NewStats: 3,259,613 , 8,170,607 topics. Date: Sunday, 25 May 2025 at 05:26 PM 47f2n

Thats not true reading the economist will increase your vocab, give you points to discuss while networking, and makes your more of an intellectual who is aware of the issues

One Of The Best Gifts I Received Was A Year’s Subscription To The Economist And

During my days as an intern I was called into the office of the CEO to have a meeting with her. She was telling me about my potential but then asked me about my reading habits. I told her I like reading, and I read the newspaper here and there, and then she proceeded to tell me that I must make it a daily habit to read something SUBSTANTIAL everyday.

I looked at her kind of funny and wondered what she meant by substantial. Eventually she ordered me a years worth of The Economist, and I can say that was one of the best gifts I have ever received.

It is okay to get news from websites such as Bella Naija and Nairaland, but to make you a well rounded person include other reputable newspapers. This may sound like a simple statement, but you will be surprised how many do not make reading the news a daily habit. Do not just read only Nigerian news, because you will only see things from one perspective.

The power of the internet now enables people to have access to places like WSJ, The New York Times, and Financial Times. Make sure to also incorporate industry news. In my professional I have a list of websites, and blogs I go to daily to keep up on current trends.

You will be surprised on how much reading daily helps you start conversations at networking events, or help initiate a conversation at an interview. Also, reading the news gives you a holistic view on the different components of the business and the factors that influence it.

Some people will say well I do not have time to read daily, but I beg to differ. Instead of searching around on facebook take that time out to read the news paper or something pertaining to your industry. What is your favorite daily read?

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I love fashion and just because I work in the corporate world does not limit my personality in my clothes. The days are long gone where you have to stick to black, blue, and a grey wardrobe for work, but keep in mind that you still leave an impression on everyone you work with. It is important to bring your personaltity into what you wear to work, because it makes you unique. You will be surprised that what you wear can be the difference between you and another person for a promotion. Ladies there are a lot of fun colors you can wear that bring a pop in your wardrobe. Colorblocking will still be in season for spring. Think about wearing a silk green blouse with a vibrant purple skirt.  Imagine an orange cardigan with a blue wide leg pant.  Always make sure you are well groomed. If you wear braids or dreads make sure they are neatly groomed. It is not essential for you to have acrylic nails, but keep your nails well manicured. It really makes a differences. Be mindful of your hair choices. There are no policies that keep you from having a 25 inch weave at work, but your boss may think you look unprofessional. In this post I have written out a few items that are classic staples for the fashionita who works in the corporate world.  Here are must have items that should be in your wardrobe to look successful at work.

Watch- Not only is a watch functional, but also serves as eye candy to your wrist.



Black Pumps- Whether you are into round toe or pointed pumps you can never go wrong with this staple item for your wardrobe.



White Blouse- A crisp white blouse never goes out of style, and doubles as a great top for causual fridays in your office with a pair of blue jeans.



Earring studs- Some women are not into jewlery, and the way to eliminate the frustrtaion of figuring out what earing to wear can simple be solved with everyday pearl earings or gold studs.



Pencil skirt- I love pencil skirts, I feel you can never go wrong with this piece. It also is a great item to slim your figure.



Cocktail Ring- Have a statement ring that can bring a simple black dress into an elegant statement at work



Blazer- These days blazers are coming in all types of shapes, and colors. Blazers are great pieces to your wardrobe because you can always mix it up with other pieces to change your look from dressy to casual.



Pearls- Now maybe I am biased with this piece because I am in a sororit where pearls is our symbol, but I feel pearls just adds a feminie touch to whatever you wear.



Suit- Some women perfer pant suits, and other perfer skirt suit. Regardless of your prefeance it is a must for every women's closet. This suit is an essetial piece for interviews, and important meetings.



Wide leg pants - I love wide leg pants there is just a way about them that commands attention when they swish as you walk across the room. Wear it with a skinny belt and you will look amazing



Silk Blouse - You can never go wrong with a silk blouse.  A silk blouse adds richness to your outfit and can be worn with almost anything.

