The Interview

By Bayo Adeyinka

March 15, 2022

Each time I conduct interviews, I usually end up shaking my head and lamenting about the state of education in Nigeria. Our tertiary institutions are churning out graduates who are mainly unemployable. Earlier today, I interviewed almost 50 candidates and by the end of the whole session, the only conclusion I could arrive at was that we have a BIG problem.

In one particular instance, I was alarmed when I read the CV of a particular female graduate of one of the Universities in the South West. It was full of outlandish errors and so I asked her to spell a few words. She spelt the word 'redeemed' wrongly four times before she got it right the fifth time. On her CV, she described herself as one of the officials of the church fellowship when she was an undergraduate but she wrote the name of the church wrongly. She couldn't spell the word 'corper' despite trying more than five times. Yet, during her national service, she taught pupils at a school. I underlined about 10 grammatical errors on her CV and showed them to her. She couldn't even determine where to use apostrophe s.

A particular candidate couldn't speak a whole sentence without committing serious blunders. Even when I repeated those errors while thinking he would correct himself, he repeated the blunders again. Another candidate found it difficult explaining what he studied in school. Some have not developed themselves in any way since they graduated. I had to spend some time to talk to a lady who had her Ordinary National Diploma fifteen years ago but had not done anything to improve herself since then. When she mentioned the issue of paucity of funds, I pointed at her designer bag and her well braided hair as evidence that fund was not the problem.

I asked a female candidate what her aspirations were if money was not a restraining factor. Her answer left all of us on the interview panel with mouths wide open. "I want to live large and live big", she told us. One of the candidates told us he studied 'BSc Economics'. He made the mistake thrice until I corrected him that he studied Economics and not BSc Economics. A fellow was asked to introduce himself and he started with 'My names are...'. I asked him how many people he's introducing. Even when I tried to correct him, he insisted he was correct so I gave up on him.

On one occasion, I asked a female candidate what her husband does. She replied, 'I'm sorry but he's a driver'. I asked her why she was sorry about the legitimate job that her husband does. I told her that the job of her husband does not define who he is. His job is simply a job. I told her I also drove a cab before. I spent the longest time with her as I wanted her mind to be disinfected of the low self-esteem she seemed to carry. I played the video of Femi Ogedengbe, the Nollywood actor turned security guard in the United States and encouraged her to be proud of her husband. Interestingly, the husband is a graduate and I've asked her to give me her husband's CV. She almost broke down in tears when I told her I'd rather hire her husband than her. She knelt and apologized before she left my office.

A few guys had the labels of their suit on their sleeves- at least three of them that I recall. When I asked why the labels were not removed, they grinned sheepishly. One of them told me that is the current trend. When that same guy sat down, I observed that he wore ankle socks with a significant part of his legs showing bare skin. One candidate was particularly striking for his naivety. He came in shaking and stammered while introducing himself. He could barely string a sentence together. When I tried to make him comfortable by asking him to take a deep breath, he answered by saying, "I don't know why I'm like this today. This is actually my first interview". He just finished his national service and anxiety was written all over him.

I made two major observations during the interview session today:

1. Candidates who engaged in extracurricular activities while in school turned out better. There was a lady who was a member of SIFE- Students In Free Enterprise- while she was on campus and she was one of the bright spots. There was another fellow that represented his University at a competition outside Nigeria. He was also outstanding. Likewise, a lady who was Vice President of her Students Union while she was an undergraduate. She demonstrated so much confidence during the interview.

2. Candidates that went to private universities performed better generally. There must be something the private universities are getting right as their graduates communicated better. They demonstrated a far more superior level of intelligence. I was disappointed by the performance of most graduates of mainstream universities and polytechnics. One could almost guess whether a candidate attended a private university just by listening to them.

If you're preparing for an interview, it's in your best interest to do some research about the company you want to work with if you know the company. Google is your friend. Work on your communication skills. You should be able to talk about yourself very clearly and also describe what you have done before-if you're an experienced hire. Your body language is critical- no fidgeting and no show of anxiety. All of us have butterflies in our stomach when we face strange people on an interview panel but with a smile on your face, no one will ever know. A lady cracked her knuckles throughout the interview today. It's very irritating but also shows she was nervous. Your posture is important. Dont slouch on the chair. Sit straight with your back on the chair and your legs together.

