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Giving a good impression to the recruiter during the more than important process of a job interview is one of the biggest challenge of a candidate. The first impression of the recruiter is crucial because it has a direct impact on the final decision.
Beyond some basic rules like coming on time, wearing decent clothes, avoiding a language that is too familiar, it is also very important to avoid certain slips of the tongue. In order to do that, the following sentences are to ban during a job interview.

“I could not stand my former manager”…

If you and you former boss were not friends, you can mention it, but when you talk about it, do not let any type of anger transpire. Don’t use aggressive words during an interview. It could cost you a lot, because, of course, what you say might not resonate well on the ears of the employer as he could identify himself as your former boss. Be vague and put your emotions on the side.

“No, I don’t have any question.”

At the end of the interview, it is quite common for the recruiter to ask to the candidate if he has any question or if he would like to have any more clarifications on something. Do not let that opportunity to have a discussion go, especially knowing that recruiters really appreciate it as they want to check if you have a real interest in the job position or the company. Use that moment to show your motivation and your desire to work with your future employer. In that very moment, saying that you don’t have any question could be seen as proof of a lack of interest or commitment.

“I don’t have any weakness”

One of the most common question to ask , and that is something very popular among recruiters is “what are your weaknesses”? Giving an objective answer to such a question seems hard to do, because nobody wants to show his worse sides. The goal of the recruiter is to see how you talk about yourself. He will therefore focus more on how you say things, your overall consistency, rather than what you really say. As a consequence, do not ever say “I don’t have any weakness”. Preferably, try to talk about a weakness that never had an impact on your job.

“I already booked my vacations”

It might occur that your vacation date or any other trip you wanted to take, coincided with the day you were supposed to start your new job. Try not to mention it during the job interview because it could make them think that you have demands before even having the opportunity to show your skills. It is better to wait until the hiring process is almost done before you talk about it.

“How soon will I get a promotion?”

You can’t ask that question either because it could give the impression that you have no patient and want to rush into things. You can however ask the recruiter about career development opportunities within the company in the short and long term. It will show that you want to go a long way with the company.

In addition to the classical job search tools, nowadays, social media have become an essential tool for job search. From LinkedIn, Viadeo , to Facebook and Twitter, it is important for candidates looking for jobs to know what to use and how to use it. Find the answer below…

What type of social network for what type of job?

The majority of job searchers are storming into the social media to have more visibility and know about all the existing job opportunities. In this internet era that we are living in, it is now possible to apply for jobs, create alerts and quickly respond to offers. This alternatives really pays off knowing that a lot of job offers are available on social media.

For a job candidate, it is important to have a well put together profile, meaning a well-referenced one. Social media also allow candidates to develop their network of contacts in order to increase the visibility of their job applications. Recruiters have became closer to candidates thanks to social media. Even though it might seem like all social media are the same in terms of having broad job offers, they do differ however on some levels.

When it comes to Linkedln for example, it mostly conveys executives or senior executives profiles on a national or international level. In Viadeo, there are more executives and non-executives profiles on a national level.  Finally, Facebook, Twitter have more like an aggressive approach to the job market. Therefore, on Facebook, lots of job groups have emerged this last year in which a lot of jobs have been published for fresh graduates with little or no qualifications. Executives and non-executives are also very important on Twitter. That is, at least what Ana Fernandez, author of “10 steps on using internet and social media to find a job”.

Should we use many social media or only focus on 2?

When you are looking for a job, the idea is to maximize your chances by applying on jobs on more general job website, specific ones and on social media. Having a variety of job search platforms is of course a very good solution to increase the chances of being contacted or being put in contact with the wanted recruiter. Recruiters can, in fact have a high level of commitment or motivation.

For example, it wouldn’t be a bad idea when you are applying to an employer’s offer to do it via the website where you found the job in the first place (jobboard or social media), send your job application on the website of the company where you will usually find the same job posting,  find the name of the HRD and send it to him directly. All those tips will only contribute to showing how motivated you are to get in a company.

What to avoid when looking for a job in social media

Whether you like it or not, in a way, social media portrays a certain image of you that could encourage or discourage a recruiter. That is the reason why, you should absolutely make sure to portray a good professional image. To do that, you should avoid displaying on your profile some signs of your personal life that could be a mismatch to the job you are looking for. It could be for example about ethics or self-management skills.

You should also avoid taking a stand on politics or religion matter for example. Try your best to create an active profile to share information on your line of work in order to display your interest or expertise in your occupation or sector of activity.

We mentioned in a previous article, the method to a good preparation before a yearly performance review. Now, it is more about focusing on the keys to a successful interview, on the process itself.

