Dear Candidate

The Job search journey can be very exhausting and sometimes the journey might come off as a never-ending one. Recently I was privileged to write an article for a tech community on tips that entry-level candidates can employ to help them land their first job or internship and putting my thoughts into words took me down memory lane.

I thought about the challenges I faced both in my home country Nigeria and here in Germany during my Job search journey. One of such experiences left me so drained that I recall walking down a busy road with continuous tears streaming down my eyes. I was exhausted. I just wanted a chance to prove myself, I was ready to work for free but nobody was listening. Everyone wanted proof of the experience I was desperately trying to get.

Guess what, the same is still true today. This is why learning how to properly ‘mix and match your experience without lying or exaggerating is super important.

In this podcast, I answer question 5 as I continue my ‘ask_a_recruiter’ series and I also share tips on how you can properly ‘mix and match your experience.

Question 5: I am in desperate need of a Job and I have 5 areas I believe I can add value in. I have tried to apply for roles in these areas using a CV that is adapted to these areas but so far nothing seems to be working

Have fun listening!

(Scroll past the Announcement on the Dear Candidate Slack Community to part 2 for the answer given to the question of the day)

First Part

Announcement on the Dear Candidate Slack Community

We are extremely excited to launch the Dear Candidate Global Slack Community, a safe space where you can inspire and be inspired. some of the channels you’ll find here are:

Please Note

We are not a number-driven community, for us, it is Quality over Quantity which is why your request to join the community would pass through a pre-approval phase before you are admitted.

Bottom line

The DC community gives you the opportunity to give and receive value.

Our Community Culture

Our culture is Polite, Friendly, Fun and Engaging.

Code of conduct/Community Guidelines

This is to ensure that we are all on the same page. Please Don’t request to join this community if this is not well aligned with your personal values and career goals/objectives.

Second Part

Question of the day: 

People say Linkedin works but so far Linkedin has not worked for me. I have consistently posted on Linkedin to inform my network about my Job search needs. I also use the open to work banner but so far none of these has yielded any leads. Am I doing something wrong? And what can I do better?

In this episode I emphasised the need to clearly show the value you have to offer when engaging with your network. I also talked about the 'Linkedin All Star profile' and I offered recommendations on how to idenitfy this on your profile + set it up. I also talked about the advantage of having a Linkedin All Star profile.

To conclude I shared the 3 types of connections you have, to help you get the visiblity that would constantly position you for opportunities and these are;

Listen to the podcast to get the full picture of everything I shared.

Have fun listening. :)

As a candidate belonging to one of the minority groups, should you be concerned about being hired to fill a diversity quota? 

Diversity hiring, (let’s even start from there) what does all that mean? Hold that thought, Dear Candidate.

Now, I carried out a little online research to find out how this all started and interestingly, the topic of workplace diversity started as far back as the second world war.

Now history has it that women had to take up active roles in the workplace because of the heavy involvement of men in the military.

Fast forward to today, the topic of diversity has evolved in different ways.

Let’s go back to the question I asked dear candidate, when hired for a role, sometimes you might be tempted to believe that you were hired to fill a diversity quota particularly because of all the attention that is getting.

Now if you find yourself bothered about something like this, don’t go anyway because today’s podcast is really dedicated to you.

Let's dive in, shall we?

Today's podcast continues the 'Ask the Recruiter Series' and today's question is as follows :

I am a fresher just starting out in my career but I noticed that most of the available Jobs are for experienced candidates. What can I do to increase my chances of getting hired?

The thoughts I share in this episode resonate deeply with me because I can clearly say that I have walked in these shoes as a candidate. I have walked this path two major times in my career. The first time being when I completed my undergraduate education in my home country (Nigeria) and the second was after concluding my master's program here in Germany.

I combine all of my learnings from these two experiences and I share them in 3 practical tips that candidates who fall into this category can employ. 

A little caveat, the tips I share are not a magic formula but they are core strategies that helped me successfully navigate those phases of my job search journey. However, I must say that it pays to have an open mind when learning about what has worked for others because you just might find your missing puzzle.

Key takeaways from today's episode

Have fun listening and remember to send in your questions to [email protected].  

Today's podcast begins a new series titled: Ask a recruiter.

You get the chance to ask any questions you have and I'll be glad to share my thoughts and insights on those areas. At the moment I have a pool of 10 questions and I’ll take my time to talk through the rest of the questions in subsequent episodes. Also, you are welcome to contribute to this pool by sending your questions to [email protected].

Today I’ll be answering question 1 and I hope this also helps you in your job search process.

