AFTER ALL IS SAID AND DONE AT THE 2019 UI MASTERCLASS, THE WORLD IS NO LONGER MOVED BY BOOKSMART/CGPA INDIVIDUALS BUT BY SOLUTION PROVIDERS
Afolasade Ola
The labour market today is more competitive than ever. Gone are the days where even a mere secondary school degree holder could get a good job and live a life of comfort. The economy depreciates by the year and employers are only on the lookout for that single employee who do not just possess an incredible qualification, but an individual whose worth will be felt through the number of multiple skills he or she has garnered and how these skills can be harnessed into productivity for the company or organization growth. With thousands of graduates churned out by tertiary institutions every year, it will take more than a paper certificate to get each person their desired job. It is, therefore, a gracious step that the University, for the past three years, has taken the voyage to join the league of other few tertiary institutions to conduct for her final year students workshops to prepare them for the real world.
Ahead of the career fair to hold later in November, a two-day Masterclass event was organized on November 9th and 10th to prepare finalists across faculties on Employability, Workplace Readiness and Entrepreneurial Skills. According to the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Prof. Olanike K. Adeyemo, in her opening remark, the workshop was organized for selected finalists who were on a first class and distinctions and also worthy in character and learning.
“The Masterclass event was organized for finalists on a first class, a second class upper and distinction for those in Veterinary medicine and Medicine. One of the things we realised as a university is that we have some limitations—one of which is funding. Funding is very limited to the institution at this stage. And because our proprietresses are politicians, they want to give the impression that education should be free. But in developed countries, education is prized appropriately while the government makes it possible for everyone to be in school by providing loans, subsidies, bursaries, scholarships and so on. Until we get to that level, things will be difficult.
UI is a public institution and what you are getting now, you did not pay for it. But by doing this, we want to create a sense of school belonging, a sense of school brag—we want you to have that. One of the ways students can encourage this act is for them to behave as if the school cares and we are assured for a fact that you have come to study. Up until now, what the University does is make you take your course and leave when you are done but we’ve realised that the institution is only as strong as the alumni and we look forward to the next 10-15 years where students can come back and take care of their alma mater. Having said that, this is one of the ways to make you ahead of your peers in other institutions and we want you to be proud of your alma mater”.
The two days event was practically ridden with great sessions by facilitators from various experienced fields of profession. The kickoff session on self-transformation was taken by Bar. Edem Dorothy Ossai. Here she spoke at length on how vital it was for students to come to a self- awareness on who they are, what they choose to become and develop themselves through the acquisition of skills and knowledge. According to her, the foundation of self-transformation is self-awareness and it was very vital for a student to come into a sense of awareness early enough. As we would have it, students in the institutions live in the abstract world and are therefore plagued with the inability to connect or move beyond what they have been taught. For her, it was necessary that students indulge in real world experiences and think beyond graduation. She accounts that many are blindly pursuing goals of expanding income rather than chasing value and making impact. The world, as rightly stated before, is highly competitive, especially when one begins to look at the statistics of getting a job. She therefore goes on the emphasize on to the need to pursue a goal driven by passion and zeal in order to add value as the world is no longer moved by book smart persons.
“The world is no longer moved by book smart people, what we need especially in the Sub-Saharan region of Africa are solution providers. The world is looking for multisectorial thinkers. The problem is that we specialize too early –most of us were boxed too early into a particular department right from secondary schools. Find a passion, something that can be of value to the third party. Your motivation should not be intrinsic but something that adds value or connect to the demands out there”.
Transcending into a more realistic session, Jumoke Aleoke Malachi, Head of Recruitment at Aldelia takes us through insightful tips and quotes on how to intelligently manage emotions. According to her, we will continue to suffer if we have an emotional reaction to everything that is said about us. This goes without saying that acing job interviews, possessing billions of skills and being a major enhancer of an organization cannot be churned out within a twinkle of an eye if an individual fails to manage emotions intelligently. Emotional intelligence, she notes is the single biggest predictor of performance in a workplace. American Author, Daniel Goleman, has revealed so much on the very core value of emotional intelligence in his book on Emotional Intelligence. In sync with Bar. Edem propelling discourse on self-awareness, Daniel Goleman highlight how it was very impossible to go far in life if we do not have emotional abilities, possess self-awareness, an ability to manage distressing emotions, lack of empathy and effective relationship. In the actual sense of it, “when it truly comes to business, emotional Intelligence eats IQ for breakfast”.
While Toyin Obaniyi, Human Resources Manager at GX Foods Limited, takes a similar shift on the essence of career awareness, Babatunde Fajimi, Managing Director of Kairos Business Service Limited, focuses his attention on employability and workplace readiness. He gives eye-opening pointers to the marketable framework a candidate on a lookout for a job must be in the know of. Employers and most HR managers use KSAs to develop job designs and job descriptions. Candidates on the job are therefore screened based on this technique. The KSA framework which stands for knowledge, Skills and Abilities, if understood by candidates, can be aced to get them the job ahead of any other peers.
Most important in Dorothy Tunde Ajala’s session on Leadership Competence was how important it was for students to make personal growth as a priority.This is also in reconciliation with the fact that one cannot give what one does not have. Occupying leadership positions entails that one is made to act as a driver of a truck. If the knowledge or experiences of driving a truck are in absentia, then the truck is bound to hit some obstacles or accidents as the case may be. The experienced and internationally certified Human Resource Professional also highlighted on other tips to be equipped with as a leader which include having a strategic mindset, courage to take risks, accountability, humility, effective communication amidst others.
The Masterclass hits a more practical session with human capital development and Career advisory, Toluwase Olaniyan, who takes shots at talking in details about getting one’s first job, creating CVs, Cover Letters, embarking on Job hunts, scaling assessments and acing interviews.
Several other facilitators also stormed the Otunba Subomi Balogun conference room to share experiences and engage students in topics relating to the theme of the Masterclass. The event was eventually capped off with post engagements, certificates issuing and a closing remark from the organizing team and the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Prof. Olanike K. Adeyemo. While quite a number of students share sentiments on the discrimination and biases attached to the selection process, selected finalists were only too fortunate to be counted among the few.
“It is suppose to be for everyone, not an anointed few. People of first class and second class upper have their CPGA to speak for them, people with lower grades don’t. This should be the kind of Masterclass that should be done for everyone regardless of their degrees. There should be enough publicity too; UI performs badly when it come to publicity on programmes that benefit students” Obaniyi Stephen, a 400l student of Communication and Language Arts had stated.
In response to the selection process in an interview, the Deputy Vice Chancellor had said:
“There is a career development and counseling directorate with the charter to do it for all students and they do so. The university cannot afford to host all students. Your generation needs to know that God is an equal provider, the real world does not reward everyone equally; you get extra when you put extra effort. Finally would it have had the same impact if 2900 students are crammed into one hall?
On the other hand, departments were asked to supply contact details of their students in first and second class upper. We only worked with those departments that responded. Next year, we will ask students to come in and register by themselves”.
