Lagos Business School had her 20th annual career fair on Thursday 17th November 2022. We had been looking forward to this fair for about two months now since we resumed in October. It’s a day where leading companies come around to interview potential job applicants for full time employment and interns. This year’s fair had about 28 companies in attendance from top industries such as oil and gas, FMCG, manufacturing etc.
The event started with the graduating class making presentations about the major company sectors in Nigeria, their challenges and possible solutions. This lasted for about 2 to 3 hours and was very insightful. The most captivating one for me was that about the oil and gas industry. With the current global inflation and Russia and Ukraine war, oil prices have surged since the beginning of this year. This has affected crude oil supply around the world because of the limited supply and high demand. While some nations have benefitted from this, others like Nigeria have not. It was stated that the world is moving towards the use of cleaner fossil fuel like natural gas. Nigeria for instance has abundance of natural gas which has not been fully utilized and can suffice for our petrol needs except for operations that require heavy power.
I particularly was interested in meeting the companies in the energy and power sector and I did proper research on the firms expected to be there so as to have a good conversation with them due to the prior knowledge of their operations. Some of the companies include: Elektron energy, Transcorp power, Sahara group, Future concerns etc. While talking to them, they briefed me better about their operations, their values and walk ethics. It was also sort of an informal discussion as they were very relaxed while talking to us. I met about two classmates from high school in two energy companies and they shared their experience with me on their journey so far with these companies and I was even more convinced to apply to these companies for my mandatory internship next year July – September.
One thing I noticed amongst these companies was their employees were young people. Most of the head of human resources present were under 30 years of age and this showed to me it would be a conducive work environment and hearing reviews from people within my age bracket was more honest and convicting compared to having someone 10 years older telling me about their work culture. I heard a couple of them share their experience on getting into the company and how the onboarding process was. While my classmates and myself were pitching for internship opportunities, the graduating class were trying their best to get job opportunities. I paid close attention to how they spoke to the employers and introduced themselves. This helped me compose myself better while trying to secure an internship slot.
At the end of the event, we were all hosted to launch and there was fine variety of meals available for all and this was a good opportunity to network again. Both company representatives, students, and faculties were present.
EMPLOYEE LOYALTY