Original source: http://naijacareerist.com/ladies-channel-your-inner-fashionita-at-work/

Facebook is a great way to find friends from the past, connect with friends from school, and to even make new friends. I love posting pictures of my new adventures, birthdays, and yealy vacations, but did you ever think your employer was going to go through your facebook before they hire you? A new poll suggest that 60% of companies google, and go through a prospective candidate's online presense before they hire them. A even more shocking trend is that 39% of employers did not continue with a prospective candidate because of what they found. I remeber my first real internship I applied for at a law firm, I was so excited to get an interview. I walked into the office, and the guy hands me a print out of an old my style article  written about me in Bella Naija from 2009.
http://www.bellanaija.com/2009/08/24/my-style-chika-uwazie/

Nontheless he still hired me, but what about if I had some risque picutures of myself plastered all over the internet. Ever since that situaion has happened to me, I am very careful of what I put on the internet. Here are some tips you should think about for your online presence.

Monitor the pictures you post on facebook

No one is saying to not have pictures of yourself having a good time with friends, but proceed with caution. Yes, facebook is your own private space, but you should think to yourself, would I want an employer seeing this? If you are ant of keeping all your pictures on facebook, put it in a private setting, and monitor who you accept on facebook.

Think about what you say on social media sites

Not only can you be penalized for a future job, but also for a current job as well. It is not a smart idea to tweet about how much alcohol you are having on the job, or what indecency websites you are going to. You do not have to censor everything you say on social media sites, but be mindful who is watching. A woman almost didn't get a major VP position in a different country, because of the radical view points she had displayed all over the web.

Be in control of what is out on the web

Have you ever googled yourself? You will be surprised on what gets pulled up in the search results. Every now again you should Google your own name to monitor what good and bad things are out there on the web of yourself. Ways you can change around a less positive image is by creating a yourname.com website with a virtual resume and listing some of the accomplishments you have reached. Not only do I monitor what is out there, but I also make sure that I am active in writing articles about my area of expertise so employers can see I am a thought leader in my industry.

Think about what you have posted on all of your social media sites, will your future or current employer be happy with what they see?

Original Post: http://naijacareerist.com/take-down-your-half-Unclad-pic-off-facebook-employers-have-eyes-and-ears-everywhere/

To a linkedin group simply do a search on the type of group you are looking for and then on the top you should see a button that says . You must have signed up to Linkedin before ing a Linkedin group. What other questions do you have about Linkedin? I will address them in future post.

Also you can follow me at @ChikaUwazie on twitter for more career advice

Thank you everyone I really appreciate it. If you are on twitter I will be talking more ing Linkedin on my #hirenaijachat on thursday at 2 pm. I also will be doing a few more post on Linkedin on how to get a job like I did using my network.

LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 120 million and growing rapidly. LinkedIn connects you to your trusted s and helps you exchange knowledge, ideas, and opportunities with a broader network of professionals. It is a great way to connect with other professionals in your field. ,many people use this website to network, others to build partnerships, and lastly to find a job. There are many great tools about Linkedin that I will introduce in future post, but today I wanted to focus on Linkedin groups, and its great benefits.

Have you ever ed a Linkedin group, and then thats the end of it. You are the type to never contribute, or don’t even peek in once in a while to see what active discussions are taking place If you are not actively using your Linkedin groups, you are missing out on plenty opportunities to network with people, and some of the best jobs are posted in these groups. I can attest to the value of Linkedin groups because I actually got my current job from one. If you are lost or confused on how to use Linkedin groups here are some tips you can implement now to leverage the current groups you have.

