By Annabelle Macford

A lot of us know where we want to be, but getting there is the problem. Little wonder it is said that the journey of a thousand miles begins with a step. Now a graduate fresh from the university, with very good grades, he was  taught from his first year to his final all the nitty-gritty of his course. But while the lecturers were busy taking him through this process, they left out one very important detail…..SELF CONFIDENCE. There are people born naturally with so much boldness and self-confidence while there are those that need to be pushed to become confident and outspoken. I only wish our educational system will deploy more techniques to building youths who not only thrive academically but are self-confident and bold. This however necessitates the need to reach out to these fresh graduates on how they can go about their job interviews. Believe it when I tell you that some graduates have missed very golden job opportunities and careers because they developed cold feet at interview moments.  Now the hurtful part of this tragedy (indeed it is a tragedy), is that no entrepreneur or organization will come to your house to conduct a private interview just because you are a first class brain. I believe there are ways to get you out of this tragedy, let’s take it step by step.

The first step is keeping that certificate aside. I know you expected me to say words like “believe in yourself”, no way, it is farfetched, let’s be real here. You’ve made those good grades and that is a good start, but the certificates will only give you opportunities, what you do with those opportunities is what will take you far. I have seen entrepreneurs who will say to a job seeker “please keep your certificate aside and tell me what you can do”. So I say to you, keep that certificate aside and get prepared.

Preparation entails being knowledgeable, being knowledgeable entails knowing something about everything. I suggest you read everything and anything (Yes! By all means everything), join in on political discussions, learn from conversations. Sometimes job interviews come in form of discussions, so be prepared.

Preparation has different facets. If you have been invited for an interview by a company, the first step of preparation should be to go to the website of the organization that invited you, research on what they do, why they do what they do, and what role you think you can play to bringing growth to that organization. I cannot begin to emphasize the importance of relevancy in an organization.

Still on preparation; what do you wear to the interview? For a lady, a suit is preferable, you are safer with that because you will never be out of place in it, no sandals please,  wear a covered neat pair of shoes, hair neatly done and light make up if need be. For the men, a suit is best, a tie, neat haircut, and well-polished pair of shoes. Just have this at the back of your mind while dressing up: “how you dress, is how you will be addressed”. Dressing well will boost your self-confidence too.

In the course of the interview, do not put your hands in your pocket while talking to your to-be employer, do not pull out a seat to sit down except you have been asked to sit down, and if the interviewer neglects that, you can ask politely  “May I sit?”. Do not rest your arm on the table. Sit up and maintain eye contact. Do not laugh loudly if you have to. Be polite. Answer only questions put to you. Do not compliment the interviewer’s looks. Talking too much will not fetch you the meal ticket, so limit your talking to only necessary details and please no show off or arrogance.  As much as possible be yourself.

These stuff are not taught in the schools, therefore our youths NEED TO KNOW and be prepared.  Cheers!