Church of Pentecost organises career development seminar

The Church of Pentecost- Ashaley Botwe District- on Sunday organised a career development programme for its youth to sharpen their minds and provide the needed skills to market themselves for job interviews.

The programme on the theme: "Keeping Your Fit," was also to empower the youth with employability and entrepreneurial skills to meet emerging issues in the job market.

Madam Sylvia Mbama, Resourcing Lead, Barclays Bank, speaking on the topic: Employability Skills and Preparing a Winning Curriculum Vitae," noted that employability skills were key because it equips the employee to carry out roles to the best of his ability.

She said employability skills are transferable skills needed by an employee to make him employable by organisations; adding, those skills depends on the employee's knowledge, attitudes and how those assets are used and presented to employers.

Madam Mbama said communication skills is one key skill employers look for because it explains the ability of the individual to express himself in a clear and concise manner through written and spoken words.

She urged young graduates to develop the ability to understand a problem by breaking it down into smaller parts, identifying key issues, implications and finding solutions since most employers look for employees who are critical thinkers.

She said it is imperative for graduates to have negotiation skills, work under pressure and meet deadlines, ability to learn fast, team player and self-motivated to perform effectively.

Madam Mbama said curriculum vitae displays the qualifications and experiences of an employee, and as such, must be written well to convince employers to take an action of shortlisting them for interview.

She advised employees to spend time to do more research and get samples of winning curriculum vitae to enrich theirs, urging them to use action verbs such as 'attended workshop' and 'worked at' because there are other competitors applying for the same job.

Madam Lena Sarfo, Human Resource, Barclays Bank, said brand management is a skill an employee needs in order to manage himself as well as influence employers.

She said the first impression created was necessary as it gives the picture of an individual and urged graduates to comport themselves since it has a bearing in their lives.

Madam Sarfo urged employees to always create good impressions by working on their body language, being confident in speech delivery and exhibit good sense of mannerism during job interviews.

"Creating positive images about an individual is critical because most people form judgments about a person quickly and it is very difficult to change that perception," she added.

She urged employees to inculcate the habit of networking with friends by having their contacts and addresses since they may contribute immensely in their career development.

Elder Paul Asante, Lead Team for the programme, said the month of August was devoted for youth programmes and that there is the need to re-orient and self-empower them to plan for their future.

He said on August 23, a similar programme was organised on the topic: starting a business by Ms Mariam Inna Patty, Chief Executive Officer of Exclusive Events Ghana, and its objective was to equip the youth with employable skills to meet emerging challenges.

Ms Gertrude Gyamfuah Boateng, a participant, commended organisers for the inspiring programme, adding that it has made a positive impact on her life by highlighting the need for comportment in one's job or social relations.