RESPONSES TO COLLEGE STUDENT QUESTIONS ON EMPLOYMENT
Survey Question: What would you like to know about employment?
Key questions & Responses
Q1. What are the major things that an employer needs as he/she recruits (employees) apart from certificates?
Employers do not recruit certificates, they employ people. Certificates are only used to sort applications and draw up shortlists. Once recruited all that is checked is performance. People with great certificates are NOT excused for poor performance. The key to an employer's heart is productivity. This means that the employer wants you as an employee to produce what they believe to be of value. If you are unable to produce that value, you will find yourself out of a job pretty quickly.
Q2. Is it okay to land on any job (department) which you did not specialize in your educational degree program, yet you are good at (it)?
It is not strange to find people excelling in life, in fields that they had no formal training. In my view, four things are important to realize success in life and realize your full potential. Gifts, Abilities, Interest & Talent. Develop and apply these four and you will out outpace or empower any academic competence.
Q3. What does age have to do with employment?
Age has more to do with the culture of the employing organization than the applicant. An organization may be looking to replace an accountant in which the average age of current staff is 30 years of age. A forty or fifty year old applicant may have challenges fitting in while a 22 year old may live in a different culture, time and space altogether.
Q4. I would like to know how someone can maintain his/her career when he/she is employed?
Short answer: you can keep your job as long as you keep learning. Long answer: your education became obsolete the moment you finished your education. The moment you step into a job you must start training developing and growing. If you don't you will not maintain pace with the development of the position. However, it is also important to enjoy what you do or do what you enjoy otherwise you will not be able to maintain any career.
Q5. Best ways of looking for employment (job search)
Best answer: start working. Practical answer: Determine what you want to do. Look for opportunities in that area around you. Some people volunteer or apprentice. If you are going all out, you may look at adverts or do industry searches to find out where the jobs are most likely to be. Keep in mind that not all jobs are advertised so initiative to make direct (personal/mail ) contact with business that employ in your interest area may help.
Q6. Why is it hard to be employed immediately after finishing school
There are fewer employment options open to those finishing school for several reasons. First, there are those who finished before you, so you may be joining a crowded market.
Second, many employers ask for a minimum of 3-5 years experience for attractive (middle/senior) positions in an organization. This cuts off further job opportunity for new market entrants. The reason employers as for 3-5 years experience for these positions is because it often takes this length of time to develop the work ethics, technical competence and leadership skills to handle these positions. Employers want middle/senior staff to go to work immediately. It is difficult for a new graduate to lead a team of mature staff without the three competencies mentioned here.
The third reason is more subtle. All your life as a student, you have been provided for by parents, school and even the college. Unfortunately, many students graduate with a sense of "entitlement". This may not be a conscious decision, but the sense of "entitlement" demonstrated by new graduates is very evident to employers. JF Kennedy put it well "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country". This attitude does not make an employee very productive, independent, courageous or competent. It takes about 3 years (of working life) to reverse this sense of entitlement among college graduates. New staff begin to get promoted or respected when they begin to work FOR the employer rather than believe employers OWE them a job.
Q7. What is the major consideration for promotion?
There are other, but the major considerations for promotion has to be 1) opportunity (available higher position) and 2) performance of the individual in the current position. And the 3) suitability match between the (1) & (2).
Q8. Can employment provide me with enough time for my family?
This is a tricky question and many employees wrestle with this question. However, allow me to respectfully say that you SOLD part of your time to the employer. The employer has a right to this. Time with your family is very important and is, very respectfully, your responsibility. Once you accept responsibility for your TIME you will make and act on the needed value decisions to bless your family and serve your employer well.
Q9. How does one get along in a job (first time experience)?
You will benefit from reading the article Give the boss what she wants. http://www.sevenstepstogetrich.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&layout=blog&id=10&Itemid=117
Q10. Is employment a part of freedom or is it lifetime enslavement?
This is a very important question that you must decide for yourself very early in your career before it turns to the latter.
Q11. What is a good job?
The answer to this question is relative. But a good job to anyone should result in your personal development i.e. it should satisfy your social, economic and growth needs.
Q12. How aggressive should one be during the interview?
I am not sure that aggression pays during interview. Though its close companion passion, may be much sought after. Aggression is essentially physical and emotional while passion can be demonstrated by knowledge, interest understanding, participation and experience all of which are measurable in an interview. It is quite possible to differentiate between a keen mind and a borrowed suit based on a jobs requirement.
Q13. What stands out the most in a curriculum vitae?
The soul. That is easy to say but hard to describe. Many people pick templates from the internet, replace the name section with their own, and present the paper as their own CV. The document certainly stands out because there are at least 10 others like it among the applicants. The secret to selection among many documents is in authentic presentation of the essential elements of the yourself, the creativity of what you have to offer, and originality of the formatting of the document for review by a person who does not know you.
Q14. What determines the pay you get in employment?
I will use this question to answer the (most) popular question about salary. Salary is very important. But, if your employer should get the feeling that this is the only reason why you work, I am afraid you may not last very long on that job. Employers know that salary is not a sustainable motivator. Pay is 1) determined by what the employer is willing to pay 2) framed by the nature of the job and 3) driven by the performance of the person on the job and 4) acceptance by the person in the position.
Q15. Must I be employed?
No.
Q16. How to always set your own goals in employment, where you want to reach because you will always find some frustrations.
I suggest you get yourself a copy of HOW TO PROSPER IN EMPLOYMENT. Hard copy would serve you well but an eBook will do too. http://www.google.co.ke/africa/trader/details?cid=-8245462774111225980&id=_655f6e56d6b290b1_&idx=2&orig=search&cat=books&backUrl=http://www.google.co.ke/africa/trader/search?cat%3Dbooks
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