Start your own group

As a young HR professional I was looking for a group that catered to young Nigerians in the field. I was not able to find one so I started my own called Young HR Professionals: Nigeria. It is a great way to show your leadership skills, as well as find and make connections with people who have a similar interest. Your group does not have to be big. Even a small group can have meaningful discussions.

groups targeted to your profession

A lot of people make the mistakes of ing hundreds of groups, and then they end up getting lost in the shuffle. Realistically find 2 to 5 groups that cater to your background, and be a visible member in those groups. The more visible you are in the groups, the more you can learn from others. Many times I use groups to ask about challenges I am facing at work, and are more than happy to assist you.
active discussions

You will always find a few active discussions that everyone is commenting on. Those are the discussions that you should to show your expertise to other . Make sure to add insightful commentary, and help out another fellow member that has a questions as well. if you continue to be visible,and add worthy comments to discussions, soon will see you as a thought leader within the group.

Start a discussion

Not only should you participate in active discussions, but you should also start your own. It can be a question you have about work, or a thought provoking statement that gets everyone talking. Do not go into the group and after 5 minutes of being there you ask that you need a job. Actually spend some time in the group to gauge everyone’s temperature. Observe what continues to be a hot topic, what are people’s main concerns. This is a great tool if done strategically and can create a great amount of engagement.

Network Network Network

Linkedin groups is a great way to network with other people in your industry. Maybe you notice someone always posting thoughtful comments about a topic that is of interest to you.  It is a great conversation starter if you are looking to connect or send a message. Of course do not stalk someone, or do not use Linkedin groups to be abrasive either. take the time to notice who is who in each group. With time you will know the right time to connect with someone new. I have made a lot of great connections from groups, simply because someone liked what I posted or vice versa.
There are a lot of hidden incentives from actively participating in Linkedin groups. Whether it is a new job, partnership, or speaking engagement, Linkedin groups is definitely an investment that is well worth your time.

http://naijacareerist.com/linkedin-101-how-to-leverage-your-groups/

These are two friends of mine and they are located in the VI area,


Another group called Co-Creation Hub immediately caught my attention. It is building an incubator to help entrepreneurs with business advice, funding and mentoring. Their focus is using technology to solve real problems Nigeria faces, not just copying what people read on TechCrunch. It welcomes more than just coders, but teachers, doctors, or anyone from any background that has a dramatic idea of how to make life in Nigeria better. A new co-working space to be opened later this year will operate like an open living lab for social change.

I love that strategy. I always advise entrepreneurs if they want to build a Western-facing consumer Internet company to move for the Valley; it will just be easier. But if they want to be pioneers in their own markets, focus on the problems and endemic strengths there. (And probably read sites like TechCrunch a little less too.)

So right away between Nwoye’s evangelism, Paradigm Initiative of Nigeria’s efforts to build a young generation of coders and Co-Creation Hub’s cushy nest for social change, there was a pretty impressive mix of people actively working to foster an ecosystem. Things were looking up for Nigerian entrepreneurs. The demos started, and I was impressed by many of the companies too. They ran a tight ship doing pitches of no more than five minutes, and there were only a few copy-cat Western Web ideas in the bunch. My favorites are below. I should mention there was also a Garage48 hacker event over the weekend in Lagos that I wasn’t able to attend. The demos from that day are here.

Yes its a naija station that streams online !!!

Oh I forgot to mention soon I will have my own radio show on a very popular radio station so stay tuned

I actually want to implement those things as well, I have a mac now so it allows me to be more creative. Right now I am going through a re branding of the website to make it more sociable. I am also thinking to moving the career chat it to an earlier time like 2pm GMT so more Nigerians can participate. In the next two months you will see more things !!!

A great example would be Gossy founder of Student Circle he has taken online course from top schools like MIT and put them on the internet for free for Nigerian students to take free classes. Here is interview on Forbes

Gossy Ukanwoke, a 23-year old Nigerian Internet entrepreneur, has embarked on creating a different type of social network. His tech startup, Students Circle, fuses a social feature with a rich database of over 10,000 academic resources- notes, essays, past assignments and tutorials.

Students Circle is something like Facebook, but for scholars and more serious-minded folks. The site launched in December 2010 and so far it has 2,407 ed and over 20,371 non ed from over 120 countries. Not too shabby for a startup that’s yet to receive a dollar in venture funding.