Alright let’s dive in

Question 1

I live outside of Europe and I'd like to work in Europe. I’m also going to need visa sponsorship. So far I have applied to several countries in Europe but I keep getting rejections. Is my current location a disqualifying factor?

Key Takeaways

I shared 3 tips on how to position yourself for opportunities in regions like Europe for people coming from countries that require visas. I also mentioned the fact that most companies would only go all the way for candidates with significant experience because of the cost implication.

Now someone might ask, what do I do if I have no experience, does that disqualify me?

Good question and my answer is absolutely not!  Keep trying but while you try, ensure that you are building experience alongside.

You can also consider coming over to Europe for study purposes (sometimes that route is more straightforward) and hey you get a degree afterward, so it’s a win-win for you in the end.

Alright, so remember to :

Have fun listening!

Today's podcast is focused on adding value through your interaction and your engagement on Linkedin because someone who adds value (now real value) is already an employee of choice. By adding value you demonstrate :

These are already bonus points that you score even before saying a word in an interview. So please leverage Linkedin dear candidate and watch Linkedin work for you.

The key takeaways from today's episode are to post or engage with content that:

Have fun listening!

NB

(To contribute to the question bank I mentioned in this podcast, please email your questions to [email protected])

Episode 8 drops and it is GEM-IFIED (Yeah that’s my own word for saying filled with GEMS)!

In this episode, I interview Dipo, my very first guest on ‘The Dear Candidate podcast’.

Dipo tells us how he navigated through a wave of 150+ rejection messages (not counting the countless companies that never got back) and no interview invites whatsoever to landing a full-time permanent job after months of consistently showing up. Imagine if he gave up the month before he sent that one message that changed his story! Just imagine.

My key takeaways from this episode are :

Iɴ Dɪᴘᴏ’s ᴡᴏʀᴅs: Lɪɴᴋᴇᴅɪɴ ɪs ᴀ ᴍᴀʀᴋᴇᴛᴘʟᴀᴄᴇ: ᴛʜᴇ sᴀᴍᴇ ᴡᴀʏ ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴘᴇᴏᴘʟᴇ ʟᴏᴏᴋɪɴɢ ꜰᴏʀ Jᴏʙs ɪs ᴛʜᴇ sᴀᴍᴇ ᴡᴀʏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʟsᴏ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴘᴇᴏᴘʟᴇ ʟᴏᴏᴋɪɴɢ ꜰᴏʀ ᴛʜᴏsᴇ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴄᴀɴ ᴀᴅᴅ ᴠᴀʟᴜᴇ.

Have fun listening!

I attended a virtual conference a couple of weeks back and the speaker at the event used a very interesting phrase when she spoke about Linkedin; She called it free real estate that is accessible to all.

One of the basic things you learn about when getting a financial education is that there is a clear difference between an asset and a liability.

Real estate is one standard example of what you would call an asset.

Some assets can yield returns all by themselves but some other types of assets would need a bit of investment to get them to the point where they would begin to yield effortlessly.

Linkedin, Dear candidate is like that second category I just described.

Now today's podcast is literally for everybody, irrespective of whether you are looking for a job or not.

Also, if you are someone who finds LinkedIn super boring or unimportant, then you definitely want to stick around as I hopefully seek to convince you on why and how you can hopefully make LinkedIn work for you.

We are challenging ourselves this week and in the weeks to come using the #LIchallenge so join in as we make this a fun-filled week of engagement.

Have fun listening.

Taking the final interview is always accompanied by its own form of nerves irrespective of the role you may be interviewing for and the experience you have with interviewing, particularly if it’s a job you really want. 

The nature of final interviews of course varies from company to company but in most cases, the final interview is a ‘culture fit/ (some call it culture contribution or culture alignment interview’). Companies call it different names however the goal of this interview (nomenclature aside) remains the same. How well do your own values align with the values of the organization? And are you willing to make adjustments where needed?

In this episode, I share tips on how to prepare for this interview and I explain how the main talking points are all linked to answering that one question. 

Have fun listening!

This is stage 3 of the process, it's SHOWTIME!

At this point, your ability to do the job in practical terms will be tested. Can you 'walk' the 'talk'?

This is kind of the make or break point (in actual fact all steps are like this but this one is pretty crucial). From my own experience, this is generally the stage where the second-largest candidate drop-off happens and the reason is not far-fetched. That which you say you can do would be tested at this round so this is not a 'round' to approach lightly.

In this episode, I share tips on how you can properly prepare for this round + the common reason why candidates are dropped at this stage. I also tell you about a strategy for making this a win-win situation irrespective of the outcome of the round. 

Have fun listening!