Are You Looking for A Job? Are You a Fresh Horn in HR? This interview with Leke Oshiyemi Will Help You

Who is Leke Oshiyemi?

Leke Oshiyemi is the Founder & CEO of Rekrut Consulting Limited, a Human Capital Development Company. Leke is a Human Capital Strategist. An accomplished Trainer & Recruiter.

An astute Human Resource Professional of about two decades in the trenches, who has held Senior HR Leadership roles with Multinational and conglomerate companies, FMCG, HR-Consulting, Private Equity & Financial Services in Nigeria. He has consulted for various Nigerian Businesses. Previously, Human Resources Business Partner and Career Development Manager with Nigerian Breweries Plc. Former Head Human Resources at Verod Group, Strategic HR Business Partner (HRBP) at Honeywell Flour Mills PLC. Former staff of Smart Mark Ltd, Nadina Industries & Transcon Group. He holds a Certificate in Advanced Strategic HR Management from Cornell University, USA. Master’s degree in Public Administration (HR) from the prestigious University of Lagos, Akoka and Bachelor’s Degree (Honors) in Philosophy from Olabisi Onabanjo University, Nigeria.

Mr. Leke, you mentioned that you founded Rekrut Consulting Limited, what experiences led you to this decision?

Actually, Rekrut Consulting Limited was registered as far back as 2012 while I was in paid employment. The idea was birthed the day I asked myself the big question “What If your employee STATUS ends today, how will you feed your family?”. You see, as an HR guy, I’ve witnessed countless number of redundancies, downsizing or whatever you wish to call it. The motto of Boys Scout says “Be Prepared”. And then, I’ve always been the go-to guy whenever it comes to Human Capital Development, Training facilitation, public speaking, recruitment etc. I’m usually the MC at many corporate events wherever I worked. My colleagues and bosses would always commend and encourage me to imagine a future in Human Capital Development and that’s how it all started. And today, we’re grateful to God.

In your introduction, you used the phrase ‘in the trenches’, can you help our reader understand what you mean, and perhaps the dynamics of the trenches – is it hardwork, hardships, rejections or failures? What exactly do you mean?

In the trenches for me means: 20 years experience of working with amazing teams, long hours, hard work, hardship, rejections, the good, the bad and some uglies. Contending with industrial unions, working far away from home, dealing with Lagos traffic situation, pouring myself into developing people around me, giving appraisals and receiving appraisals. But the greatest of them all is every opportunity I got for storytelling, sharing information, ideas and training and developing people.

Ok. Thank you for telling us the way it is. So, drawing from your experiences in the past 20 years, what would you say about the nature of the Nigerian job market?

To my mind, the landscape of the job market in Nigeria is driven by macro and micro economics. I hear people say there are no jobs around. They are right and also wrong. According to one of the many business reports 2,877 firms in Nigeria have shut-down operations within 4 years. That’s massive loss of jobs and income for the employable youths of this country. Yes, we’ve seen loads of companies downsizing and rightsizing. We have also seen the emergence of new employers like Ridesharing companies Opay, Gokada, Max NG, etc. While we’re also seeing a rise in small scale entrepreneurships and entertainment industry thus creating employment in their own right. I can predict we’re about to see a huge jump in contract staffing and outsourcing of employees to third party agencies by big corporations in Nigeria. Many organizations are inventing various ways to save cost these days.

There has been this popular belief by Nigerians especially job seekers that ‘there are no jobs out there’, Are there truly no job opportunities in Nigeria?

Let’s look at the stats. Youth Unemployment rate in Nigeria averaged 23.63 percent from 2014 until 2018, reaching an all time high of 38 percent in the second quarter of 2018 and a record low of 11.70 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014. As at date, we have well over 170 Universities in Nigeria, churning out graduates every year. Indeed, the opportunities are shrinking very fast. Some people have chosen to blame the government for the unemployment but I belong to the group that says what can I do about this reality. Hence, I chose to be an employer of Labour.

