Employer, Wake Up and Stop Losing Money…
Over several years ago, Nigerians had access to quality education from
reputable institutions locally. But with the advent of emerging challenges and
political misfeasance, our quality education gradually eroded and institutions
lost their credibility in delivering excellent relevant content to students. In
2019, a revolution is apparent especially in the hiring space – where global
multinationals and blue chip companies now review hiring practice and pretty
much ‘lower barrier to entry’ for potential employees.
Certain positions have always required particular levels of education
i.e. credentials and qualification. In recent times, companies like Google,
Facebook, Amazon, etc. began realizing the need to get more inclusive in hiring
people, as they were fast losing valuable talent due to the qualification
barrier they had unconsciously elevated in their recruitment behavior. As the
rest of the world adapts to the evolving work of work, Nigeria and Africa must
not be left behind. As we are quick to do (copy and paste foreign practices
without contextualizing), it’s important that we emulate also these companies
and systems in hiring more inclusively.
In Nigeria (our main context), many stories of competent yet denied
talents are told every day; sometimes even by those who greatly influence
recruitment decisions and policies, both in organizations and government. Young
and bright minds constantly recount their bitter experiences with talent
recruiters or organizations’ HR departments. Extreme policies are made and
enforced at the expense of the same organizations who make them. Imagine a
bright young man who demonstrates all the competencies required to do a job
exceptionally well denied the opportunity to be employed – simply because he
doesn’t have a particular qualification that supposedly accompanies that role.
It’s extremely frustrating for the young man who has been denied but
most unfortunate for the company who vehemently rejects an unknown opportunity
to increase their profitability through the immense value this young man could
actually have added to their operations. HR practitioners, business leaders and
policy makers need to rise up more than ever and challenge this long standing
notions and ideas they have consistently (and some times blindly) preserved. If
a young talented man is turned away because he lacks a credential or the certificate he can defend – through execution and implementation of his
deliverables – then shouldn’t we start rethinking this credentials obsession.
We imagine the monumental proportion of talent and value constantly
lost to outdated and fairly unreasonable recruitment practices demonstrated
every day across Nigeria. On the employee side, the alternatives many seek is
emigration to countries where their competencies are valued and accepted.
Perhaps we have induced a lot of what we now know as ‘brain drain’ by turning
competent candidates away, further deepening the unemployment rate of our dear
nation. Employers, it’s time to wake up and start making money by responsible
and reasonable hiring.
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