Hobbies can be life-long careers

Finding your ideal profession is as easy as asking yourself: What do I love doing? If your answer involves doing a hobby instead of a 9-to-5 job, then it might be time for you to start thinking about turning your hobby into a business.

The way you make a living should reflect who you are as an individual. When choosing an occupation, you must take into account your interests, personality and work-related values. Given the amount of time you spend at work, it is essential to enjoy what you do while you are there.

With some hobbies, you may not have to wait for someone to hire you. Instead, you can start your own business. That may be the best way to incorporate your hobby into your career. Those whose pastimes involve creating things, for example, jewelry, clothing, or pottery, may do well to sell those items on their own.

Owner of Inkumbuzo Photography, Luvuyo Ngxiki makes hustling look effortless. Ngxiki is one of the most sought after photographers in Port Elizabeth, he has never worked for anyone else but used his photography skills to generate income for his household.

“When I came out of prison, no one would hire me, so I created a job for myself and I’ve never looked back ever since.” Ngxiki has been nominated for numerous awards, including the NMB

Ngxiki was in and out of prison from the age of 13 and was sentenced to 11 years in prison when he was 20 years old. It was in prison where he decided to turn his life around. While in prison he sold phone cards to inmates and that’s when his entrepreneurial acumen kicked in.

It was challenging finding employment after getting out of prison and to avoid getting arrested again, Ngxiki started his photography business. “To this day, I still do not have a CV…I started taking pictures, I enjoyed it and decided it’s what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.” Ngxiki turned an everyday hobby into a profit making business.

 

The state of youth entrepreneurship in South Africa

Photo from Youth Village: The National Youth Development Agency exists to tackle challenges the SA youth is faced with.

South Africa’s official unemployment rate currently stands at 27.7%, the highest it’s been since 2003. The expanded unemployment rate, which includes those who are not actively seeking work, is 36.4%. The lack of employment presents an opportunity for entrepreneurship but according to the Real State of Entrepreneurship Survey, business development in South Africa is on a standstill.

The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2017 report shows that 37.9% of South African said they have the ability to start a business but lack start-up skills.

Challenges facing youth entrepreneurship

In 2016’s Seed Academy Start-up Survey only 4% of South African youth started their own business once they were unable to secure employment, 80% of those who participated in the study confessed to having a year’s experience before venturing into business.

Managing Director of Vision 4 Women Academy, Nosi Ncoyo says, “there’s a market for youth entrepreneurship especially in the Eastern Cape…I’m always surprised when I hear young people talk about the lack of business opportunities.” Ncoyo goes on to say that many young people fail to make use of skill training facilities such as the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA). “The youth seldom start their own businesses once they fail to get employed,” Ncoyo said.

Ncoyo also cited the following reasons as deterrents to youth entrepreneurship:

Lack of funding

Access to funding is a major stumbling block for youth entrepreneurship in South Africa. Start-ups require money, the youth either has to borrow money from friends and family or use their own savings to start a business because young people do not have enough collateral to secure a bank loan or an investment.

Lack of guidance and skills

Entrepreneurship education is crucial in assisting young people to develop entrepreneurial skills, attributes and behaviors as well as to develop enterprise awareness to understand and to realize entrepreneurship as a career option, because entrepreneurship is one of the best career options for young people

Although education and training has been given priority in South Africa over the past decade, entrepreneurship has not been incorporated in mainstream education system.

Social cultural constraints

Social and cultural backgrounds have an important role on how an individual approaches life. They similarly influence entrepreneurial activity and enterprise culture. Traditional cultural beliefs and lifestyle choices are strong determinants to youth entrepreneurship. Certain cultural groups still believe that a woman’s place is in the kitchen, this deters many young women from creating a business.

 

A guide to nailing a Skype interview

Student Workforce

Job interviews are scary as it is but Skype interviews are extra scary and need extra preparation. Technology is a great component but imagine the Skype interview going well and then Eskom decides to hit you with load shedding or even worse you decided to do the interview in a noisy internet cafe. The scenarios are endless, a perfect location for a Skype interview and a pre-recorded interview can do wonders for you.

