In keeping with its commitment to improve the Nigerian corporate landscape through the development of capacity building programmes for business executives, Poise Nigeria Limited, a personality development and business image consultancy in conjunction with Enterprise development Centre (EDC) of Pan- Atlantic University, recently organised breakfast meetings to discuss a new approach to the protracted problem of poor employability skills in the nation’s work force.
The events which held at the EDC centre in Lagos and Abuja on 13th and 17th July, 2013 respectively, and saw in attendance CEOs and Human Resource Personnel from over 50 organisations, featured talks on the perennial problem of poor employability skills among Nigerian graduates and how the situation can be managed. The focus was on the challenges of recruiting qualified hands and safeguarding and improving the quality of an organization’s workforce by using an effective recruitment system. A key part of the conversation was a product known as PSENSE, a specially designed tool for human capital management, which takes into account and mitigates the basic challenges of the Nigerian labour force and the employability levels of our graduates. The product is an employability skills testing and certification platform designed by Poise Nigeria in collaboration with Biddle Consulting, United State.
Speaking at the event, Mrs. Ukinebo Dare, the Head of the Poise’ Graduate Finishing School, explained that it had become a necessity to have standardized assessment systems that allow for an objective and accurate measurement of the work readiness of a job candidate. According to her, today’s workplace requires that employees possess essential soft skills among which are the ability to think analytically and work strategically, articulate ideas effectively both in written and spoken forms, work under pressure, solve problems creatively, possess good ICT skills and so on. She pointed out that a candidate’s possession of such skills was not easily ascertainable by screenings based on their class of degree or their performance in theoretical and abstract aptitude tests, but on a checkpoint system built to test for such skills.
At this point, she introduced the PSENSE Employability Skills Certification as an assessment tool that had been designed not only to test the intelligence quotient of the job candidate, but more importantly, to ascertain their work readiness through an evaluation of their employability skills level.
Dare stated that the product would reduce the chances of making hiring mistakes because it would provide employers with a clear picture of a prospective employee’s intelligence quotient and their possession of the essential work place soft skills. She further explained that unlike the typical recruitment aptitude tests which were capable of presenting employers with only a report on the intelligence level of the candidates, the PSENSE Employability Skills Certification was built to test the job candidate’s mental prowess, and their possession of the crucial work place skills: ICT skills, problem solving ability, interpersonal skills, writing ability, knowledge of the English grammar, time management ability, emotional intelligence, team work skills among others.
Dare, who is also an employability skills trainer and a recruiter, pointed out that the product was customizable, and could be adapted to the suit the recruitment needs of different organisations. She also said that the product could be used to test and recruit for specific job functions, managerial roles, and in-house testing of incumbent employees to determine their training needs.
Also speaking at the event, the Director of the Enterprise Development Centre, Peter Bamkole, lauded the product as the possible solution to the perennial problem of poor employability skills. Bamkole noted that the possession of good soft skills had become as imperative as hard skills for the successful performance of a job, and that a tool that promised to ascertain a candidate’s possession of the requisite work skills and take the guesswork out of the hiring process was a welcome development.
The Group CEO of Poise Nigeria Limited, Mrs. Mavi Isibor also said that the company was presently conducting employability skills seminars in some universities, training undergraduates in employability skills and working with recruiters and trainers to standardize training and certification.
According to her, the only way to revive the work force and secure the nation’s future was set a standard. She therefore called on organisations present to request for the certification, and that this in return would compel job seekers to seek the necessary training required to acquire the certification.
The product was well received by those in attendance, and the event ended with a demonstration of the workings of the tool.
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