Tips for Searching Jobs in Ghana
The average graduate from any level of academic study will attest to the fact that the most dreaded stage in life is looking for jobs in Ghana after school. It is indeed one of the most daunting,time consuming, frustrating and depressing processes to go through considering the associated complications that come with job search in ghana. Some job seekers fall victim of job scams through the process, others don’t wait for forever to even get their application acknowledged by recruiters or employers. The phenomenon appears to prevalent as far as a job search in Africa as a whole is concerned.
Amidst the aforementioned situation, people are still getting hired anyway. Could it be they are doing something right or merely a matter of usual nepotism also known as ‘whom you know’ canker?
The author believes while nepotistic tendencies might be rife, it obviously cannot sustain the manpower needs of Ghana particularly for specialised roles such as programming jobs in Ghana, Engineering jobs in Ghana, Medical expert jobs, etc. Thus some individuals who have been successful at getting the seemingly limited jobs in Ghana may most likely be using some tried and tested jobsearch techniques that others may be unaware of or may not be implemented well.
Some tips which may have been overlooked and thus dwindling the chances of getting hired are discussed below.
Take Advantage of job fairs
One of the safest ways to avoid the unemployment situation like the plaque is to aggressively pursue careers in ghana fairs in your final year of study. Career or job fairs give you an opportunity for direct cv assessment and instant interview. It is one of the many ways to secure your dream job before you graduate. The competition is somehow limited compared to the response to an application of job boards in Ghana of which adverts are most likely to be overwhelmed with applications. Some students sometimes secure their national service jobs in Ghana before they graduate. This technique saves lots of time and the risk of joining and competing with the ever increasing unemployed graduates in Ghana and Africa as a whole. In the worst case scenario attendees of job fairs benefit from free professional CV reviews and mock interviews which will equip them for the next opportunity. You can make use of your school’s career service or Eventbrite website or app to monitor the next career fair in your locality.
Be Professional and avoid sarcasm at all cost
It is often said the world is culturally diverse and thus it is advisable to avoid excesses in simple things including but not limited to your email address, your social media usernames. Email addresses can now be done in a matter of under a minute using google Gmail account. It is advisable to use simple email addresses typically including your surname and first name. Assuming a first name and surname called Kofi Agata respectively, a suitable email address can be created with combinations such as kofiagata@domainname.com; agatakofi@domainname.com;kagata@domainae.com;akofi@domainname.com, etc. Having seen recommended formats, some combinations you are advised to avoid are sexykofiagata@gmail.com, f**ckagata@gmail.com, etc. It is worth mentioning that whereas everyone is entitled to use whatever username it is better to professional than sorry for no want can tell the discretion used by recruiters. Also, bear in mind recruiters view jobseekers profiles by using emails provided on CV, thus you should avoid surprises by giving a different impression of what your CV suggests.
Make the best out of Job boards in Ghana
Yes, not many people are using job portals to their advantage. Online portal have superseded the mainstream print media as to where job seekers search jobs in Ghana. Some people are used to searching every other day on job portals to see if there are the latest jobs in Ghana for them to apply. This is indeed time consuming and some tactics need to be adapted so you don’t have to spend long hours for a job search in Ghana. Try to use filters available on most job bards to show relevant contents based on keywords. Say jobs by industry, jobs by country, jobs by time posted etc. Remember to include these filters to subscribe to job alerts so you make sure you are not spammed with irrelevant jobs. Setting up job alerts automatically sends you notification once your jobs of interest become available. Uploading your cv on job board databases helps reverse the job search cycle whereby recruiters rather contact job seekers upon seeing uploaded cv and cover letter. Thus it is important to ensure your CV is up to date. Utilise networking sites LinkedIn and follow relevant job boards on LinkedIn and international recruiters to also get real time updates of the latest vacancies.
Add value to your academic qualifications
Due to the competitive job market in Ghana and Africa as a whole, it is very important to add value to one’s academic qualifications to give him or her a competitive edge during the shortlisting process. I guess you are already wondering about the cost involved in pursuing professional courses right? If you answered yes, you have no excuse at all! in this age and era of internet, job seekers need to take advantage of the numerous free online training courses covering every discipline by collaboration between top universities on single platforms. Certificates of participation and diplomas are awarded after taking these courses typical;y spanning at least 4weeks on a fast pace. So you see all you need to add value to yourself is a pc and internet. Some of such popular websites are edX, Coursera, code academy, Udemy amongst others. What are you waiting to visit those websites and start learning something new and add to your CV in order to pass the first impression test.
Apply for relevant jobs
The last but not least key tip is making sure you are applying for the right job. Most job seekers out of desperation might decide to apply for any job in Ghana without even bordering about the job description. This unfortunate phenomenon rather adds insults to injury and might send your tendencies of getting a call up to oblivion!. How can one manage such a situation then? The simple answer is to submit your Cvs reasonably by always modifying your CV to meet every other job description or specification. Example job specification for a management account would be different from a financial accountant. This will indeed take you a long way to get an interview call up rather than just using the same CV for all applications out of desperation. Remember recruitment these days are automated hence not drafting your CV to meet job specification will be filtered by bots and never get to be considered by human recruiters.
Source: Jobdirecta.com
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