Have a good attitude and be opened to discussion

The majority of candidates who fail their yearly performance review are those who make the mistake of not having an opened and consensual attitude and not being attentive. Let us remind you one more time, that the goal of this interview is not to put you on a trial but more like reviewing your performances in order to help you improve.  It is therefore crucial to be opened to criticism and negative comments if you want to have a successful yearly performance review, basically being able to question yourself. The extreme attitude would be to be too relaxed or aggressive during you yearly interview because that would certainly not work on your favor. That type of behavior will not serve you right. If, for example, your boss questions your management skills, why not take this criticism in a positive way and ask for a training in “team management”, in order to fix that issue? Being able to always come up with proposals is a plus in a company.

Respond to criticism in a constructive manner and think solutions…

It is possible that the things that did no work out are not your fault, or don’t have anything to do with your abilities. There is a chance that some projects you were in charge of did not work out because of a lack of means. You have two options on how to talk about it, during your yearly interview, to the person you will have in front of you. Option number one, you put the blame on your manager and say it failed because of a lack of sufficient means. Option number two, you take full responsibility and offer alternative suggestions. Option number two is for obvious reasons, harder to do but it pays off the most, because it will be more appreciated by the person you will be talking to as he will see you as someone capable of offering solutions for any obstacle that would come his way. You will win some extra points on your yearly review. You  will be showing out your future managing skills, what could be determining the day you get a promotion.

Get yourself involved in your yearly review

Once the interview is done, an assessment evaluation will be put in place. It is up to your employer to create a ”post interview” follow up, in order to guide you and help you turn the decided measures into reality. There could be one or other interviews in between your yearly review, depending on the company. Even though it is upon your employer to follow up on that, it is a process that you as an employee should get yourself involved in. Take those interviews  as opportunities to show out your contributions to the company, your successes, and how difficult it is to resolve some issues. The interest you will put on your yearly review, will show your supervisor that you are capable of quickly processing critics and putting something that was discussed together into effect.

When co-workers look each other sideways within the company, tension is rising up, and clans are forming all over the place, in the work space, it is up to the manager to take things into his own hands quickly, or else it will impact the atmosphere and the quality of work. And if we don’t put an end to it, it might also affect the productivity of the company. But how can a manager get out of a situation of conflict and re-establish a serein work environment among his teammates?

Try to connect a disconnected communication

Most of the time when there is conflict between co-workers, it is due to a lack of communication between them or just a bad communication. For that reason, as a manager, you must first connect and bring back communication on both parts. Doing that requires a certain way of proceeding. It consists of calling them separately in the office, listening to what they have to say in order to make them understand that this situation full of hostility and clans has to stop and it is up to them with some of your help to re-establish a valuable conversation as mature professionals.

Next, get them together

After the first step that consisted of you getting the individuals in question separately, now get them together to clearly make them understand that you won’t allow them to not speak or argue. Make it clear that you demand for each one to take a step toward the other, as soon as possible, by first taking the time to think about ways to work better together. Do not hesitate to listen to their suggestions in order to bring them together and create a “protocol” agreement among them. If that is not enough, you immediately get a mediator who is qualified for that type of situation.

Avoid a group effect that make people go against each others

As a manager, there is a risk that people might come complain to you. In cases like this, you must not allow to become the “wailing wall”. To do so, you must tell to the people coming to you that you are not here for bad-mouthing, complains and negative comments. You must of course, listen to them but without taking anyone’s side. Make the plaintiff know that you want him to offer you some suggestions on possible solutions and not just focus on the issue. Explain them how to talk to the people they are criticizing, and how to do that in a constructive manner, says the team coaching expert, Paul Devaux. Don’t let people always come to you i order to complain as if you had a magic stick that would make people get along with each others, he added.

Value good behavior to encourage the others…

When you notice some good interactions between co-workers, share the progresses with the group during meetings. You must therefore take the time to value good behaviors. Don’t be exactly forthcoming with positive feedbacks. Well that’s at least what Paul Devaux says who thinks that acting that way might make people tend  to move as a unit.

