REPORT ON ONE DAY SEMINAR

“THEME: GETTING SET FOR THE JOB MARKET AFTER

GRADUATION”
ON
11TH MARCH 2023
Experiential Higher Institute of Science and Technology (EXHIST) organized a
one day seminar at Conference hall, Baptist Centre Mvan Yaounde for bachelor
degree and masters students. The program started at 9:45 am with the presentation
of objectives, modalities and facilitators of the day’s Agenda by Mrs. Eyong
Queen followed by a word of prayer from both Christians and Muslems. The
dignitaries on the dias were Mme Eyong Queenta, Mr. Ngang Nelson, Mr. Yurika
Raymond and Mr Tumi Raymond.
The director of EXHIST Mr. Ngang Nelson then made an introductory speech
who welcomed all the participants for coming he also explain the importance and
some of the consequences of the seminar to the participants in the job market after
graduation.
Mme Eyong Queenta took over the floor, who talked about Writing of cover
letters, motivational letters. She said for you to get a job start early, get a routine,
set targets by applying for a job atleast once every week. She also asked the
participants to apply for many different jobs and keep track of all the institutions
you applied in not forgetting the date limits for your application. Call the
institution if need be, write down the name of the companies in a logbook. She
then highlighted some points:
1. How to focus on your job search.
She said for you to focus on your job search, have a sense of direction,
identify your skills, know your interest and skills, personal interest and
passion. Prepare a good Curriculum vitae and that each job must have its
own curriculum vitae. Create a professional online presence by:
- making use of social media
- Be able to distinguish between social life and professional life.
- Create a network with the administration, lecturers, this is a way to
create a job network.
- Make a business
- Attend internships and during internship work extra hours, be active,
asked questions.
- Know where to search or apply for a job. Take notes of hidden jobs.
- Make influential friends, personalities and keep reminding them.
- Keep learning: check and attend free online courses.
- Stay patient and do not be discouraged if they called you for an
interview and you not selected.
 She ended her presentation by saying that

“The key to success is patience and consistency” do not take

rejections personally. It’s a job to job HUNT!!. Mme Eyong was
given a midwifery clap!! By the participants.
The floor was given to the next presenter Mr. Ngang Nelson, who gave a lecture
on the topic: Developing a right CV. He started by saying that a Curriculum vitae
is what most employees are interested in before the certificate you have. He said
you might not be called for a job not because you are not qualified, most often your
CV was not good enough. The presenter gave some tips on how to write a CV, he
said a CV is a latin word that means “ Course of life” that is primary, secondary
and university life, he also said in countries like the United state use a CV when it
concerns academic qualification while other countries used more of a resume and
he said there is literally no difference between the two, it just depends on where
you find yourself and that your CV should be your marketing tool. He then gave
the four main parts of a CV which include:
1. The CV Header which comprises of:
- Full name - Email - professional title – Email – Telephone number –
Address number and LinkedIn profile.
2. Personal profile which should show a snapshot about yourself, meaning a
statement that brings out a clear picture of yourself.
3. Relevant job experience and key achievements: that is how to draw more
attention of recruiters, by doing so he said tailor your CV to the job posting
where he presented a real life example of a CV and that the achievement
should be written in PAR form, always use action verbs and specific when
writing your CV.
4. Education section: the presenter lay more emphasis that when writing a CV
your educational background should be simple, and that when writing a CV
with no working experience is good to start by writing your Educational
background and bring out key factors before going back to write down your
working experience, add key aspects of achievement and elaborate more on
your training just to name a few.
5. Additional CV section.
He said candidates constantly lie about themselves without knowing that
recruiters are very good in identifying lies. He also highlighted some points
that should be added like
- Industry award
- Professional certificate
- Publications
- Projects
- Freelance work
- Academic achievements and personal block.
The presenter ended his presentation by laying emphasis on some tips:
 - When writing a CV the page formatting that is the font’s size should
be the same, avoid using different font’s size in different sections.
- Your need to be specific, get photos off your CV, it should be brief
and relevant, save the CV in PDF formats, no marital status should be
included, no date of birth, no religion, and references should be
included except you are asked to include them.
The seminar then continued with another presenter Mr. Yurika Raymond who
could not make it in person but used modern platform applications (zoom meeting)
for communication, where he presented vividly on two topics: writing of
motivational letters and scholarship search and filling of application forms.
The scholar stated his presentation by saying that create strong connections if you
want to have job. He also asked some questions like Do you have enough data
when studying to carryout research? He said it is very important to improve on
your skills and that “if you seek you will find”, “follow who no road” in other to
succeed. In other to succeed in your field you will need to give out your skills he
said “the more you give, the more you receive” he then laid more emphasis on
artificial intelligence tools like Chat gpt that can automatically write a CV,
Motivational letter and Essay writing for you. He also talked on the skills you
should use to get a job. Firstly he said surround yourself with high value persons
who can help you and he said they might want to know your core-values.
He went further to explain some important ways of searching for sample
motivational letter and CV, where he shared his screen and search for sample
motivational letters using google. He then asked the participants to write down
Jobhiro.com and Chat gpt.
Furthermore the presenter continued by talking on how to search for a scholarship
and how to fill the application form and asked the participants to write down
schorlarship.com as a purpose to find out the availabilities of recent scholarship at
our disposal.
Lastly he ended his presentation by emphasing on some important point like
leadership policies and networking.

