Sitting before the interview panel, Tobi glanced at the faces behind the oval conference table. He counted 7 faces. While trying to remember all the interview rules he practiced the night before, he wondered why seven people had to interview him for a graduate trainee position. More so, he was an undergraduate in his final year.

“Can we meet you?” requested the lead interviewer. Tobi began his response, “My name is Tobi, I am the last child of my family, and I am from Kabba in Kogi State. I like bread and beans with passion, I love burnt beans too…” his confidence began to melt when he read the faces of his interviewers, some struggling to keep a ‘serious’ look, others trying to conceal their amusement. It was his first interview. He will later find out that, “Can we meet you”, is an opportunity to market oneself.

I have worked with 3 organisations; Hyperlink Technologies Ltd, Globacom Nigeria (as Contract Staff) and Japaul Oil and Maritime Services Plc. In the course of my job search, I garnered firsthand interview experience which I’d now share with you. I’d be sharing the highs and lows, the fun, frustration and high spirit that characterize job search.

The Memoir of a Job Seeker series is meant to enlighten, inform, entertain and prepare you for the interviews you will attend in the near and distant future. The accounts are a mix of real life experience, research and fiction.

After submitting several job applications and not being invited for interviews, many applicants begin to worry. Some wonder if they are under a spell or a victim of bad luck. These job seekers lose sleep and weight in an attempt to figure out why they are not always lucky.

If you fit the description above, be assured that nothing is wrong with your personality. Your seeming lack of luck maybe as a result of salient factors, these factors will be addressed in the course of this series.

The Memoir of a job Seeker will be published monthly from February 2017 . To get the series in your mail box, visit www.olorunfemibabatunde.com and submit your email with the subscribe box.

Source: http://olorunfemibabatunde.com/blog/2017/01/16/introducing-memoir-job-seeker