₦airaland Forum

When approaching any professional you think can recommend you for a work opportunity, whether face-to-face or virtually, you should try not to use your life challenges as a reason why they should help you.

It's off-putting.

Begging for a job, using your sick parent, inability to pay children's school fees or your rent are not good enough reasons for anyone to employ you.

The workplace survives on symbiotic relationships. What can you do? What can the organization or company offer you for your services?

Think about what you can do and present those skills to whoever you are talking to about a possible work opportunity.

Begging only robs you of the chance to be taken seriously by anyone.

Source - Omono Okonkwo (Lingo Africa).

Did you know that collaborations are a great way to ease yourself of some burdens, whether you are a job seeker or a working professional?

No, you do not only need to have a brand before collaborating with others.

For jobseekers, if you want to better understand the process of successful job seeking, do not just follow job boards, also look out for other job seekers, who can provide insights you never knew existed. You all can share ideas on how to make the process easier.

For working professionals, you can look out for those who have successfully occupied the role you are working in so as to learn more from them.

Collaborations are great in this sense because all parties involved can solve problems together and offer sound advice based on work.

Please note, that when you collaborate with other professionals, you are also setting up a great foundation for professional networking.

Source - Omono Okonkwo (Lingo Africa).

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There are so many online applications available for just about every work task or personal development task.

Instead of sweating through stuff, and wasting time, try to automate tasks using apps.

You can get a lot done through Artificial Intelligence. There's no use living like you're stuck in 1998!

Some tasks you can automate include; editing articles/books/research publications, posting on social media on a continuous basis, setting up online assessments, job application reviews, and administrative tasks.

Thank God it's Friday!

Source - Omono Okonkwo (Lingo Africa).

If you have worked for over three years in whatever capacity, you may have come across colleagues who take non-stop activity to mean hard/smart work.

But, this is not true.

Being active does not always mean you are productive.

Emerging trends, especially in the Western world, reveal that some companies and indeed some people in government, are looking at cutting the number of weeks people have to work.

New Zealand is trying to propose a 4-day work week.

As you take steps to grow your career, do not get carried away by involving yourself with too many tasks without being impactful.

Whatever you do, ensure you're moving the needle and ticking off your laid out goals.

Source - Omono Okonkwo (Lingo Africa).

Critical thinking skills cannot be overemphasized in the current times.

It should be applied to job searches, job applications, work challenges as well as entrepreneurship.

When you think critically, you are going beyond the regular. You are creating scenarios and evaluating potential responses.

Critical thinking cannot be complete without adequate observation, active listening, and deep knowledge about whatever you are involved with at the time.

If for instance, you are a finance professional, applying for a job at a well known company, and you want to stand out, you need to do what no one else is doing.

Your critical thinking skills might lead you to check out the last company report and look for a finance related problem to solve.

You come up with a solution to present during your interview, for when they ask you what you can offer the company.

It is true that many applicants will not do the same for a potential employer.

Critical thinking in this case, has set you apart from other applicants.

Try to develop your critical thinking skills. It will help you do things differently.

Good luck!

Source - Omono Okonkwo (Lingo Africa).

Soft skills are those skills that can be applied to any industry and do not require technical expertise.

Soft skills are transferable skills, and it is necessary for every professional, no matter their level to possess these skills, as they will determine if the professional can maintain work relationships and manage people within the work environment.

Do you realize people are different and in order to work and achieve goals, you need to be able to relate with people based on their personalities?

Are you easily pissed off? Do you have anger issues? Your ability to control your temper and reach a compromise instead of being passive aggressive, will help you work better with colleagues and collaborators.

Put more effort into strengthening your soft skills.

Source - Omono Okonkwo (Lingo Africa)

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