Mind your language while being interviewed. It's better to be brief than to be unnecessarily verbose. By talking too much at times, you demonstrate that you know so little. Pronounce words well. It can take some practice but stand in front of a mirror and rehearse until you get better. Be ready to defend your certificate. Demonstrate that you actually earned your degree. Maintain eye contacts. That shows your level of confidence. Good grooming is key to your success. No matter the current fad, it's safer to be conservative in your dressing. Dark coloured suits are best for interviews. Stay with white or blue shirts for men. You can never go wrong with them. You must have a great sense of colour to want to try very bright colours. It's either it turns out so good or you turn out like a magician's apprentice. Ladies have the latitude to try out more colours but the simpler, the better. Pay attention to your hair and hand bag. Synchronize your colours properly. Avoid loud jewelleries. Look your best as the book is often judged by the cover during interviews. Your appearance is what we see first before we hear what you have to say.

We need to declare a state of emergency in our education sector and even start to teach intending graduates certain life skills. Nigerian graduates will not be able to compete with their African counterparts in a few years at this rate.

SOURCE

Point number one is moot as it doesn't determine how confident the individual will become
Of course most private school graduates will generally perform better being that they are exposed to current facilities and use current curriculum

Heat Is just too much Here in Abuja...
Too long, can't read that now, Pls if you're with me on this, raise your Hands!

whose fault is it? the student? the lecturers? the institution? Nigerian Government? Sometimes we all need to think and ask ourselves if there is gain in education.

Before i start processing my admission, my dad ask me, do you really want to school, or should i establish you on your ict knowledge...... "Don't wast my money on the wrong way" My dad told me either i go to school or not, i will make it in life, everything is centred on my determination..... And i chose the right one.....................this days children does go to school just because they wanted to school, but just because they wanted to please there parents.

Jamb student in my area organised a get together party at a beer parlour, i laughed and ask myself, what do you expect this student to think about when they get to school...

I personally came to conclusion that, we are all at fault for not doing our part to make things right.

NB: And meanwhile op, peoples physical performance does not include how to talk verbally, everything depends on skills, strength and experience

The highest qualification my father has is an O'level certificate but his oral and written English is better than a lot of graduates today.

The Federal government left secondary schools to deteriorate and focused on Universities. They tried to make University education cheaper, where has that brought us?

I laugh when students from Public schools say Private schools are glorified secondary schools. I simply tell them to go and asks HR's of different organizations which is better.

How many times this topic want make frontpage sef All these ontop "slaving" for someone else, abegi.

How do you expect them to perform well in the labour market, when they sorted thire way out of the university.

membranus:
The Interview

By Bayo Adeyinka

March 15, 2022

Each time I conduct interviews, I usually end up shaking my head and lamenting about the state of education in Nigeria. Our tertiary institutions are churning out graduates who are mainly unemployable. Earlier today, I interviewed almost 50 candidates and by the end of the whole session, the only conclusion I could arrive at was that we have a BIG problem.

In one particular instance, I was alarmed when I read the CV of a particular female graduate of one of the Universities in the South West. It was full of outlandish errors and so I asked her to spell a few words. She spelt the word 'redeemed' wrongly four times before she got it right the fifth time. On her CV, she described herself as one of the officials of the church fellowship when she was an undergraduate but she wrote the name of the church wrongly. She couldn't spell the word 'corper' despite trying more than five times. Yet, during her national service, she taught pupils at a school. I underlined about 10 grammatical errors on her CV and showed them to her. She couldn't even determine where to use apostrophe s.

A particular candidate couldn't speak a whole sentence without committing serious blunders. Even when I repeated those errors while thinking he would correct himself, he repeated the blunders again. Another candidate found it difficult explaining what he studied in school. Some have not developed themselves in any way since they graduated. I had to spend some time to talk to a lady who had her Ordinary National Diploma fifteen years ago but had not done anything to improve herself since then. When she mentioned the issue of paucity of funds, I pointed at her designer bag and her well braided hair as evidence that fund was not the problem.

