La-Job Portal

In my previous post, I shared about how recruiters could reach out to their prospective applicants in the easy step to post jobs for free in Nigeria.

Here are the basic ways to effectively applying for jobs in Nigeria, honestly to be successful in your job search you have to treat your job search like a job, you can work out your own schedule to fit these activities in:

1. Apply for jobs online
   1. Create a Nigerian resume, you need help you can pay a professional to create one for you
   2. Find a job on the leading job boards in Nigeria: Hot Nigerian Jobs, Jobberman, jobmag, Latest Nigerian Jobs, LinkedIn, Indeed, Monster.
   3. Customize your resume to the job description, duties, skills, focusing on the Professional Summary and Experience section on the job placement.
   4. Apply for the job with a cover letter which can be attached or can also serve as the body of the mail.

No job application in Nigeria should exist without it. Your cover letter is where you can personalize your pitch for the job, why the recruiter should consider your application ahead of every other applicant, stating your skills proficiency as relates to the job role and experience.

1. Contact the Recruiter or hiring manager if you can, recruiter, senior manager directly this can achieve my looking up the company’s HR team on LinkedIn. This step is probably the most important step of all as well as sending follow up emails.
2. Snail mail your resume to the recruiter. This is can be achieved by asking questions from the front desk executive, company call lines, you should not introduce yourself as a job applicant, act like someone who wants to add tremendous value to the company and you are willing to speak to someone in charge of personnel, Hr manager, if they’re too busy to speak with you, request for an email address a recruiter once told me “I see you are really eager to get this job because you somehow got my mail and keep following up”.
3. If you can as well get the recruiters’ contact make a call, usually recruiter response to emails although some don’t due to the volume of CVs they receive. Their contact details are always at the signature part of the email.

1. Build your Network
   1. You can start by joining the institute of your industry for example as an accountant in Nigeria, there is the institute of chartered Accountant of Nigeria, you can start by writing your professional exams also Google your industry and add the word ‘association’ or ‘community’ in the search and the area you are in. For example, if you are looking for a job as a mechanical engineer, Google ‘Mechanical Engineer Associations in Nigeria.’ Start attending their programmes and be willing to Network
   2. Look out for any upcoming events for professionals in your industry at these communities or associations and go to them.
   3. Attend a meetup and find a group that interests you in your industry and go to their events.
2. Be willing to work as a volunteer to add experience to your CV.
   1. Once again, you can send out an application to companies close to your location, indicate that you are willing to work for free, rather than sitting at home, you can also Google volunteering opportunities or internship jobs in Nigeria.
3. Connect with your network on LinkedIn
   1. Not just send out a request and once they accept your connection send them your resume, create an engaging post about your skills, knowledge and what you can offer an organization, encourage your reader to like, share and comment.
   2. Share other users’ posts, read articles, comment ask them questions and share your thoughts opinion about their posts.
   3. Networking is not about asking for jobs. It’s about thinking of how to go out of your way to help people meet their goals and providing value to them. When the job opportunity comes their way or is available in their company, they will feel obligated to think of you when the time is right as the right candidate.
4. Connect with a mentor
   1. LinkedIn provides you with an opportunity for mentorship, connect with people in the industry that have lots of experience, seek to engage with their comments, post and provide value, you could also offer to work for free, which is better than been idle
   2. Please note that your mentor’s role is not to find you a job, but to teach you about the right skills you need to acquire to succeed in the industry, work culture, and more importantly, how your job in the industry can be done differently.
5. Training and Internship programs
   1. Attend a free training program dedicated to newcomers in the industry, although some are paid for where they teach you about the Nigerian workplace, common work practice and the hard and soft skills needed to excel in your industry.
   2. Google is an important tool to provide information on the latest training and internship programs.
   3. Don’t think of training and internship as a job that’s beneath you. Think of it as a step towards getting that dream job, because your dream employer would see that you have good work experience in your resume.

 Start your new job today

My goal is to answer the question of how you can apply for a job in Nigeria, either as a recent graduate, an experienced professional out of a job for a while this answer was to show you how approaching your job search can be a full-time job on its own in Nigeria and can yield results.

I’m not sure you as an applicant can accomplish all 6 of these tasks every day, but if you plan your daily schedule around these 6 activities, you will end the painful time job searching for your dream job sooner than later.

I know you probably have a ton of questions. This answer only scratched the surface. Because I had a successful job search experience in Nigeria, I wanted to share those experiences with others in order to help them.

Do you have any question opinion or answers leave a comment below I would love to hear from you!

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Tags: Applying for a job, job In Nigeria