Robyn Kelly, a recruitment consultant from Abantu Staffing Solutions provides useful tips on ways to prepare for a Skype interview.

Dress appropriately

First impressions last, it’s tempting to wear sweatpants and dress formally from the waist up but what happens when you need to get up to change a light bulb? Such things happen, dress as you would to a face to face interview.

Keep your Skype professional 

Unlike an in-person or phone interview, your first impression during a Skype interview doesn’t actually involve you. The first thing your interviewer will see is your Skype username and picture, so double check that they are both interview appropriate.

Make sure your audio and visual quality is appropriate 

Ensure that you avoid a “can you hear me now” situation by tweaking your volume and Skyping with a friend before the interview to check your audio levels. In addition, having a Beyonce poster as your background is distracting, be aware of what’s in your background so that the attention during the whole interview is on you.

Close other programs and tabs on your computer

You want to give the impression that you’re serious about the job opportunity, receiving a Facebook notification in the middle of the interview gives the impression that you’re not serious about the job you’re applying for.

Be punctual

For an in-person interview, showing up 15 minutes early is on-time. You don’t want to be flying in the doors right when the interview is supposed to start.

For phone or Skype interviews, the rules are a little different. While you don’t want to call 15 minutes early, you should be at your desk and ready to go at least that much time in advance. Check your cell service, internet connection, etc. You also want just a few minutes to get in the right mindset, look over your resume and cover letter one last time, have a sip of water, etc.

Also be sure you’ve nailed down details of who’s calling who. You don’t want your potential employer waiting for 10 minutes just because you were supposed to dial in to a conference line and you’ve been sitting there staring at your phone.

 

 

Graduate’s guide to job hunting

If a degree guaranteed job security, the #HireAGraduate campaign would not have taken place earlier this year. Microeconomic research indicates that since the early 2000s’ Higher Education benefits do not necessarily meet the needs of the South African labour market. This means that graduates need to ensure they match the skills they receive at University with the needs of the labour market. A variety of graduates give advice and provide a guideline for graduates who are seeking employment on social media.

Khanyisile Melanie Mboya: Public Relations and Industrial Sociologist Graduate

Khanyisile: Apply early June/July, don’t wait to graduate. Design your CV to suit the work you’re applying for. Get atleast five trusted referees.  Apply to as many Jobs/internships/opportunities as possible.

Persist, you will get tired but tired doesn’t pay bills or build dreams. Applying is tedious but it’s what you have to do. Tell people of your intentions, spread the word. Don’t just send your CV to companies, send them to specific people as well. Use linkedin and ensure your social media profile is professional.

Asekho Mali: Bcom in International Hospitality Managent

Asekho: Pray about it, be comfortable with not getting your dream job. Sometimes the best place is not the best place to be.Learn to balance the job and the dream, until the dream becomes the job.

Sibusisiwe Lynette Tshabalala: Bachelor of Social Science Graduate

 

Sibusisiwe: In an ideal setting, you walk straight out of varsity and into a new job. You look forward to taking leave from your new job so you can attend grad with pride and a sense of accomplishment. Unfortunately, that’s not always how it goes down. A huge part of going from graduate to young professional is the actual process. You will spend lots of time and money on the internet and realise how much you miss eduroam once you’ve left varsity. You will write countless cover letters, and send out endless emails and applying online for a job “made just for you”. In reality, very few have secured jobs or spots in a graduate programme by the time they write their last exam in November. The fact of the matter is that looking for a job is a full time job. The important thing is to be resilient and just keep at it. Keep researching about the industry, read newspapers or catch up on the news. Find ways to stay sharp and interested as there are many others applying for the same job. Don’t allow rejection letters throw you off.

Ziyanda Faku Ntlokwana: Bcom Graduate

Ziyanda: My supervisor usually advises us to apply for a variety of jobs. Don’t only apply to jobs that go with your qualification. You’ll get experience from whichever job you’re doing.