I asked a female candidate what her aspirations were would have been if money was were not a restraining factor. Her answer left all of us on the interview panel with mouths wide open. "I want to live large and live big", she told us. One of the candidates told us he studied 'BSc Economics'. He made the mistake thrice three times until I corrected him that he studied Economics and not BSc Economics. A fellow was asked to introduce himself and he started with 'My names are...'. I asked him how many people he's he was introducing. Even when I tried to correct him, he insisted he was correct so I gave up on him.

On one occasion, I asked a female candidate what her husband does. She replied, 'I'm sorry but he's a driver'. I asked her why she was sorry about the legitimate job that her husband does. I told her that the job of her husband her husband's job does not define who he is. His job is simply a job. I told her I also drove a cab before once. I spent the longest time with her as I wanted her mind to be disinfected of the low self-esteem she seemed to carry. I played the video of Femi Ogedengbe, the Nollywood actor turned security guard in the United States and encouraged her to be proud of her husband. Interestingly, the husband is a graduate and I've asked her to give me her husband's CV. She almost broke down in tears when I told her I'd rather hire her husband than hire her. She knelt and apologized before she left my office.

A few guys had the labels of their suit on their sleeves- at least three of them that I recall. When I asked why the labels were not removed, they grinned sheepishly. One of them told me that is the current trend. When that same guy sat down, I observed that he wore ankle socks with a significant part of his legs showing bare skin. One candidate was particularly striking for his naivety. He came in shaking and stammered while introducing himself. He could barely string a sentence together. When I tried to make him comfortable by asking him to take a deep breath, he answered by saying, "I don't know why I'm like this today. This is actually my first interview". He just finished his national service and anxiety was written all over him.

I made two major observations during the interview session today:

1. Candidates who engaged in extracurricular activities while in school turned out better. There was a lady who was a member of SIFE- Students In Free Enterprise- while she was on campus and she was one of the bright spots. There was another fellow that represented his University at a competition outside Nigeria. He was also outstanding. Likewise, a lady who was Vice President of her Students Union Students' Union while she was an undergraduate. She demonstrated so much confidence during the interview.

2. Candidates that went to private universities performed better generally. There must be something the private universities are getting right as their graduates communicated better. They demonstrated a far more superior superior level of intelligence. I was disappointed by the performance of most graduates of mainstream universities and polytechnics. One could almost guess whether a candidate attended a private university just by listening to them.

If you're preparing for an interview, it's in your best interest to do some research about the company you want to work with if you know the company. Google is your friend. Work on your communication skills. You should be able to talk about yourself very clearly and also describe what you have done before-if you're an experienced hire. Your body language is critical- no fidgeting and no show of anxiety. All of us have butterflies in our stomach when we face strange people on an interview panel but with a smile on your face, no one will ever know. A lady cracked her knuckles throughout the interview today. It's It was very irritating but also shows showed she was nervous. Your posture is important. Dont Don't slouch on the chair. Sit straight with your back on the chair and your legs together.

Mind your language while being interviewed. It's better to be brief than to be unnecessarily verbose. By talking too much at times, you demonstrate that you know so little. Pronounce words well. It can take some practice but stand in front of a mirror and rehearse until you get better. Be ready to defend your certificate. Demonstrate that you actually earned your degree. Maintain eye contacts contact . That shows your level of confidence. Good grooming is key to your success. No matter the current fad, it's safer to be conservative in your dressing. Dark coloured suits are best for interviews. Stay with white or blue shirts for men. You can never go wrong with them. You must have a great sense of colour to want to try very bright colours. It's either it turns out so good or you turn out like a magician's apprentice. Ladies have the latitude to try out more colours but the simpler, the better. Pay attention to your hair and hand bag. Synchronize your colours properly. Avoid loud jewelleries. Look your best as the book is often judged by the cover during interviews. Your appearance is what we see first before we hear what you have to say.

We need to declare a state of emergency in our education sector and even start to teach intending graduates certain life skills. Nigerian graduates will not be able to compete with their African counterparts in a few years at this rate.

SOURCE

As you have taken it upon yourself to correct others' English, I have also taken the time to point out a few of your own errors. Nevertheless, I should say that all you demonstrated here is traditional thinking. It's not that surprising. It appears interviews with you can only go one way. Any candidate taking a detour from the normal is quite likely to fail with you.

Nothing is working

Infact schooling in Nigeria is unnecessary stressful.
You are forced to learn everything, but still remain good at none.