According to its website, “Students Circle Network allows students to interact and communicate over educational resources, making education and e-learning social and human by giving resources, study groups, social connections, scholarships offers and university placements.”

I chatted with him briefly today. We talked about his company, his comparative advantage, and the future.

Why would someone want to Students Circle?

Students Circle Network – the academic social network — is uniquely bringing together the worlds of social connection, media and education to a single platform thereby allowing students, teachers and institutions connect without bounds. We are currently making over 10,000 resources available for free. Our focus on Africa is high. We believe that with the right content and audience, we can transform education in Africa.

What’s your comparative advantage? What makes Students Circle any better than Edmodo or any other educational social network?

We are bringing the best of all worlds: Social + Education. On the social aspect, students/teachers get to learn from each other based on personal knowledge and research. On the educational aspect, teachers and students can connect and use high quality content from top 200 OCW member universities. Study groups are used to schedule learning sessions and interactive forums to drive learning. We are launching API’s that will allow the use of Students Circle in classrooms.

Student Circle’s interface is very similar to Facebook’s. Why? Aren’t you afraid of being tagged as yet another Facebook copycat?

Yes, we moved towards getting a bit of the structure of Facebook because most our s are already using Facebook and it’s only natural for them to look for things the way they do on Facebook. It’s best for experience. However, I am not worried about being tagged another Facebook clone because we are highly different and our focus is defined to education.

You have a database of thousands of high school and college courses. Where do you source them from, and how can s be certain of the quality of the content they are deriving from your site?

Students Circle Network is a member of the OpenCourseware Consortium. OCW Consortium has member universities globally with the most contributing member being MIT; others include Open University, UK and University of California at Irvine. This is to name a few. The point is that our content is from these universities. These are some of the most reputable universities worldwide.

Give me an overview of your business model. What ideas do you have about monetizing your site?

Currently students is a freemium business. We provide high quality services and content for free. We are running ads on the network which are generating some revenue. We are also gaining commissions from service partners who provide services for our s. Our monetization strategy includes developing a package for specific services. This is currently in the works.

Have you shared your vision with any angel investors or venture capitalists? Do you even believe in those guys?

Yes I have shared these ideas with venture capitalists and angels when this was at its infant stage and at the point they felt it was early. The VCs were not focused on early stage startups at the time. Do I believe them? [laughs] I hope to, I really do. Africa needs more VCs and angels.

What’s your current staff strength?

We currently have 3 team and a fourth consultant. Chika Uwazie is the VP in charge of Business and Connections. Amblessed Uche is the product development manager and experience lead. I handle development, strategy, technology, business and everything else. Anibe Agamah of Encipher Group consults for us on development.

For those that are looking for ways to be strategic in HR and learn about how we can use HR to advance the company of your HR the linkedin group for young HR professionals. We talk about a lot of interesting issues including policies, employees, and strategic HR competencies.
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=4127802&trk=hb_side_g

I feel the HR profession is a community that has not risen to its full potential possibly because we do not have enough training and discussions about how we become more strategic. People do not realize we are part of the process that controls the type of talent we bring to our companies. What have your experiences at your company. Are we up to date on technology? Lets start an introduction chain here . I also have a Linkedin group for young HR professionals you can http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=4127802&trk=hb_side_g

Chika

Recruiting Project Associate

Masters: Georgetown University

Blog: http://naijacareerist.com/

Original Post http://naijacareerist.com/2012/02/03/two-black-tech-entrepreneurs-jump-into-the-emerging-startup-scene-in-washington-dc/


Today I want to higlight two Nigerians who have chosen to take the unconventional route, and went into the business of working for themselves. We always talk about Mark Zuckerberg, and other internet entrepreneurs changing the way we interact with people, but right among our midst we have our very own accomplishing the same goal. CoFounder of Kojami and Keadworks, Ike Nwaneri says " We didn't have to do this, we could have stayed in our day jobs, but we love to solve problems we encounter and additionally, our goal is to eventually create more jobs and careers from our company" . They have big dreams to not only revolutionize the way people create and manage events anytime and from anywhere, but they also dream to create jobs in the future . Follow Kojami and Keadworks on twitter @KojamiEvents and @Keadworks.  See their latest press release below.

