Online job search platforms realign skills, opportunities

Job search is fast becoming a popular online activity among youths searching for jobs in Nigeria with the rising trend of unemployment in Africa’s most populous nation as stakeholders call for regulation to check fraud.

Online talent-hunt platforms are changing the way job seekers access offers presented by prospective employers and employers in turn are finding new ways of dealing head hunting.

McKinsey Global Institute, a global management consulting firm, estimates that by 2025 online talent platforms could add $2.7 trillion (N958 trillion) to global Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and revolutionise many of the persistent problems in the world’s labour markets. Nevertheless, there is growing need for a policy framework in the industry.

Online talent-hunt platforms include websites like hotnigerianjobs.com, Myjobmag.com, Jobbermann.com, Ngcareers.com, Jobgurus.com.ng, Careers24.com, Jobzilla.ng, Justjobsng.com, Joblistnigeria.com and CareerExpo.ng.

These websites aggregate individual resumes with job postings from traditional employers, as well as the rapidly growing digital marketplaces of the new ‘gig economy’, such as Uber and Upwork. A gig economy is an environment in which temporary positions are common and organisations contract with independent workers for short-term engagements.

Labour markets around the world are having a hard time keeping pace with myriad rapid shifts in the global economy resulting in inefficiencies and dysfunctions. Millions of people cannot find work, even as sectors from technology to healthcare struggle to fill open positions.

Many who do find work feel overqualified or underutilised, leading to costly human capital waste: hundreds of millions of people coping with unemployment, underemployment, stagnant wages and discouragement among others. Online talent-hunt platforms are changing this.

Sharon Kechi in appreciation to Jobberman for the job of executive assistant to a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in Lagos, said “thank you so much Jobberman. I applied for the position of executive assistant to the CEO, which was opened some weeks ago. I scaled through Jobberman applicant’s Curriculum Vitae (CV) software. I submitted my CV for critique before I applied so that my CV could pass the test” she explained.

“I went for the interview and after studying the interview tips provided by Jobberman I had a successful interview. I was given the job on the spot” Kechi averred.

According to a National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report on demographics of online job search platforms, “active applicants were predominantly male (67.77 percent) and well educated, with 77.61 per cent being educated to degree level or higher. However, this figure was only 22.34 per cent for those under the age of 20”.

“Lagos remained the state to account for the largest share of applications and vacancies,’’ the report said.

Tope Niyi, head of marketing and products development of Nigeria’s online job portal, Careers24 recently pointed out that those applying for jobs online should be weary because some of the job listings online are fraud.

He estimated that over 80 percent of online jobs in Nigeria are fraudulent.  This calls for some regulatory framework and policies to safeguard applicants.

Niyi contended that one way to spot fraud is through the salary quoted. This is because as a recruiter, you are mandated to specify the salary range for job listed. For instance, you would ordinarily expect a Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) without visibility, to post a salary range that is low, maybe less than N100, 000 ($281) per month. Yet there are instances where an unknown SME posts a salary range of up to the tune of N900, 000 ($2535) per month. This is a red-flag, probably signalling fraud.

He held that online talent-hunt platforms need to ensure they have scam alert mechanism on their websites. A spam flag that users are expected to click on when they encounter suspicious job posts. This is for cases where fraudulent jobs are able to pull through without their being detected by the platform’s team. This helps for follow up on the company and to verify the authenticity of the posts. Then in cases where the company has made a fraudulent post, blacklist it.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that the NBS has partnered with Jobberman Recruitment to periodically publish information on online recruitment activities in Nigeria. The main objective of this collaboration is to provide policy makers, researchers and the general public with as much relevant and timely information.

STEPHEN ONYEKWELU