People are schooling now just to graduate, nothing else

Ogas and their wahala










Guys wey no get girlfriend get peace of mind

Very true

Na wa o...

There are also people occupying positions in top job roles that are worse than the people you have interviewed. Yes, something needs to be done about the educational sector but that you interviewed a few bad ones is not a reflection of all job seekers and school graduates

I don't even know where to begin. Many Nigerian public universites' graduates had very bad foundation. Some of them do not know what nursery school means, others attended very poor primary and secondary schools and were only able to obtain an o'level from "passing centres." So, what do we expect? All our public institutions are gradually falling and the system is comatose. People believe more in "connection" rather than acquiring real knowledge. It is a very unfortunate situation truly.

They should start conducting interviews in our mother tongue then.
All this complaints eveytime because people can't speak English very well.
Chinese would never call their citizens unintelligence based on their inability to speak english, like wise French people or German.
Na only we dey carry English for head eveytime.
You people should rest jare.
When I start my company soon by God's grace, Yoruba would be our official language and ties and suits would be prohibited.
English would be optional for speaking to foreigners.

Spelling words correctly and speaking English language eloquently has nothing to do with being employable. We should stop all this brainwashed nonsense.

B3sty:
Heat Is just too much Here in Abuja...
Too long, can't read that now, Pls if you're with me on this, raise your Hands!

People like you is who she's complaining about

I sha know say I no fit mess up for interview with all those professors wey person face for UI, MBA but na 30-60k jobs yapa this days sha...

fasho01:
There are also people occupying positions in top job roles that are worse than the people you have interviewed. Yes, something needs to be done about the educational sector but that you interviewed a few bad ones is not a reflection of all job seekers and school graduates

You said a few bad ones.

The low-quality graduates in Nigeria are 10x more.

membranus:
The Interview

By Bayo Adeyinka

March 15, 2022

Each time I conduct interviews, I usually end up shaking my head and lamenting about the state of education in Nigeria. Our tertiary institutions are churning out graduates who are mainly unemployable. Earlier today, I interviewed almost 50 candidates and by the end of the whole session, the only conclusion I could arrive at was that we have a BIG problem.

In one particular instance, I was alarmed when I read the CV of a particular female graduate of one of the Universities in the South West. It was full of outlandish errors and so I asked her to spell a few words. She spelt the word 'redeemed' wrongly four times before she got it right the fifth time. On her CV, she described herself as one of the officials of the church fellowship when she was an undergraduate but she wrote the name of the church wrongly. She couldn't spell the word 'corper' despite trying more than five times. Yet, during her national service, she taught pupils at a school. I underlined about 10 grammatical errors on her CV and showed them to her. She couldn't even determine where to use apostrophe s.

A particular candidate couldn't speak a whole sentence without committing serious blunders. Even when I repeated those errors while thinking he would correct himself, he repeated the blunders again. Another candidate found it difficult explaining what he studied in school. Some have not developed themselves in any way since they graduated. I had to spend some time to talk to a lady who had her Ordinary National Diploma fifteen years ago but had not done anything to improve herself since then. When she mentioned the issue of paucity of funds, I pointed at her designer bag and her well braided hair as evidence that fund was not the problem.

I asked a female candidate what her aspirations were if money was not a restraining factor. Her answer left all of us on the interview panel with mouths wide open. "I want to live large and live big", she told us. One of the candidates told us he studied 'BSc Economics'. He made the mistake thrice until I corrected him that he studied Economics and not BSc Economics. A fellow was asked to introduce himself and he started with 'My names are...'. I asked him how many people he's introducing. Even when I tried to correct him, he insisted he was correct so I gave up on him.

On one occasion, I asked a female candidate what her husband does. She replied, 'I'm sorry but he's a driver'. I asked her why she was sorry about the legitimate job that her husband does. I told her that the job of her husband does not define who he is. His job is simply a job. I told her I also drove a cab before. I spent the longest time with her as I wanted her mind to be disinfected of the low self-esteem she seemed to carry. I played the video of Femi Ogedengbe, the Nollywood actor turned security guard in the United States and encouraged her to be proud of her husband. Interestingly, the husband is a graduate and I've asked her to give me her husband's CV. She almost broke down in tears when I told her I'd rather hire her husband than her. She knelt and apologized before she left my office.

