THE NATION MONDAY, APRIL 15, 2013
38
JOBS
Building hangars, creating jobs •Continued from page 37 matters from the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer when the line comes. Aswegen said when the facility comes on stream, it will be the first in Africa. It will save operators of private jets in Nigeria the huge cost of flying their aircraft to Europe, America and other far destinations for maintenance. The service centre is expected to generate hundreds of jobs for teeming aviation professionals. He said: “We are planning to set up a service centre in Nigeria, Kaduna precisely, at the premises of SkyJet Airlines facility. It will help operators run their aircraft more efficiently. “This will be important to owners of private jets in Nigeria, because most aircraft manufacturers do not have such facility in the country. This will assist them to run the aircraft more efficiently, by saving them huge costs of maintenance, if they have to ferry the aircraft abroad. “This is how the SkyJet Airlines facility will be of tremendous help. It will save cost, as the operators will not need to take their planes outside Nigeria to be fixed. When Embraer appointed SkyJet Airlines, we considered its capacity to manage our aircraft type. This will take the burden of issues involving crew management, insurance and aircraft maintenance off our neck.
• Arumemi
• Fadugba
“The executive jet business is booming in Nigeria, and it is still growing. This is why Nigeria has the highest number of private jets flying in Africa. And most of the executive jets are new airplanes with the latest technology.” The President, Aviation Roundtable, Captain Dele Ore, and the former Secretary-General of African Airlines Association (AFRAA), Mr Nick Fadugba, have canvassed the establishment of a strong MRO for airlines in Nigeria to generate jobs. Ore called on the Federal Government to set up a committee to seek ways of collaborating with the Akwa Ibom maintenance repair and overhaul facility in Uyo to enhance capacity and create jobs. Fadugba said the necessity to set up a maintenance hangar in Nigeria was long over-
due, adding that the establishment of such a facility will generate jobs for industry professionals. According to the former AFRAA secretary, there is need for airlines to pool their resources together, establish maintenance hangar and run it at a profit. Fadugba said: “Nigeria is ripe to have an aircraft maintenance hangar. It is long overdue. We can acquire the expertise. The point is, do we have enough aircraft fleet? No, we don’t. All the commercial aircraft are just about 50. Seriously speaking, Nigeria needs a modern international MRO (Maintenance Repair Overhaul), in Lagos. “MRO must be where the business is, which is Lagos. Abuja is great, but MRO must be where the business is, and that is Lagos, because not only will you do line
maintenance (daily servicing of the aircraft), you can also do checks - light and heavy repairs on the aircraft. “One airline may not be able to build a hangar, or none of them has the fleet size to justify the investment.” The Chief Executive Officer of Belujane Konzults, Mr Chris Aligbe, canvassed the setting up of a maintenance facility for aircraft repairs in the country. He said such a facility would reduce operating costs for domestic carriers that fly their planes overseas for major repairs. If the facility is established here, it would create jobs for the industry’s professionals, he said. Aligbe, a former spokesman of the liquidated Nigeria Airways Limited, said to make the project viable, the facilitators must adopt measures to sustain patronage for the project. He said: “A maintenance facility in Nigeria is long overdue. The government should facilitate the establishment of such a project, and ensure that the airlines have enough aircraft in their fleet to ensure that it is profitable. “If there are not enough aircraft to sustain the maintenance, repair and overhaul facility, it could be a failure. Above all, there must be competence in fleet and aircraft type to make it work. “One sure way of achieving this is the entrenchment of standardisation of fleet and line management to boost the competence of such a facility.” He affirmed that without standardisation of aircraft type, the industry could have problems with growth and development, as major aircraft repair facilities are driven by the development of competences in aircraft types. Aligbe said: “Most of the airlines in Nigeria do not have commonality of aircraft type to drive maintenance and repair overhaul facilities.”
MOVERS AND SHAKERS DHL gets manager for West Africa
D • Animasaun
HL Nigeria has app o i n t e d AdesolaKudirat Animasaun as the new IT Manager Programme for West Africa. The appointment took effect from January. Before the appoinment,
Animasaun was Head of IT Manager, Anglophone Africa and was responsible for the provision of IT professional services that make DHL business to obtain its competitive advantage and state of the art IS solution. She was also responsible for
the management of IS services and Infrastructure for DHL business in pre-sales and post-sales customer IS requirement. A statement from the firm said: “Animasaun is an experienced IT professional. She is internationally certified
and that has made her what she is today. She is an enthusiastic, self-motivated individual, who always strives to achieve a very high standard in whatever she embarks on. She has worked as IT personnel with numerous conglomerates and private organisa-
tions before joining DHL in 2001.” She has B.Sc/Ed in Computer Science from Ogun State University (OOU), Ago Iwoye. In her new position, Animasaun is expected to deliver all DHL applications and programmes or projects in West Africa and also to integrate DHL solutions to customers.
