Most Nigerian employers don’t trust fresh graduates, says Majekodunmi

Country Director for Nexford University, Olamidun Majekodunmi, has said that 90 per cent of Nigerian employers believe that fresh graduates are not prepared for the demands of the workplace.

He stated this at Nexford’s recent Human Resources Roundtable with the theme: New Trends in HR: Industry Insights and Organisational Impact, which attracted no fewer than 20 human resources experts from different sectors.

“The key differentiator for us at Nexford is that we maintain a close relationship with our industry partners to stay on top of human capital needs and we embed the learning into our curriculum, resulting in high quality, job-ready graduates.

“Our HR Roundtable with top Nigerian employers allows us to gather these insights first-hand and keep our curricula updated,” Majekodunmi said.

HR experts at the event identified key issues faced by corporate organisations with regard to the current work-from-office versus remote/hybrid mode of operation.

Nexford University is charting the course for companies to successfully attract, develop and retain talents for organisational effectiveness, as businesses adapt to the new reality of work.

Useful insights on trends, challenges and solutions of key HR issues were shared at a peer-to-peer knowledge session of the roundtable, as HR experts reviewed creative ideas and solutions that could be introduced in organisations to ensure that skilled talents were hired, engaged and retained.

Deliberations at the roundtable centred on the challenges, solutions and practical tips for key trends in HR, with focus on employability and skills, talent attraction and retention, engaging a remote and hybrid workforce as well as learning and development.

Nexford’s Director of Career Innovation, Jennifer Bangoura, noted that consistent themes emerged from the discussion.

“First, companies are eager to find ways to train their existing workforce to ensure business continuity and growth. Second, identifying qualified talent with the technical skills and emotional intelligence to thrive in the workplace poses a challenge from startups to well-established Fortune 500 companies. We’re excited to have hosted such a rich discussion among Nigeria’s leading HR experts and look forward to ongoing conversations.”

In his closing remarks, Chief Talent Officer at YF Talent Partners, Yemi Faseun, said: “We are all struggling with it, but dealing with it in different ways, depending on the maturity of the organisation and leadership.”