Kefentse Letlala: Bcom Honours and LLB Graduate

Kefentse: Gather all your information in a file physically and on your computer. Create a folder that has your CV, Qualifications, Testimonies, Covering letter, Certificates etc. so that you can simply choose and attach your documents instead of always having to create new docs or having to find the information. The only exception will be your covering letter. You will have to change your covering letter depending on where you will be applying. The physical copy is for those applications that want your marks from first year to final year (most annoying thing ever) but in such cases it’s easier to have hard copy in front of you. It also makes it easier to answer the different questions you are asked that might be on your CV already.

Jenny Siu graduated in Business and Economics at the University of Southampton five years ago, before venturing into the corporate world. She gave a Ted talk on how she overcame Millennial job hunting barrier straight out of university. 

 

 

A guide to not messing up your job interviews

It’s really easy to mess up an interview with just one sentence. Your whole interview might be going well until you say certain things that will get you straight back in the unemployment line. Job interviews are not an opportunity for you to talk about your former boss or talk about how much you hated your last job. Rather, it’s an opportunity for you to share the skills, expertise and qualifications needed to secure a job. The Monster website compiled a list of things to say during a job interview, as much as knowing what to say during an interview is a useful tool so does knowing what not to say during an interview.

What will I be expected to do if I secure this job?

Undercover recruiters states that 33% of employers know within 90 seconds whether they want to hire someone or not. What’s even more startling is that close to 47% of interviewees fail to do proper research on the job they’re applying for. The number 1 rule of interviewing is – Do your research. Spend a good amount of time researching the position you’re applying for, spend some time researching the company you’re applying to as well. Appearing unprepared and knowing next to nothing about the company and your role in it is a bad reflection on you.

Do not speak badly about your previous employer

When recruiter ask about your previous employer, they’re testing your character. It does not matter whether your previous boss treated you badly or not, the rule of thumb is to never speak negatively about your previous employer. When you utter negative words about your previous boss, the interviewer might think that you’d speak negatively about them as well.

Keep the interview PG rated

Keep your interview responces clean, avoid swearing at all cost. Most people drop the “f-bomb” occasionally in their daily lives, but there’s no need to use vulgar language at an interview. Don’t do it, just don’t do it.

Don’t highlight your flaws unless you’re asked to

Don’t disqualify yourself before the recruiter has even had time to assess you by highlighting what you’re bad at. Approach interviews as a marketing campaign. When you’re marketing a product you emphasize its most useful features, do the same in interviews. When asked to highlight your short falls, be honest about them but also highlight how you’re working on overcoming them. Don’t discredit yourself!

“I don’t have any questions”

Do you know what’s worse than asking an irrelevant question during a job interview? Not asking any questions at the end of an interview. Not asking any questions at an interview simply means you’re not interested in the job and you’re not prepared to learn anything.

Must have apps when job hunting

Looking for a job is a job in itself, looking through job sites, going to networking sessions, practicing interview questions all require diligence, perseverance, and consistency. However, job hunting has evolved over the years all thanks to mobile apps.

Grammarly

If grammar is not your strongest features and you could improve your syntax the Grammarly is the app to use. The app can add a little but effective and critical element to your written work. It’ll improve your communication with a human resources consultant that prefers emails in contrast to calls. It can help edit your CV and your recommendation letters.

Google Maps

When you’re invited to a job interview, you plan to arrive early or on time, you don’t plan to be late but there may be developments and activity deferrals on your way to work. Traffic is always a hassle, you might even get lost on your way to your interview. To stay away from a driving disaster, use Google Maps to guide you to your destination, regardless of the possibility that you might think you know where you are headed to. Te app also indicates neighborhood movement conditions progressively, utilizing information gathered by different drivers who have used the app before.

SHAREit

Friday, the 31st of March was the last day to submit job applications for the National Arts Festival. I filled in the application form but I was far from home where most of my personal documents were and the application link was going to close in an hours time. I was really pressed for time, I couldn’t go up to my home and still be able to submit the application. A friend recommended that I ask someone to share the documents via SHAREit, I did. I received my documents in a matter of minutes, I printed the out and was able to submit on time.

Monster

The Monster App is a multi-purpose app, it’s very useful for checking vacancies and it can help you get an interview. The app also has a variety of features that help you prepare thoroughly before meeting your future employer, it has information on steps to follow to get the interview, make an impression at the job interview and it gives you advice on interview follow-up etiquette.