A few guys had the labels of their suit on their sleeves- at least three of them that I recall. When I asked why the labels were not removed, they grinned sheepishly. One of them told me that is the current trend. When that same guy sat down, I observed that he wore ankle socks with a significant part of his legs showing bare skin. One candidate was particularly striking for his naivety. He came in shaking and stammered while introducing himself. He could barely string a sentence together. When I tried to make him comfortable by asking him to take a deep breath, he answered by saying, "I don't know why I'm like this today. This is actually my first interview". He just finished his national service and anxiety was written all over him.

I made two major observations during the interview session today:

1. Candidates who engaged in extracurricular activities while in school turned out better. There was a lady who was a member of SIFE- Students In Free Enterprise- while she was on campus and she was one of the bright spots. There was another fellow that represented his University at a competition outside Nigeria. He was also outstanding. Likewise, a lady who was Vice President of her Students Union while she was an undergraduate. She demonstrated so much confidence during the interview.

2. Candidates that went to private universities performed better generally. There must be something the private universities are getting right as their graduates communicated better. They demonstrated a far more superior level of intelligence. I was disappointed by the performance of most graduates of mainstream universities and polytechnics. One could almost guess whether a candidate attended a private university just by listening to them.

If you're preparing for an interview, it's in your best interest to do some research about the company you want to work with if you know the company. Google is your friend. Work on your communication skills. You should be able to talk about yourself very clearly and also describe what you have done before-if you're an experienced hire. Your body language is critical- no fidgeting and no show of anxiety. All of us have butterflies in our stomach when we face strange people on an interview panel but with a smile on your face, no one will ever know. A lady cracked her knuckles throughout the interview today. It's very irritating but also shows she was nervous. Your posture is important. Dont slouch on the chair. Sit straight with your back on the chair and your legs together.

Mind your language while being interviewed. It's better to be brief than to be unnecessarily verbose. By talking too much at times, you demonstrate that you know so little. Pronounce words well. It can take some practice but stand in front of a mirror and rehearse until you get better. Be ready to defend your certificate. Demonstrate that you actually earned your degree. Maintain eye contacts. That shows your level of confidence. Good grooming is key to your success. No matter the current fad, it's safer to be conservative in your dressing. Dark coloured suits are best for interviews. Stay with white or blue shirts for men. You can never go wrong with them. You must have a great sense of colour to want to try very bright colours. It's either it turns out so good or you turn out like a magician's apprentice. Ladies have the latitude to try out more colours but the simpler, the better. Pay attention to your hair and hand bag. Synchronize your colours properly. Avoid loud jewelleries. Look your best as the book is often judged by the cover during interviews. Your appearance is what we see first before we hear what you have to say.

We need to declare a state of emergency in our education sector and even start to teach intending graduates certain life skills. Nigerian graduates will not be able to compete with their African counterparts in a few years at this rate.

SOURCE

I need a job please. I'm available to travel anywhere.

I don't know what positions prospective candidates were interviewed to occupy, but 90% of what is mentioned on the write up as selection parameters are completely useless when recruiting for 90% of the position that would grow an organisation.

Going by the above stated parameters, the best medical doctor, engineers and programmers etc will not be selected because it revolves around fluency and dress sense.

The hiring team need to re-assess their recruitment parameters and create a more friendly interview environment that will enable candidates showcase their knowledge and experience. Dress sense, communication and other petty things listed on the writeup can be addressed after employment through the company's code.

Our education system is a mess, yet our president donated a whooping $1 million to a terrorist organisation known as Taliban.
Meanwhile, ASUU is on strike.
And another fellow of the same party promised to continue from where Bubu stopped.
Shame to APC and their supporters.

Nothing new here

He is just trying to promote private universities
After many years of establishment, how many of the private universities graduates of Law have topped in law school examinations that is national?


The confidence they exhibit during interviews is as a result of their sound financial background that assure them of bread even without the job, poverty is one of the major confidence killer when faced by the public and that's why during interviews, some very bright graduates from poor homes go as far as crying and begging to be hired whereas the company should be doing that because of the capacity of the candidate.

CheedyJ:
Ontop the 50k job with irregular delay of salary, abeg shift

Even if the job is 500k, their performance won't be better.

That is if they have the self-esteem to go near a 500,000 Naira per month job.