Atinuke Jones is the Principal Consultant, IVI Consulting, a tech, banking and maritime recruitment firm. Jones explains, in this interview, why the labour market is saturated with unemployment and the reason even qualified applicants are sometimes referred to as “unemployable”.

They lack “attitude,” she declares. She, however, pleads with the government to regularly update its educational curriculum in order to meet modern challenges in the workplace. Excerpts:

Unemployment is on the rise. Yet, some employers of Labour complain about the unemployability profile of the applicants in the labour market. Who do we blame, the education sector or the applicants?

Both parties have a role to play in this.

The government needs to provide the infrastructure and educational policies that will produce well-baked graduates, which, of course, translates to a viable workforce. As we know, you cannot give what you do not have. The workforce today cannot meet and solve today’s needs, whether economic, technological, scientific, etc, if they have not been equipped for it. My expectation of our government is to be visionary and deliberate in their policy-making and provide relevant resources\tools to match the short-term and long-term socio-economic demands. You see, the workforce or labour, as it were, will be termed unemployable if we are not scientific in our approach to providing tailor-to-suit education.

What do I mean by this? Are researches conducted consistently to determine the skill gaps and changes in the workplace such as in IT firms, banks, factories, shipping, logistic companies, etc, where large numbers of human resources are needed? Do you know that several organizations do have vacant positions to fill but most times do not have candidates with the skill- set or experience for these roles? Therefore, to solve some of these problems, our curriculum needs to be in tandem with organizational needs that will, in turn, provide employable applicants.

Also, do you know that there are few indigenous captains & crew in this country and very few proficient data scientists who are less than 40 years of age? So, you ask yourself why that is so in a maritime country and also in a country with numerous tech-savvy users and tech companies. It is sad to say that our educational policies and trainings are not relevant to today’s needs neither are they strategically designed to meet future demands; the reasons why more and more vacant positions will be taken by expatriate causing us to pay heavily and lose foreign exchange to source and employ foreign talents which we could have been sourced within Nigeria if we had leveraged on research and data analysis to design our curriculum and in turn give our graduates relevant and sustainable trainings.

In the same vein, applicants need to continue to develop themselves by taking advantage of free resources online.

They also have to be strategic in their educational pursuit. Ask yourself, in this economy, how do I want to remain self-reliant? Is it by putting in so many hours into a task and not getting commensurate pay or by putting in less time and getting mouth-watering pay? You will need to research online on what short courses you can take and use the skill to solve problems that can be wrapped up in a few hours and with a more rewarding pay, instead of spending hours and hours on some vocations that give little monetary rewards and would not be able to pay your bills with the kind of inflation in the country now.

Everybody wants a white-collar job, which unfortunately isn’t available, and this has led to a rise in applicants in the labour market. What do you think?

This is true, and I believe it is because starting a business and growing it requires discipline, self-denial and patience, which we are not all cut out for. So, most times, people opt for the easier option, which is to get a white-collar job. However, the white-collar job is not without challenges, too. It still boils down to what I stated earlier about the government being intentional about policies, especially as it concerns the youth and unemployment. All of us cannot be in the office, certainly. The government needs to create a more friendly business environment by providing more funding for entrepreneurial adventures.

Of course, such funding must be easy to access. I don’t need to know somebody before I am granted funding. The main criteria should be the potential of the skills and services I want to render.

The Federal Government is proposing a student loan. Some have said the proposition would help students’ performance. Do you agree?

Definitely, it will help. There are so many aspiring Nigerians who will become high flyers in a short while if they get such support. I hope the initiative will commence soon and also be sustained because this will impact productivity and quality of work.
As an experienced job recruiter of close to two decades, what exactly do you look out for in an average job applicant?

Generally, whether we are hiring for IVI Consulting or for our clients, ATTITUDE is important to us. Beyond your paper qualifications, attitude is essential in any workplace. Are you teachable or are you Mr. Know it all, just because of your Western Master’ Degree? Or are you the type that gives excuses all the time for not meeting your deadline, even with all the necessary support and tools at your disposal? Or the bullying type who is never able to work with others or coach or mentor subordinates? Or the type that shifts tasks to others and still be the first to raise complaints at stand-ups? Or the one who will hinder the promotion of others because you do not like his or her “vibe”? Anyone with such traits at interviews cannot be considered. IVI Consulting seeks to attract suitable candidates that will enhance a non-toxic work culture and promote productivity & efficiency.

What’s your perception on target? Some complain of unreasonable targets. Do you agree?

Target is important. It helps to achieve and surpass expectations that we sometimes believe we cannot meet. In my opinion, this is one of the ways organizations will continue to stay in business as it helps to break even, amongst other factors.

Now, speaking to unreasonable targets, sometimes, some targets are truly unreasonable. Take for instance, asking an inexperienced hand and a new intake to prepare a presentation using power BI within 30mins for a management meeting will definitely be a disaster or asking a sales newbie to meet a target of N1 billion in a month’s time will be an uphill task. So, my submission is to give targets commensurate with the competencies and experience of the employee and also provide the necessary facilities for him or her to meet or surpass the target. Such facilities could be adequate working tools, advise when consulted for, timely feedbacks from superiors when their inputs are necessary,