What three key steps would you advise every job seeker to take between now and the wake of 2020 in order to have the harvest of jobs they desire? (If you have more than three key steps, kindly add)

Step 1. SOCIAL MEDIA VISIBILITY. A job seeker who is permanently offline has reduced their probability of getting a job by a wide margin. Job Seekers must be on LinkedIn as part of their job search strategy. There are 610 million LinkedIn users. According to a recent survey, 89% of recruiters have hired someone through LinkedIn. 10.2 Million Applicants found their job through LinkedIn. 1 out of 3 professionals are on LinkedIn. There are over 10 million job postings. Users get access to experts in every area of expertise. Job seekers should be visible by following potential employers, sharing meaningful content and finding creative ways of projecting why anyone should employ them.

Step 2. SKILLS FIRST, THEN EDUCATION. I tell everyone that cares to listen. Marketable skills are becoming more valuable than school education. Add to your academic status powerful skills like Digital marketing, content writing, copy writing, Website development, coding, graphic designing, video editing, photography, PowerPoint, MS Excel etc. One day, you’ll thank me for this.

Step 3. NETWORKING & VOLUNTEERING. A job seeker must be prepared to attend corporate and social events. Ask for opportunity to volunteer with SMEs. You might be surprised where this small experience will speak for you. Job seekers should volunteer because It gives you a place to go. It keeps your skills fresh and teaches you new ones. It takes your mind off your own troubles. It gets you out of your own head and reminds you of the things you’re good at. You also get to learn how to build working relationship with people.

You have really dealt with this subject even with verifiable statistics, thank you. So looking at your profession, the Human Resource, what sure secrets have you discovered that can help or accelerate the growth of young HR professionals or those intending to move into HR?

Here’s my advice to young HR Professionals and those intending to venture into Human resources management. Practice what I call “CANEI” Constant And Never Ending Improvement. It’s the philosophy of betterment or refinement. It’s the idea that nothing is ever finished, or declared perfect; there is always room for improvement. Readers are leaders. Show me your investment into HR books, CDs, Mp3, HR articles, videos, TEDx talks etc and I can predict your HR future. Be updated as per HR trends. Be adaptable. Seek knowledge. Seek wisdom. Be mentored. Update your knowledge.

Build your Dream. It is very important to think about your dream and the vision for your own life and career. Believe in Yourself. Never Stop Learning. Sharpen your People Skills. Expand your Network. Find a Mentor. Build your Reputation. Stop Telling & Start Selling. Don’t be old school. Improve your public speaking skills. Learn marketable skills. I won’t say these are some great secrets, but these are powerful stuff if you have the WILL to ACT on them.

Wow! I’m also being fired up here! Thank you. What are or is the major project you are working on now that you would like job seekers, job changers and professionals to know about that would help them get a job or link them to the process of getting a new job or a promotion at work?

My life’s work now is Project Rekrut Consulting Limited. We’re essentially a Human Capital Development Company. We help you HIRE GREAT EMPLOYEES & HELP YOU TRAIN THEM RIGHT.
We TRAIN RIGHT. Our learning solutions are adaptable to groups of all sizes. Open and in-plant courses. We are flexible to facilitate training sessions for your teams wherever you are located. Distance is not a barrier. World-class trainers. Well researched, rich content, excellent delivery. Check out our training calendar for 2020 at: www.rekrutconsulting.com/Training.

Also, we’ve developed a CV Writing /LinkedIn profile makeover service. Let’s convert your CV/LinkedIn Profile to a recruiter magnet or business lead magnet. For more details check out our website: https://www.linkedinwriter.com.ng

In case anyone would like to know more about what values you offer and perhaps want to reach you for mentorship, how can they reach you? Any website, or SM address or phone number?

You can reach us on:
+2348076844991
[email protected]
www.rekrutconsulting.com

Think Rekrut Consulting Limited: Think Recruitment, Training & Consulting.

Mr. Leke, it has definitely been a good time together. Thank you for your time and responses to all the questions.