
Oluwaseyi Jegede: He spoke on creating career visions, linking one’s course
of study to career. He listed five integral components of a career vision as;
Value, personality, knowing ones limits, recognition of skills, understanding what
motivates you and having passion and mentors. His session was interactive and
resourceful.
Gbenga Ogun: His part covered CV writing tips and aptitude test taking.
He gave some key insights into what can count as wastes and valuables on a CV. He gave the formula STAR (Situation,
Task, Action and Results) as a good tool to use in penning down one’s work
experience. On the part about aptitude test, he mentioned two must visit web
pages. I especially loved how he mixed the Yoruba with English, who says we can’t
have world class presentations in our local dialects.
Joy Onwuatu: I call
here Mrs. Recruitment, being an HR person, she shared valuable interview tips. She
spoke on preparations, how to handle difficult questions and dwelt a lot on
getting feedback from recruiters and proper recruitment etiquette.
Victor Adebayo: unarguably the best presenter for the day, he began by asking the famous ‘Hey dad, what’s
the secret formula” question from Kungfu Panda. Off course, we all know that
the answer is NOTHING (except for those who don’t watch cartoons). He spoke on
the secrets to getting to the top in one’s career. He mentioned about 14
secrets and then went on to speak on working smart or do I say hard. I
personally liked how he used his own story (and a couple of others) to deliver
crucial lessons to the audience. This is yet another pointer to the fact that
our local success stories offer the best examples for motivating our youths.
Finally,
I will write on Pastor Sola Osunmakinde’s brief speech and award presentations.
As expected an MOG will always be an MOG, you can’t take away the “praise the
Lords or halleluyahs” just as a minister of God can never come to a place without
pronouncing God’s blessings. Thank you for supporting this vision,
Sir, may God enrich you the more.
YOU CAN GET ALL THE PRESENTATIONS (AUDIO) here
Sound, Slides and Lights: the
sound was perfect, the speakers and mics worked fine although screeching noise
were produced only when the presenters went close to the loudspeakers, but it
was still on point. The lighting for the hall was excellent. The slides however
offered a bit of challenge. Some of the fonts were just too small to be seen,
while one of the projectors displayed low quality images, but again, that can
be worked on.
Participating Recruitment Agencies: Only
7 agencies were represented namely, Evaluation and Staffing Africa (ESA), BestSearch, Talent Bureau Ltd, Jobberman, Konga and McTim Associates. They all gave
their presentations and had opportunities to meet and counsel the participants.
Shortlist was however absent.
In all,
the career fair went well and it met all my expectations. However here are jut
the few places that I think would need a bit of fine tuning for next year. Publicity, via social media, word of
mouth, normal media (TV, radio etc) quality
of projection and finally an increase
in the recruiting agencies as well as possible opportunity to actually interview as against only profiling of
candidates. If possible, a category of the expected attendees should be listed
on the means for publicity.
My final
thanks goes to the entire Household of David family members, thanks for welcoming
and hosting us. To all the volunteers and partners, You are loved. The biggest
thanks however is reserved for the convener of this great event, Joy Onwuatu,
I say, God bless you and many more mighty exploit awaits you, you won’t fail
the many generations ahead.
 |
| Joy Onwuatu |
Final
review score, it going to be 90%, that’s an A*
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