The next presenter Mr. Tumi Humphred , took over the floor and gave a
presentation on Referencing / recommendations letters and E-mails.
He started by giving an outline of a reference and recommendation letter, and that
the difference is how detailed it is. He said a recommendation letter is more
detailed and a reference letter is one that can stand and attest your qualities. He
then gave some importance of recommendation letters listed below:
- Discus your strength: he said this is supposed to be written by
someone who knows your skills.
 - It should be written from a professional view point.

- The recommender should be able to know your recommendation in

order to depict out if actually you stand in that position or post.

- And he also gave the purpose of writing a recommendation letter as

seen few points below;

- - what have you achieved

- What are the various skills

- What are your altitude, he said the recommender should know if you
are able to fit in that domain.

He said the format of a reference letter must have

- A Letter head
Who so ever recommended you is supposed to have a letterhead on
the recommendation letter.
- Introduction: he said explain the purpose of the letter and how well do
you know this person and for how long have you known the person.
- Conclusion: write I highly recommend person X to the position of X,
Yours faithfully for (who it may concern) unknown people and To
Whom It May Concern.
E-MAILING
He said electronic mail is a method of exchanging messages between between
people using electronic devices like Phones, IPad, PC just to name a few, and he
advised all the participants to use their emails to communicate amongst
themselves.
He also gave some types of email domain
- Gmail for example brendajoy@gmail.com
- Yahoo mail for example sandrinesmith@yahoo.com
- Hotmail for example ijobutemi@.org
The presenter ended his presentation by asking all the participants to
create an E-mail account and learn how to add their signatures on
them. In addition to that , he emphasize on secured web site by stating
out how it can easily identified : https for secured website and http for
unsecured websites.

Mme. Eyong later took again the floor where she talked on preparing for an
interview. She said interviews could be physical, online, offline etc
she gave some tips listed below;
 - Do a research about the company, read online,(values, social media
etc), tryout a product the company produces.
- Know everything about the position you have applied for
- Know what skills you are going in for and acknowledge it.
- Find out what gaps you are about to fill in the institution and also find
out why the previous person left.
- Verify the time of the interview and make sure you visit the site ahead
of time.
- Know your salary range
- Identify your selling points by developing good listening and talking
skills, know your body language and make sure you feel good to boost
your confidence.
Prepare any needed documents, she said before you go for
interview
- Carry your documents with you
- Prepare a reference list ( Academic/professional references)
- Pack your bag ahead of time
- Prepare and figure locations
- Get a good night sleep/rest.
Madam also gave some common interview questions:
1. Tell me more about yourself that is explain your resume and how
able you fit for the position.
2. Why are you interested in working with us?
3. Where did you get the news about the job? Be it facebook.
Whatsapp, news.
4. Tell me about the time you failed at your former job?
5. Where do you see yourself in 5-7years just to name a few
She also gave the full meaning of STAR method in answering
questions.
- S stands for situation or scenario
- T for talk about what role you can play or the task
- A (Action) discuss what you did
- R (Result) the outcome, posture, talk and outcome.
Madam ended his presentation by giving some sites for job hunting ,like
AKWAJOBS, KAMEPOW etc and reminded the participants again to apply for a
job atleast once a week, join professional asssociations, attend educational events
like seminars and online sites related to your job
The seminar ended with Lunch, and the director asked all the participants to
prepare a CV and motivational letter and send to the school email address before
the 30th of March. The participants were awarded an ATTESTATION, Family
Pictures were taken.
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