Reasons Nigerian Graduates Fail Job Interviews

Dr Olusoji George is a senior lecturer in the Department of Business Administration, University of Lagos. He holds two Doctoral Degrees in Brunel University and Bradford University both in the United Kingdom, UK. Because of his love for teaching, he came back to Nigeria only 3 years ago to take up teaching in UNILAG. He says he belongs to the traditional old school- slightly conservative.

Dr George owns a consulting company, JSOJI and CO that recruits for multinational companies. He  says all the people they have been recruiting for over 10 million jobs so far happens to be graduates of foreign universities including Ghana, but mostly the UK and United States of America, USA.

In an interview with MedMETRO, he told Medinat Kanabe why Nigerian graduates fail job interviews, the dos and don’ts of job interviews.

He said a research conducted showed that Nigerian graduates with first class and 2-1 certificates cannot get good jobs because they do not have interview etiquette.

According to him: “Nigerian graduate and foreign graduates will go for a job test, the Nigerian graduate will score 80 per cent while the foreign graduate will manage to score 50 or 70 per cent, but when it is time for the job interview, the Nigerian graduate will score 20 per cent while the foreign graduate will score 90 per cent. At the end of the day, the cumulative of the two will determine who gets the job, so many times, the foreign graduate gets the job.”

The father of four said for graduates of any university to pass job interviews for multinational companies, they must possess certain skills which to many people are not necessary. “If you have a first class, except it is your father’s business, you must go for a job interview and if you don’t know how to dress, you won’t get the job. There is only one finishing school I was told in Lagos and they charge exorbitant fee. I am not against the amount they collect because it is not easy but how many Nigerian unemployed graduates can afford it,” Dr George asked.

He stated that one problem Nigeria has that is affecting its economy is the employability of graduates adding that Nigerian graduates are not employable and cannot even write a good CV.

The associate member of the Academy of Management, USA said someone who doesn’t know how to behave at interviews cannot get the job. Giving an example he said he has conducted an interview where the lady has mouth and body odour and doesn’t know what to do about it. “ It is a natural thing, if you don’t talk for about one hour, your mouth begins to smell, what you have to do is just get a chewing gum before you walk up for the interview.  If you have body odour treat it, it is very easy to treat with lime.”

Dr George who is also Member, Academy of Management said he has seen people coming for interviews with strong perfumes asking what gives the job seeker the impression that the interviewer loves perfumes or that he is not asthmatic. He said strong perfumes are meant for evenings, parties, or clubs where you are going to stay for a long time and most interviews are not in the evenings.

He hinted that most Nigerian graduates don’t know that if you have an interview by 8.00 am, they should not get there by 6.30 am but 15mins maximum to the time. “You can stay around the venue if you get there too early but you will disturb others who are supposed to be there at that time.”

He talked about Nigerians strong love for religion where he said he has seen someone that went for Daystar Leadership Training and had a course at Lagos Business School, and instead of stating the Lagos Business School as first in his CV, he stated the Day Star Leadership Training First, “what gives you the impression that the interviewer is not an Imam and even if he is a Christian, what gives you the impression that he is not biased against Daystar. I don’t have a problem with that but you are seeking for a job in a business organization so it is the Lagos Business School that is more relevant and should come first before the other one,” he added.

He further said a man should choose his colours carefully, and know what button to leave opened or closed on his jacket when he is standing or sitting. If it a three button jacket he said all three buttons can’t be closed but two, all these things are very important, they are the soft things in employment interviews, they are things that you can use to have competitive advantage and that is what the foreign graduates have been using, henoted.

He gave another instance in the last interview he conducted for a multi-national company where according to him, the number of waist beads he saw on a lady while she wanted to present her slides disgusted him.

“Do you go for an interview and grab a chair before you are asked to sit, do you as a man stretch you hands to the lady that is going to interview you first, do you as a guy go for an interview and all you do throughout is to stare at the burst of the lady that wants to interview you? You have just lost the job, because you are embarrassing her,” he said.

He went on to say the voice one uses normally is not the same voice he uses while presenting. “People have come to my office for interviews and while the interview was going on, because they were shouting people passing had to stop by my office to ask if all was well,” he hinted.

In an interview session, he said the type of English language you use matters as he advised that slangs be left out. “You should also pick your words but don’t be too slow, so that the man can get you,” he added.

He advised that job seekers should not shy away from their weaknesses but instead state them and say it is being worked on. He noted that anyone who says he doesn’t have a weakness may not get the job he seeks because companies are not looking for machines or robot to work for them but humans and they need to know their weaknesses so that they can understand the kind of people they are working with.

“When you go for interview don’t wear a new shoe because it might be inconveniencing. Don’t wear a new shirt without dry-cleaning and testing it first because you might think that it is a size 16 but it is not. You might have also lost so much weight in the process of looking for a job that it will look like an agbada on you.

“When you dress, look at yourself in the mirror, you should present to the mirror. Shave a day before the interview as a man because you are naturally tensed and you might cut yourself while shaving and start bleeding and the first thing the examiner sees is your face bleeding and he thinks you fought in the bus,” he said.

He said ladies are also guilty they go to interviews with 6 inches shoes.  What if there is a fire out break and they need to run. Some offices are very smooth, what if you slip and fall. Why not wear a low shoe since you are not going for a party. The way you walk is also part of the presentation,” he added.

He complained that a lot of the ladies going for interviews fix their hair a day before not considering that the hair might be too tight. He said some ladies hit and scratch their hair because of dandruff and by the time they leave the interview room, there will be a lots of dandruff on the table. “Why not wear a low cut if you can’t afford the maintenance of the hair? He asked.”

Explaining further, he said some go to the interviews with hand bands of the Redeemed Christian Church of God and asked what if the interviewer is someone that doesn’t like such things. He said some go for interviews and are doing the sign of the cross at the entrance of the office.”

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The member, Nigerian Academy of Management said they have partnered with multinationals and are calling on more multinationals to come on board. He added that they will also try to look for jobs for the graduates.

“Even if you are already employed, we want to help you manage the organisational politics because there is politics everywhere. We will see them eat so that we teach them how to hold cutlery. I attended a secondary school in Nigeria, and the University of Ibadan, while in secondary school they taught us how to use cutleries but now, no one has the time to teach you that.

“When I left the university companies were coming to the university to recruit us. They train us too but now companies don’t have time because the competition is so much that they expect you to train yourself and sell yourself. One of the things that we will be teaching them on that day is identification of self, to know who you are, what is your passion.

He said a psychologist, professor Oguntuase will handle the lecture on how to know themselves and confessed that he is an example of one who didn’t know himself initially. “I did not know I have passion for teaching or writing until I went for my Phd, I thought I will go and work for a research department of a company but as part of the requirement was to teach and I discovered during the lecturing that I have passion for it,” he hinted.

Apart from teaching the participants how to develop themselves by senior lecturers and professors who will be coming to lecture on that day, Dr George said that they will package all the lectures in CDs for them free and they will be given launch so that they can be taught how to use the cutlery.

Saying registration at www.jsojigeorge/seminar and attendance is free, he said that the workshop is starting in June and is expected to take place 3 days every month. “After registering we will communicate with them so they tell us the date that is comfortable for them and we will fix them in the day that they prefer,” he added.

He said they are required to come along with two copies of their CVs so that they can sit one of one with the participants to teach them how to write a good CV also free of charge.