During an interview the oral communication you have when you face the recruiter is not enough to convince him of hiring you. Your body language also says a lot about you. For example if you adopt an opened body language, it could give the impression that you lack professionalism. On the other hand if you adopt a closed one, you could appear as someone who does not care much. It is crucial to avoid giving those impressions if you want to get the job. It is even more true considering the fact that in a professional environment, more likely during an interview, the first impressions are very important. If the person you  talked to did not grab a positive impression of you from the first time you have met, he will not automatically want to call you for a second round interview. You must adopt a good body language. But how to do that? Follow our advice…

Things to do to adopt the best body language at an interview

For a lot of candidates most of the time, a job interview is something very stressful that could unfortunately make them miss out on huge opportunities because their body language sent the wrong message. First of all, you must make the effort to look at yourself in the mirror to see if your overall image is good. The other thing to do will be to make sure to not show that you are nervous. In order to do that, you must prepare yourself before you walk into the door of the company. You will just need to take a few minutes to take deep breaths. It will allow you to talk slowly and not be out of breath in the first moments of the interview. Once you are in front of the people you will be speaking to, greet them with a firm handshake and maintain a good eye contact to show them that you are ready to seat down and talk. Once you are invited to do so, sit up straight on your chair. Keep in mind that interviews are business meetings. Therefore, you must not give the impression that you are meeting with friends or your potential recruiter will think that you don’t take it seriously. Smile and show your enthusiasm with a positive gesture (for example nodding your head to show that you agree).

Things not to do at a job interview

Some behaviors can make the candidate appear as if he was nervous or  wanted to leave the job interview right away. That is the case when, for example, you wriggle, or pound on the table or play with an object in your hands. Swinging your legs give the impression that you are distracted and the recruiter will not be thrilled about that. Avoid crossing your arms on your chest. Having this closed posture might give the impression that you are guarded or feel uncomfortable to have a conversation. Don’t be scratching or rubbing your head or your body. Those movements are signs of you being anxious. The person you are talking to might believe that you are trying to hide something and will not think that it has something to do with you being nervous because you are at a job interview. Finally, do not ever seat down without prior permission to do so. It could convey some type of cockiness or rudeness on your part. If you avoid making all those mistakes, you will be adopt the positive and opened body language that will work on your favor and give your more chances of getting the job.

Despite the numerous measures established by law to make companies that practise it, stop the use of mental harassment, this phenomenon is still tolerated in a lot of businesses in Africa. It is important for employees to be well prepared to deal with this issue. Here are some crucial methods to do so…

1.Keep believing in you

It is important to do our best to not lose faith in ourselves when we are facing a situation of psychological harassment. It is not always easy, but it is possible as long as you have control over your emotions. You must adopt a professional conduct and be serein. This attitude is necessary if you do not want to be affected by the stressful behavior or your employer or superior. Do not let the feeling of guilt get over you head. Just tell yourself that you disagree with someone as you would with anyone else in everyday’s life. Don’t let anything throw you off. Keep doing your job perfectly. Maybe you are mistaking your employer’s behavior for harassment. It might not be it actually…Do not hesitate to engage in an adult conversation. You might just realise that you were wrong and that the signs you thought were proof of harassment were actually not.

2. Go to the next level

You initiated a conversation but it did not pay off at the end. You are now 100% sure that the small occasional attacks that you perceived as harassment were actually it. It is time to adopt a more defensive behavior. Don’t keep it to yourself because it might eat you up. If you work in a company with a HR department for example, you can talk to the superior about it. Technically they should have all the tools to handle that situation. If not, talk to other people who might be able to help you.Share you anxiety, so you can at least get it off your chest.

If you happen to have some colleagues who are going through the same situation like you, talk to them about it. Try your best to collect any proof of that psychological harassment. It is not easy, obviously, because psychological harassment is mainly based on a sneaky and insidious verbal and non-formal behavior. Build a file with as much evidences as possible.: emails, texts, doctor prescriptions, pictures. Carefully keep them in case you have to go to court.

4. Think about yourself, Leave your job if needed…

If things stay the same despite all the efforts you are making, consider leaving your job for the sake of your mental health and future career. This extreme solution is not always easy, but it is however the best. There is no point in staying somewhere where you are leaving a psychological hell, start looking for a new job right now. However, whether it is a resignation or a termination on a mutual agreement, don’t rush into an early departure, take the time to mature.

if for example, your manager has been pushing you to the limit, there might be a chance that he accepts to let you go on a mutual agreement. If not then, consider quitting because it is a matter of your well being and your sanity. Get back on your feet and find joy again in your daily work routine, by all means.

Someone once said live off what you love and you will never have to work again. In other words, when we turn our passion into a career , we have the opportunity to mix pleasure with work, and make money at the same time with little effort. This rather idealistic preconception is actually relevant, considering the fact that a lot of workers find their jobs useless. It is the notorious “bullshit jobs”. There are also a lot of people who are affected by the “bore out” syndrome which consists of suffering from being bored at work.

For that reason, according to Oasys firm associate Isabelle Andrè, a lot of people are trying to find some point into their work environment. ” they want to take control of their lives, get the joy back from doing a job they like. Because of that, turning to your passion might end up being the best decision”. So truly finding a career that matches with  your passion is far from being just an idealistic aspiration but rather a reality that most people are concerned with.