SnapDat digital card

What if instead of looking for employment you’re searching for business opportunities. It would be awfully embarrassing for you to run out of business cards while attending a networking session. SnapDat digital card helps you design and distribute business cards from your phone. After creating your business card you can email your business card directly to your contact’s address.

 

The future of employment in a digital age

betterworldinternational.org

The first thing I do in the morning is to check my messages using my phone, I make coffee in the morning using an electronic appliance. I use my laptop to look at my appointments for the day. I hitch a ride to my lectures from a friend. I use an elevator to get to class. There’s no denying that technology rules a huge part of my life and of many people’s lives, after all, we live in a digital age.

However, I’m also not blind to the negatives that come with new developments in technology.  As a person who comes from an impoverished background and who has seen a multitude of people get retrenched because of technological advancements in the workplace. There’s no denying that technology is shaping the labour market,  and it’s affecting the workforce.

Wassily Leontif’s book The Future Impact of Automation on Workers explains that with the computer revolution and advancement in technology many jobs have been created. However, the revolution has also debilitated a great number of jobs`and it is also responsible for replacing workers with machines.

As Asian wages rise, production line chiefs are as of now searching for chances to replace employees with robots, especially in places such as China. As the advent of cheap smartphones fuels a boom in Internet access, online purchases will eliminate a vast number of retail jobs. It is estimated that around the world, technological change could without much of a stretch prompt the loss of 5-10 million jobs every year.

Side effects of technological changes 

• The two most notable changes brought about by rapid technological advancement include:

• It can increase the rate and the average duration of unemployment. Because firms may not consider it cost- effective to retrain some types of workers , notably the less- educated and older employees, these workers may be jobless for long periods of time, with some of them perhaps never working again.

• If technological change causes workers to become unemployed more often and for longer periods of time, not only will the level of unemployment increase, but the “natural rate of unemployment,” the hypothesized minimum sustainable rate of unemployment, will increase as well.

Okay, we’ve established that as much as technology has contributed to the economy and to the social scene, it has also affected employees negatively but this is not necessarily new. I admit, it’s not but what I want to highlight is that I foresee adaptability as a crucial skill in this digital age. Imagine spending years learning how to master a certain device only for it to be replaced by another more advanced device. All that work goes down the drain, now there are two choices – adapt or quit. I guarantee you the latter might be easier but it’s equally detrimental. The workplace is seeking technologically capable individuals who are also open to adapting.

 

Social media do’s and don’ts for job seekers

Web-based social networking instruments are not really “great” or, then again “awful.” Like any instrument, they can be helpful but they can also be inconvenient relying upon how you use them. A study conducted by Careerbuilder indicates that a staggering 45% of employers conduct employee research mainly on the web.

As social networking tools become common and are adjusted for expert purposes, it befits you to get comfortable with both their points of interest and conceivable pitfalls.

Social media is being used in about each feature of professional and individual interactions. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, You Tube, and news feeds have made it simple for individuals to interface on the web. The upside of this is that it’s simple to network online with relevant people and prospective employers, which can assist you in seeking employment.

The issue, in any case, is that a ton of what is posted online can be effectively found by employers and imminent businesses. You may have posted a photograph or a notice – something you just at any point intended to be seen by those close to you – but individuals you’ve never met can see those postings and judge you for them. Here are a couple of dos and don’ts

Dos

Do clean up your social media

This might seem obvious but people seldom clean up their social media profiles thinking that prospective employers won’t see that detrimental status update they posted three years ago.What you see when you google yourself is what your employers see as well. Disable any social media profile that you no longer use and lastly, keep your social media updated with information that would appeal to an employer.

Do be very discrete

Social media allows people to reach instantly to situations, sharing their thoughts with an audience of anonymous listeners. Thanking a company or shop for treating you well or for going the extra mile spreads good cheer and thankfulness and has a positive impact, but ranting about your employer who made you stay late twice this week is spreading a negative message.

