"Soft Skills Are A Big Differentiating Factor For Job Seekers"

Recently, Jobberman, a Nigerian based job portal and career platform that lists candidate job applications partnered with Coursera, a global education platform to offer free access to soft skills training to young people across Nigeria.

Jobberman is the first recruitment company in Nigeria to have this unique partnership with Coursera, as they continue to reach their ambitious goal to upskill five million young Nigerians in the next five years.

The Coursera platform provides added value to its participants with a co-branded certificate, recognised and sought after by employers globally.

With over a decade in the recruitment business, Jobberman has identified soft skills as a viable asset to employees and job seekers, especially for young people transitioning into the workplace.

Since the introduction of its soft skills training in June 2020, over 40,000 young Nigerians (18-35) have been trained and certified.

The training also uses assessment techniques to measure the growth of its participants from before starting the course and upon completion.

We caught up with Precious Ajoonu, the Head of Youth Engagement and Learning at Jobberman on this new development and what the partnership will bring to the teeming Nigerian youths.

The partnership with Coursera

Jobberman has a range of employers on the platform from Multinational to national corporations and from NGOs to Government.

“We wanted to offer our candidates extra leverage with our tailored soft skills training courses with a certificate that has global reach and recognition.”, Precious explained

“At Jobberman we are always looking at ways to transform the jobs market, improve access and widen the scope of opportunities for job seekers, demonstrated in this partnership.”, Precious noted

On how the partnership will push Jobberman’s ambition to upskill 5 million Nigerian youths, Precious explained that the partnership provides more value to its participants with a co-branded certificate.

Over the years Jobberman has established a strong reputation as the market leader within the recruitment industry.

According to Precious the partnership with Coursera will provide an added incentive for the millions of ambitious Nigerians.

“We identified soft skills as a viable asset to an employer and job seeker, so as part of our mandate to upskill 5 million Nigerians, we introduced soft skills training.”, Precious noted

Precious stated that six courses are on the offering through the Coursera platform which takes an average of thirteen hours to complete.

Courses including business etiquette, emotional intelligence, personal effectiveness, creativity, and effective communication skills are needed to compete, not only in the Nigerian job market but globally.

Jobberman’s journey on soft skill training for the youths

Precious noted that ever since the introduction of the soft skills training in June 2020, the platform has trained and certified over 40,000 young people across the country.

“Our training utilises assessment techniques to measure the growth of its participants from before starting the course and upon completion.

This allows job seekers to have an edge when seeking jobs in Nigeria and also globally.” Precious added

The future of work as regards soft skill

Research has shown that young people with soft skills have better chances of passing the interview stage, getting hired and are more successful in the workplace.

Employers also require soft skills such as emotional intelligence, time management, etc to advance their business and make sure their teams are working effectively to produce excellent results.

Precious explained that anyone who has successfully held a job for a consistent period of time will tell you that soft skills like self-awareness, personal effectiveness, and time management can make a major difference in how well you do your job.

“Our vast experience with job seekers and employers in the past decade has shown that soft skills are a big differentiating factor, especially during such a time where there’s competition amongst candidates.

Soft skills are traditionally overlooked with academic qualifications perceived to be much more important, however, the real truth, however, is that for employers they are equally as important.”, Precious noted

Closing Remarks

Jobberman is working on a few different projects with the Mastercard Foundation which will be announced by 2021.

Lastly, Jobberman advises that Nigerian youths shouldn’t stop learning while doing whatever it takes to be outstanding.

Featured Image: Precious Ajoonu, Head of Youth Engagement and Learning, Jobberman

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