However one must admit that doing that is not an easy task because one will need to have enough courage to get out of his comfort zone. You can’t be afraid of having a lower salary or going through a professional retraining with everything that it would include. If you have always dreamed of being a journalist, a pilote, a surgeon, an architect, a movie maker, a dancer, you must do your best to pursue a career that you are passionate about or in a way, follow your dreams.

Be careful, some realism is however needed to help you find a profession, even though passion is an important element. Delphine Boileau-Terrien tells us that before turning to such a professional project, you must keep in mind that: «  passion only is not enough ». In order for that project to be successful, one must take all aspects into consideration ». Age and personal abilities of anyone should not be taken lightly.

For example, it goes without saying that a person who is passionated about medecine, planes, computer science or anything else since he was a little kid or a teenager is already one step above the others when it comes to chosing a major. Therefore according to professional coach Frédérique Debout, «  young people think that they have that energy that allows them to quickly engage to what they like. They have nothing to lose. People in their thirties or forties and fifties have the advantage of being more mature, something that could help them in a project that includes their passion. But on the other side, there might probably be some financial sacrifices that one will have to accept.

That being said, nothing stops you from following your passion and making a career out of it because a passionated person has motivation as an advantage. His passion is his fuel. It is totally possible to build a project based on your passion under the condition however that you follow some important rules.

The African job market is more and more drawing interest in almost all fields of activity. The Chinese aeronautics have set their eyes on the black continent because they are very much aware of the African potential and they are not that popular in western-based airlines.

Considering the fact that China’s aeronautics is growing at a very fast path, it is under the obligation to acquire new markets. Beijing is on a mission to convince Africa to buy civil and commercial planes, since by the way it looks, the Western world has  turned its back on the country.

The Chinese targeting strategy on the African market seems to have been a success since a lot of African countries have bought some models of its MA60, a turboprop with propellers. Cameroun got 3 of them: one for the Army and the 2 others for the Camair-Co airline. Congo and Zimbabwe also use MA60 with 3 models for their respective airlines Air Congo and Air Zimbabwe.

Those planes have been acquired through a marketing strategy known to be popular (buy 2 get 1 free). Therefore MA60 is the first of a list of products that is getting longer and longer. The Asian giant has indeed built C919 with a capacity of 190 passengers, as a way to have diversify in its offers and compete against Boeing B737 and Airbus A320.

However, despite all the efforts that have been put into creating it, Western countries are not interested in trying those new products. So obviously China is going to turn to Africa hoping to show out its skills in civil aeronautics and find potential buyers.

The African sky business is not that powerful but it is paving its way one step at a time with the expansion of some companies like Ethiopian, Kenya Airways or Royal Air Maroc. Most of the African air carrier are in reality regional airlines, that is what make them the perfect target for the Chinese C919.

Well aware of that situation, the Chinese government has already started the construction of the C929 with the objective of breaking the monopoly of the Boeing 777 and 787 and Airbus A350 and A380. The 929 will have a capacity of between 250 and 350 seats. That will allow African airlines to do long-range flights. Basically, one can say that the Africa and China route will definitely know a reinforcement of their trade exchanges in the upcoming years.

People who are a little bit interested in recruitment processes will probably realise just how much recruitment firms and companies are using personality tests in Africa. It is an assessment tool that is often used by HR specialists to check the compatibility of the candidate with the position offered. Basically, personality tests are used as a way to find out if the candidate meets with the needs of the company.

Today, not only are there plenty of personality tests available on the market, but the recruiter also has the opportunity to ask professionals to specifically design some for him. Even though those tests are very popular among recruiters, one can’t help but wonder just how reliable they really are? Should we take them seriously, in other words?

While we can surely admit how meaningful they are in the hiring process we shouldn’t, nonetheless, give them too much importance. It would be simplistic to say that those tools act as a guarantee of a successful hire. A personality test can indeed be used to supplement the judgement of the recruiter but not at any mean replace it as a reliable basis. Therefore the issue is in the bad usage of a personality test. Some recruiters have a tendency of using it as a tool that would serve to replace the human being. Very often, recruiters don’t properly use it.

Beside, the interest and the reliability of personality tests in the hiring process are constantly questioned. Therefore in 2018, a study revealed that french companies are less and less interested in personality tests because of their sneaky side, particularly with the double-edged questions that are sometimes asked.

In 2018 a lot of tests have been used to know more about the personality of the candidates. However, reality shows that those tests have helped indeed recruiters make a decision but for a lot of them, the choice was already made before they even took the test, as a way to validate a subjective intuition or  simply follow a hiring procedure.

Either way, whether they are reliable or not, personality tests in Africa are part of the essential tools that professionals in human resources use.