In a bid to address the menace of unemployment amongst the teeming youths in the country, a platform aimed at intermediating between skillful job seekers and employers for immediate job opportunities held a summit on Saturday, in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital.
The event which was tagged ‘Level Up Job Fair And Conference’, was held at the International Conference Centre of the University of Ibadan, Ibadan.
Speaking at the event, Mr Olabode Ajetunmobi, a strategy consultant and founder of LevelUp.NG, said the programme was aimed towards bringing employers and employees together for job opportunity.
He lamented that, in Nigeria today, many skills and trainings are being offered but don’t translate to jobs, noting that the goal for the year is to take 10,000 unemployed youths away from the street.
His words: “This programme is aimed towards bringing employers and employees together. As we all know, many skills and trainings are being offered out there but jobs are not being given. So, reason for this conference is to bring people who are looking for the skills and those who have the skills together to connect one another so that they can leverage on this platform to get jobs immediately.
“This is the second edition of this programme as the first one we held was not as elaborate as this. But we feel it is about time we took it to the next level. We have 10,000 jobs opening out there and companies who are looking for people who have required skills but we don’t have the people that have the skills.
“We know over one million Nigerian students graduate from universities and polytechnics but do they have the required technical skills to manage the digital economy?”
A Learning and Development Expert, Sam ‘Naike, while speaking on the topic ‘Unlocking Your Potential For Successes In Digital Age’, identified few major areas to explore to achieve success in life.
While saying success is predictable and has protocol, he said individuals who are focused to be successful in life must be willing, determined and focused.
He charged participant to constantly ask the questions of ‘Who am I?’ which, according to him, is a question of identity, ‘What can I do?’, a question of ability, ‘Where am I going?’, a question of destiny and ‘Who has been there?’, a question of partnership.
Concluding, he emphasised on consistent personal growth, developing digital literacy, being adaptable to new skills, building and maintaining quality relationship or network as well as developing a personal brand.
“If anyone decides to rise or get employed, it can be acquired with focus. If there is anybody that wants to rise, such a person must be able to provide answers and to provide answers, there must be questions. I can tell you that success is guaranteed in any chosen profession.
“If you understand where you are going, distraction will be minimal. It is bad to follow the bandwagon. To level up is to do things distinctively. No matter what you want to become, you need to know who has been there before to make your journey quicker,” He stated.
Another resource person, who is a cyber-security consultant, Mike Harry Patrick, while speaking, elucidated on ‘Leveraging Technology To Advance Career’, urging participants to embrace the use technology in a view to advancing their chosen careers.
He maintained that technology can enhance financial stability, amplify productivity and automate process to increase level of efficiency in different areas, adding that it must not be ignored in this modern age.
Mr Patrick charged participants to protect their businesses so as not to become victims to cyber attacks that can interrupt operations or invade individual privacy.
One of the participants who spoke shortly after the event, Mr Tiwalade Omotosho, a data scientist, thanked the organisers of the event, noting that the session was expository as a lot of secrets and inner tips that can enable effectiveness were dished out.
Another participant, Miss Fiyinfoluwa Alayaki, a pharmacologist, explained that she learnt a lot of things that are capable of equipping her for future challenges in her chosen profession.