African-American tech startups are not all too common due to the low numbers of African-Americans choosing to major in Science & Engineering. “With CNN’s Soledad O'Brien’s 'Black in America: New Promised Land, Silicon Valley' bringing real awareness to this issue, we know we have to lead by example. We try to focus less on race, or why some people won’t work with us and just concentrate on providing and developing quality products and services. We believe that in this startup world, as long as we continue to solve our s’ problems and provide the best customer service while doing so, our success is imminent.” says Ike Nwaneri. Keadworks is comprised of a diverse team of people with the mindset of changing the world by providing simple solutions to everyday problems. Simple solutions like KOJAMI.

Like any other company in this market, KOJAMI did not just develop overnight. Its growth was fostered by a parent company named KeadWorks – a web and mobile development, creative marketing and social marketing consulting firm. KeadWorks is a company that offers quick and creative marketing solutions to a number of different clients via websites, mobile and social networks. Also being a minority-owned technology company, it has had its fair share of challenges in starting up and building its brand.

The idea to create KOJAMI was born when KeadWorks met with a repeating problem of mobile marketing for Keadworks clients’ events. Then the seed was planted. Kojami is to become the new mobile word-of-mouth. “Every product should solve a problem, we focused on doing just that with Kojami, and we built it from the ground up. It took almost a year to develop this beta version - and every day, as the product improves, we know we’re headed in the right direction, so we’re winning.” says Randall Olade.

This black-owned social media management and marketing firm has two co-founders. Ike Nwaneri, the CEO of Keadworks, and COO of Kojami, has an MS in Systems and Computer Science and over 8+ years of experience in consumer behavior, project management and events planning. He primarily focuses on marketing strategies and day-to-day operations. Randall Olade is the other co-founder and CEO of Kojami and the CTO at KeadWorks. Equipped with an MBA in Global Management and an MS in Systems Engineering, as well as over 7+ years of software experience under his belt, he deals with day-to-day technology assessment and technology project management.

About Keadworks LLC.
Based in Washington DC Metro Area, with years of experience and expertise in events management, promotions, marketing and building mobile or web technologies, the creative social and mobile marketing agency behind Kojami Inc., Keadworks LLC, has successfully reached millions of people through their strategic marketing and promotional campaigns for numerous clients. Kojami is racing to the forefront of mobile events management and discovery within the billion dollar events industry.

To find more information about KeadWorks or Kojami, visit their websites at http://kojami.com/

Well sadly, I am still in the US getting my second degree at georgetown. But you actually can do a lot of these training online through skype, gchat, and ect if you are interested you can use my and I can help you out.

To get an internship is all how you use your network. Get a profile on linkedin, start connecting with people who work at companies you want to work at. Ask if you can meet with them that you are interested in learning about their companies. Never first tell someone you need a job. Take time to get to know them.

To get an internship is all how you use your network. Get a profile on linkedin, start connecting with people who work at companies you want to work at. Ask if you can meet with them that you are interested in learning about their companies. Never first tell someone you need a job. Take time to get to know them.

I help develop their skills by figuring out what their individual career goals are and then catering a plan to help them obtain their goals. Once you know where you want to go in life, my job is to step in and steer you on the right path.

Yes I just highlighted a few of them if you go to my blog the link to the full document is there. the document actually is a short ebook that explains all to you how to get these skills. I think one of the best ways is to read books that make you think outside the box. Books like Malcome Gladwell have a wealth of information. Also a book for young graduates called ME 2.0 is a good source !!!

