A student mentorship summit aimed at equipping final year students with the requisite skills, right mindset, and professional etiquette as they exit school for the job market has been held at the University of Professional of Studies, Accra.
The programme dubbed ‘Exit Strategy Summit 2019’ was organized by the Drolor Centre of Strategic Leadership (DCSL) in collaboration with ESS Global under the theme: ‘Raising Africa’s Next Corporate Giants.’
Participants at the one-day conference were taken through aptitude test, English Language Usage, Customer Service, Public Relations and Interpersonal skills. They also underwent rudiments of developing a unique selling proposition and building brand identity. The first session of the programme saw students who excelled in the aptitude test being rewarded accordingly.
Convener for the ESS Global Group, Dr. Richmond Frimpong, took students through various techniques in writing a good Curriculum Vitae (CV) and encouraged them to also develop an interest in non-academic programmes such as driving, speed-typing, teamworking and taking up leadership roles.
“Your CV should have these basic things such as work experiences, education, skills, referees and hobbies relevant to your field of work. Your CV again should be accurate in spelling, punctuation, uniformity with bullets and heading, and include effective communication and decision-making skills” he said.
Dr Frimpong again advised students to dress appropriately for interviews. This he said would not only make a good first impression but boost one’s self-confidence on such occasions.
A Senior Transport Engineer and member of the Chartered Institute of Highway and Transportation Worldwide, Samuel Kwame Asare, who spoke on job search and preparations towards interview said: “Before you go into the job market, the first thing you need to know is where you are going and what you want, i.e. the type of job you want. Going out to look for a job is a very stressful situation. But you can make it easy for yourself by preparing towards that.”
Mr Asare further admonished the soon-to-be-graduates to exploit the many advantages social media offers and network with people within their field of work.
“Instead of searching on Google to look for financial analysts, you now have a whole pool of people to ask on social media through that relationship developed with them. Also, go and check your social media privacy setting. If you put anything there you think is incriminating or will be a bit contentious, delete it. This is because most employers will fall back on these things when you go applying for a job” he cautioned.
The Dean of Weekend School of UPSA, Dr. Dapaah Gyamfi thanked the resource persons for sharing their “insightful experiences” with the participants. While congratulating the students for also attending the summit, he called for more of such programmes in the coming years.