Do watch your “Netiquette”

Much the same as you would in individual associations, remember to keep up your best possible behavior when interacting with professional people online. Try not to use casual welcome like”Hello!” or “What’s up dude” while reaching somebody you know in a professional setting.

Be cautious about how you reach people online when you’re not friends with them. On the off-chance that there’s somebody you’d jump at the chance to be acquainted with, don’t send a friend request to them or “poke” them on Facebook. They are probably trying to keep their personal and professional contacts separate and may view friend requests
as unprofessional.

Don’ts

Don’t over expose yourself

In case you’re on over twelve unique sorts of social media networks, the impression that you’re portraying is that of a social media addict: When will you ever complete your work? Are you easily distracted? Try not to give somebody a chance to shape the off-base conclusion of you before they’ve even had an opportunity to meet you.

Don’t post compromising pictures online

Applicants need to remember that your visible photographs across social networks accounts make an initial introduction before you’ve even met a potential boss or recruiter – and that can help or detriment you. If all else fails, erase or suspend any social networking account where the substance could be considered as harming to your pursuit of employment.

 

Using your phone for Job searching

Snap! Snap! Selfie taken, self-esteem boosted, but what if we could use our phones for more than just taking selfies? Esihle Matshaya graduated from Rhodes University last year. She went a few months without finding work. However, she concedes that her smart phone has played a crucial role in her job hunting process.

Social Media

Quite a number of people have taken to social media to find employment. I was scrolling through my Facebook timeline when I saw a post asking people to post share vacancies. I was quite surprised when a number of people responded to the post. Some posted available vacancies, while others tagged friends and family members who were seeking employment. There are also groups and pages on social media where job seekers post links to job opening. You can get all of this information just by swiping your phone.

Interviews

Imagine you applied for a job in Cape Town and you live in Port Elizabeth. You get asked to come for an interview but you do not have the funds to travel to Cape Town. Your future employer asks for a video or telephonic interview, you can do all of that using your phone.

Networking

Utilise your cell phone to remain current on what others in your industry are doing. Keep up your contacts utilising either your informal communication application or other online talk applications. Meet up with individual contacts who may have within scoop on openings for work. Join dialogues on sites, for example, LinkedIn. Look for employments through your Twitter contacts. Make you remain known through keen postings and online discussions. Since your cell phone is with you most of the time, you will have the capacity to remain fully informed regarding potential employment prospects by networking.

Other important and simple ways to use your phone as a tool in your job seeking process includes: 

• Browse for job opportunities
• Submit email applications online
• Take screen shots of job vacancies on social media and job sites
• Creating to do lists and setting reminders of interviews and to prioritise tasks
• Take pictures of posters and pamphlets advertising pamphlets
• Record your interview question and answer practice sessions
• Listen and watch to audio and videos that provide advice to job seekers
• Use GPS to find the location where a job interview is taking place
• Read blogs like this one!!!

 

Welcome to Career Info

Unemployment problem in South Africa

The tweet above indicates that among a multitude of factors, unemployment remains the top poverty driver in South Africa. A newsletter released by the South African communication department indicates that the country’s rising number of unemployed citizens is deeply rooted in the country’s history of racial segregation and apartheid. The newsletter states that there’s an influx of unskilled and low skilled job seekers due to the racialized education received by African citizens during apartheid years.

Unemployment and Social Media Campaigns

It would be close to foolish to state that South Africa’s past has nothing to do with the country’s surplus of unskilled and low skilled labour but it’s not an uncommon scene to see re-tweets of people seeking employment on twitter. The recent #HireAGraduate campaign is one out of many campaigns that allude to this growing epidemic of unemployment in the country. Both skilled and unskilled young South Africans particularly are victims of unemployment.

I’ve seen quite a fair share of Facebook posts and tweets from people asking for employment, some report back saying that they’ve received employment. All of that is good and well but it still does not solve the problem because while some may have access to the internet and are able to look for employment using cyberspace, others do not share that privilege. Going through websites looking for vacancies takes up a lot of data, looking up interview tips on the internet takes up data. What Recruitment Connect hopes to do among other things is to compile a list of vacancies and post them on a weekly basis to save data and hopefully help you get employed.