Lekan Otufodunrin, former Managing Editor at The Nation writes on how he hired some young graduates based on their skills and not their certificates
An alert from LinkedIn recently reminded me that one of my former younger colleagues at The Nation Newspaper, Olowe Praise has clocked two years in the service of the organisation.
How time flies. She was initially an intern with the company while in the University and came back to complete part of her national service in the Online department I headed.
We had no discussion about retaining her after service, but her performance was such that we had no choice, especially because she had mastered our operations so well and even acquired some new skills which we needed additional staff for.
She didn’t have to go through any formal interview.
Her performance was just enough to earn her the job which many of her contemporaries desired and have to be subjected to all kinds of interviews if they ever get invited for consideration.
Cheerful, dedicated and always seeking to learn more, she has contributed a lot to grow the online platform of The Nation and I am happy she proved us right as a good choice.
The young lady is one of the staff I have either hired or assisted in getting a media job informally in my years as a media manager.
I also remember another young graduate, Rita Ohai who was recommended for employment but I was not initially keen as she had no media work experience at all and didn’t study any communication-related course.
What won me over was the compilation of short stories she had written over the years which she dropped along with her application.
It took me almost a month to flip through the bonded short stories which I found well written and good for our newspaper and I had to send her a text to come and resume work immediately.
No need for an interview, the value she could add to our paper was apparent and she didn’t disappoint when she came on board until she moved on to other media jobs.
I met Emike Oyemade at a training for Christian writers where I was the facilitator and I chatted her up at the end of the programme because she was the youngest participant. She turned out to be a mass communication graduate in need of employment and we struck a Christian ‘brother and sister’ relationship.
I called to inform her of my employment as Editor of the defunct Comet Newspaper and she told me that means she has also got a job as my ‘sister’. She showed up in my office and soon started writing some content I can’t recall now.
My Managing Director who has been noting her write-ups called without any request and approved that we start paying Emike for her reports and eventually she got hired. She became such a valuable staff and as usual, she eventually had to leave when she got a better paying job.
Arakunrin Olayinka Shehu knew me from afar when I went to speak in his department at the Polytechnic and much later when he was an intern in another section of the media house I used to work. Years later after graduation, we met on social media and stayed in touch.
I kept following his postings online and when there was a vacancy for new media savvy young staff, I asked that he sent his application as a formality and he got hired without any question about what he learnt in school. His new media skills were apparent for me to see online and there was no need for any ‘cross-examination’
Akintunde Adeyinka P ‘s father told me he needed a job. He was given some writing assignments for another online platform and he turned in the copies in record time and regularly asked for others for no agreed amount of payment.
He got a job at a ‘small’ online platform where he was working until I had a vacancy for him. His modest credential was good enough for the MD not to demand for any formal interview.
Blessing Olisa-Akaeze lived a walking distance from our office and was advised to offer to be a volunteer in my office by one of her classmates in the University where I used to be an adjunct lecturer. She wasn’t really keen on being a journalist but she came nonetheless.
She accepted the challenge of working for months without pay during which she learnt editorial and digital skills which eventually earned her employment. She became the executive producer of our content on The Nation TV and social media.
As usual, she had to move on when our pay could not match her skills for which other organisations offered better pay.
While Adédiwúrà De-Catalyste Adéríbigbé was an intern with me as Sunday Editor, he suggested the idea of a facebook page for The Nation and created one. His vast professional knowledge of new media even as a young graduate easily got him some jobs after completing youth service.
He never stopped suggesting how we could enhance our website and social media operations even when he didn’t work for us. Expectedly, we had to ‘beg’ him to come and join our new team.
I remember asking him to make a presentation at a management meeting and he wowed the managers with his explanations to the various questions they asked.
He got a salary raise higher than his level for us to retain him, but eventually, other offers kept coming which we couldn’t match.
David B. Lawal How can I forget meeting this young man at the Nigeria Institute of Journalism when I was there for one of those lectures.
We kept in touch when he was in Kano for Youth Service. Given his potentials, I advised that he returned to Lagos for a media job. He mastered online journalism in a new platform and I recommended him for and ‘snatched’ him when there was an opening at The Nation.
Even when he left us briefly for another appointment, I insisted on his re-employment knowing the stuff he is made of.
Like others, we reluctantly surrendered him to a Communication organisation but he remained my digital assistant while I was still at The Nation and even now in my media career development endeavours.
While it is true that there are unemployable graduates who as a colleague once said cannot write to save their lives, I testify that there are many others who have what it takes to get hired without formal interviews.