The Institute for the Future recently released a report of 6 drivers of change and 10 essential skills that will be needed in the next 10 years. I thought this report is really cool because it is a great checklist for yourself to see if your current skills will match with the skills you will need in the 2020 workforce. Currently 40% of companies do not feel confident in the talent they have and are not sure who will lead their company in the future. 70% of recruiters even have a harder time finding the right talent to fill jobs even though we are at our highest rate of unemployment ever. What is more alarming  is the state of our education in Nigeria. I wonder if our universities can properly equip students with the right skills for jobs, let alone jobs for the future. So you may ask how can I learn these skills for my future career? I am a major fan of self education. These skills in this report are not skills that you can easily learn in school, but through proper self research it is more than doable. There are great leadership books out there such as Outliers written by Malcom Gladwell that inform you on how to obtain these skills.  A good portion of these skills require knowledge of technology , and not necessarily being able to write in html code, but in the sense to apply it to your field. The world is becoming more and more competitive so do not wait for the future to be ahead of the pack.

New Media Ecology- being able to use social media to engage people. In the next 10 years everyone will have their own website that talks about skills they have an their expertise in the field.

Globally Connected World- now we have so many ways to talk to people from all over the world. Nigerians are able to connect with Nigerians in the diaspora through Linkedin, twitter, blogs, and facebook

Computational Knowledge- being able to use data and numbers to perform your skills. An example of this is oil companies using the data to produce the right amount of barrels being produced per day.

Social Intelligence- this is the ability to understand the people around you and work with teams. Instead of engaging in office politics, work though the issues to be a more effective team.

http://naijacareerist.com/2011/12/22/10-work-skills-you-will-need-for-2020/

yes because it is unexpected. Most people will be shocked by it and no one will look down on a thank you note, and make you be ed among the employer

Here is the correct link to the first post made http://naijacareerist.com/2011/10/25/jobs-are-not-handouts/

Well there are jobs but the issue is the graduates do not have the skills that employers are looking for. Already they are projecting that 60% of the jobs will require 20% of the skills that are available. Schools need to have better prepping programs for students to prepare for positions as well as career development in order to be present yourself in interviews.

FYI my name is no longer naijaposh it has now changed to Naijacareerist

Yes, creativity is very important these days. I work as an HR professional at a research institution and you will be surprised how many applicants we get for one job. Some jobs get thousands of applicants. Realistically your resume will not look any different then the next one. It also is easier for managers to pay attention to a resume they get in front of their face rather then shifting though hundreds of emails. If you want tips about how to make your resume stand out you can go to my transcript that was on twitter today #HireNaijaChat http://tweetreach.com/reports/2431648

Also if you have questions I am more than happy to answer  

This is a snippit of the #HireNaijaChat that was on twitter today. These are great tips to make resume stand out and get call backs or request for internviews. To see the whole chat go to this link http://tweetreach.com/reports/2431648


You can use a word cloud to do a key word analysis. If your word cloud looks different from the job description and make the necessary adjustments

Make sure to quantify key results that you performed for your former companies

Example of quantifying your resume are increased advertising impressions by 30%, reduced time to fill by 25%, or raised 50 million naira in sales revenue for the 4th quarter

Add personality in your resume by highlighting unique accomplishments such as published article on Forbes or managed online blog for 2 years
You do not need an objective instead create a one liner punch that will grab the attention of the HR manager
An example: I have three years experience in both the technical and business aspects of the human resources field with a demonstrated ability to serve as a lead expert resource for strategic business initiatives, workforce development and analytics.

Have a standard resume and a guerrilla marketing resume. Your guerrilla marketing resume will be used to send directly to managers and recruiters to get their attention

In a guerrilla resume actually write snipts of what people have said about you at the various places you have workerd.

Dedicate a section in your resume to write down specific skills such as Proven track record in full cycle recruiting with an increase rate of 50% in new hires.

Always put down what technology skills you have like experience in Microsoft word or any tech skills relevant to your industry
Make sure that every time you apply for a new job, that your CV matches the job description you are applying for.