CAREER MANAGEMENT
Getting your dream job: Techniques, strategies
W
ELCOME to another Mon-day and another series in our self-made avowal to empower individuals to get their dream job in the shortest possible time. The inspiration came from Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) and feedback from numerous readers of The Nation. You’ve got that great résumé in hand and you are rearing to get on and be on your mother of all searches: to find a job! But wait, it takes much more than having just a résumé and bristling energy to have a successful job search. You need a search game plan. The job hunter or career changer can find job hunting to be a frustrating experience. Fact is, it’s a job finding a job! There are no set of rules for job hunting; no magic formulas or solutions. However, by utilising all the options available to us, we can make the job search more efficient and be successful in the shortest possible time. A successful job search starts with thorough preparation and planning. This is true whether you are beginning your career, seeking re-employment or considering a more satisfying occupation. First assess your characteristics; take a good look at who you are and what you have done. This will require time and effort, but the time you invest will be worthwhile. Selfassessment can help you to decide on a realistic job objective. The information you discover will also be helpful when writing your resume, completing job applications and preparing for job interviews. In exploring career options the questions are:
By Olu Oyeniran
Do I want to remain in that field? • Would the strengths I have serve in a related field of work? • Would I consider returning to school to learn new job skills which are in demand? • As a recent college graduate, could I translate my strengths into a career? • Is self-employment a possibility? • In answering these questions, carefully consider personal circumstances, your lifestyle, health, family circumstances and financial needs. Keep these factors in mind when making career plans. • Considering everything you know about yourself, try to think of some career possibilities that you could do well arid would enjoy.
Organisation is key Staying organised in the hunt is imperative. It is extremely important to be organised. Maintain a notebook with contact sheets for recording names and information relative to your efforts. Keep copies of all job leads or ads that you respond to. Maintain a calendar or weekly plan of action for your job hunt and record and review the number of contacts made each week. As stated earlier, it is job looking a job! If you are experiencing a career transition, staying in the routine of a job hunt is difficult. Remember, you are marketing yourself daily. Begin each day with the attitude that you are “open for business.’ Follow the plan
you established for yourself and keep with it until you’ve reached your goal. Don’t unwittingly extend your job search time by limiting the techniques you use. There are several techniques and strategies for effective job fishing. We shall proceed to look at them.
Networking Networking is a key process in job seeking, job keeping, and position advancement, in the future it will be necessary to give greater attention to this process as competition for good jobs becomes keener and advancement opportunities become fewer. More and more, individuals must learn to develop and use networks of contacts if they are to best achieve their goals and career potential. Networking in a nutshell, is nothing more than asking the people you already know to help you find out about the job market and meet the people who are actually doing the hiring. The hard facts “Informal contacts account for almost 75 per cent of all successful job searches. Agencies find about nine per cent of new jobs for professional and technical people, and ads yield another 10 per cent or so. Don’t hesitate to talk to friends, acquaintances, and neighbours about your job search in reality, you are asking for advice, not charity. Most of the people you contact will be willing to help you, if only you will tell them how. You probably know more people than you think. The key to making progress is to start asking the right
people for the right kind of assistance. The ultimate object of your job search is to convince the person who has the power to hire you that you ought to be working for him or her. The one you want to talk to is not necessarily the president of a company; it is rather the one who heads the department that could use your expertise. Direct contact with the hiring authority is far and away the most effective job-hunting method. Your strategy and schedule should reflect that fact, and most of your energy should be devoted to direct contact. You may want to explore other methods of contacting potential employers, but that should take up no more than a quarter of your job – hunting time. How do you find the hiring authority? If you are lucky, someone you know periodically will tell you whom to see and introduce you. Otherwise, you will have to do some homework. If you cannot find out who heads the department that interests you, call the company and ask the operator. Do not assume you can get to the hiring authority through the personnel department. If at all possible, you will avoid filling out ally personnel forms until you have had a serious interview. The same goes for sending resumes. In general, resumes are better left behind after an interview than sent ahead to generate a meeting. •Oyeniran is the Lead Consultant, EkiniConsult & Associates. He can be reached on Jobsearchhow.com.ng Tel 08083843230 (SMS Only).