Where and how to find job opportunities

Options. Apart from newspapers, there are a number of platforms where people search for jobs. Photo by Alex Esagala

What you need to know:

  • Many people use social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter for leisure.
  • Platforms such online have become serious avenues through which people are recruited.

You have perhaps heard this phrase “graduating is a process of life, but looking for employment is one hell of a job”.
Looking for a job, according to Henry Balikoowa, a human resource manager at Right Care Schools, “calls for willingness to try out a number of things which might not work out at first, and perseverance to keep trying over and over because that next interview might just be what you have been looking for.”

Looking for a job is not an easy task it is a process, according to Balikoowa, that every adult goes through.
Harriet Nuwe, graduated in 2015 and it is only recently that she found her first job as a social media specialist at Prime Consultants. Before this, she had searched for months and was almost giving up. This is one experience that many young people go through and are familiar with what it means.

“It took a long time before I could even get to be interviewed. However, I kept hoping and refreshing my resume as well as preparing for any opportunity,” Nuwe says, highlighting that you should never tire from searching before you get that job.
However, she advises that in the process of searching you need to promote yourself.

“I put all my work on a blog. I kept building it over time and when someone visited it they referred me to my current employer,” Nuwe says.
Searching for a job requires someone to practically get involved in looking through different platforms for that opportunity. However, where and how can someone get sufficient access to finding that job?

Newspaper advertorials
According to Balikoowa, job advertorial, especially in newspapers should be the first priority for anyone searching for a job.
“Some companies and government agencies are required to advertise jobs. The first point of reference will be newspapers. Therefore, job seekers should always consider them,” he says.

Social media platforms
Many people use social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter for leisure.
However, companies are increasingly using such platforms to search for talent, which, according to Balikoowa is an advantage to job seekers because such are platforms have become more accessible than ever.

Radio and television
Traditionally, radio and television are considered as entertainment sources.
However, companies use them, especially during peak hours and classified advert breaks to advertise job placement.
According to Nuwe, the easy access to radio and television gave her an opportunity to always listen in for job placements and opportunities.

Recruitment agencies
Job placement centres recruit people into jobs on behalf of companies therefore; it benefits a job seeker to visit them more often because they are always alerted every time there is an opening.
“When someone walks into our offices for example, we take their details; resume, academic documents and keep them in our databases. So when we get openings, we revisit them, find the qualified people and call them for interviews. When they get the job, we are only entitled to 50 per cent of their first salary,” Agnes Namuli, an agent with Job Connect, says.

Volunteer and internship
Many people will take on a volunteer job after failing to find sufficient avenue for a regular income.
However, according to Joyce Karabo, the chief executive officer of Girl’s Life Line, there is no easy way to get into a company through a volunteer job or internship.

“These have no immediate benefits in terms of payment but they bring you near and whenever there is an opening you might be the first one to get considered,” she says.
This, she says, places you nearest to the opportunity and the best way to ensure that you get it is to prove your worth.

SOCIAL NETWORKING

This is one area, according to Henry Balikoowa, a human resource manager at Right Care Schools that gives exposure and brings you closer to people who matter.
“Social gatherings, personal relations or randomly meetings will introduce you to different. Perhaps this is where you will find that job you have been searching for,” he says, emphasizing that when in such gatherings you must always be ready to talk about your capabilities as well as asking for available opportunities.

EXPLORE OPTIONS

Job placement sites
Platforms such online have become serious avenues through which people are recruited.
Therefore, according to Henry Balikoowa, a human resource manager at Right Care Schools, job seekers should leverage on the easy access to internet to visit such sites. Door to door job search
For years this has been the traditional way through which people search for jobs.

However, because there are a number of available options a number of people have found new alternative.
“Many people have moved away from this form of searching but it is still one of those avenues through which you can search for a job,” at though a other organizations have kept their old ways, rendering some other way to look,” Balikoowa.