You have been in HR for a while, how it has been like?

So I think that human resource is that role many people feel they can do, and it is always interesting. I know that it comes with great responsibility but great responsibility always comes with great accountability. So there are many people who say they are professionals but they are generally not working from the service mentality because when you work in HR you’re supposed to help other people shape their careers from whatever aspect; whether its recruiting like we are going to talk about today , learning, development, compensation, and it’s a constant balancing act cause you’re basically in the middle. You are employed by the company or you’re a representative of the company, and also a voice for the employer. So you’re supposed to help ease the conversation between the employer and the employee .If you’re an HR professional and your standing in the way of an employer and employee then there is a problem.

Why do you say so?

Because it’s such a powerful role. When you are hired, you make policies and you make laws, and you speak on behalf of others. It can be a very overpowering role and you can get power drunk on it. A lot of people in this space get excited about it and forget what they are really there for. If you are powerful and all you do is, make people uncomfortable with it, its bad. Because I have heard many horrible stories. I am not imagining that I am the best HR there has been but to be honest, I hold myself accountable every day.

For someone who feels he/she is been bullied in the workplace how should they navigate it? Should they go to HR to report a case or go to the boss directly?     

That’s a good one, I think we should take  a step back. A lot of times when we have conversations with people and its face to face or its offline we assume that we would always remember what it is that has been agreed or we assume that they are good people that they would stick to your words. It’s very important that whatever conversation you have with anyone be it an HR person or an employer / employee, anyone you should definitely make sure that’s its written somewhere as a contract maybe an email or something.

In the process of hiring why is the self-development part tough?

Its again for an example if you put out a tweet on your twitter page all kinds of  people would send you their c/v and would claim that they know two hundred things when they only know ten, because they want to do graphics design. One of the ways that works really fine is I think a lot of our stuffs are through referrals. So speak to other graphics designers and ask “who do you know that is a younger colleague?” because my understanding with graphics designers is well; they don’t like to be tied down to one employer; they like to do different things. So if you have someone in-house as a graphics designer tendency is you would want to take in someone who is experienced but not over experienced. Maybe he has just started in the field but has potential to grow into the job so that when they work with you for six to twelve months they would  learn their skills because they are assured of constant graphics designing on this platform. But if you look for someone who is grown in the field there is no potential for you to grow; so they would probably go because they are looking for money, if they find something else better out there,then they would go.

You have been to Canada and come back?

You are saying come back like I am here forever, I am just visiting. 

What is the difference between the work culture there and here?

It is incredibly different, but our mentality here is if you are abroad, everything is perfect.

Hello. Good morning, my name is Ayo, I am a lawyer and I can do a lot of work. I have an issue, I want to change my job but nobody wants to take a very experienced person, so I was wondering what do I do?

 

I would challenge when you say everyone because we might not be able to continue this conversation on air. How many law firms have you spoken to, how many have you submitted your CV to? So the question is what is your salary right now, where are you when it comes to salary earning, where do you want to be? The person that pays the highest in the market do they pay that amount? From there you would know if it’s a realistic amount that you’re asking. For instance, if the biggest law chambers in Nigeria pays let’s say four hundred thousand for lawyers in general with your expertise and you’re looking for six hundred thousand naira then it’s not realistic.  Everyone you might speak to might not be able to help you but that does not mean that your dream aiming to earn six hundred thousand is not valid, it’s just that you have to find a different method on how to earn that. I don’t know if you can do this in Nigeria but if its working for different law firms, consulting for them case by case for instance and then you get paid for that one case or group of cases and then you move on then you can still earn the income that you want.  Secondly, you need to look at the standard of the law firm your talking to, if you’re talking to the standard of the law firm you left or your currently working with then they would not be able to afford you cause they are all placed on the same level. Then you need to speak to law firms in higher brackets, who can afford you and who can pay you the amount that you want. So I think you should change that mindset of nobody wants to pay me.

When do you know you have picked the right person?

You never know honestly because when hiring you take a huge chance and you never know what you’re going to find. And don’t say that I am helping you because employers do that. So just like hiring a graphics designer, I am hiring a graphics designer because he knows how to design. Because even if you want to hire someone and he is not that good in designing you can as well support him with cash, register him for a design class, invest in him. If you are so moved by his ambition to really learn the skill, you don’t always have to hire every one that comes to your doorstep that’s the point I am trying to make.

For SME’s , Small business owners, that do not always have the time to train, what should they do?

They have to create the time. Because you cannot say as an SME you don’t have the time to market, because that’s core to the business same way employees are core to the business. Sometimes it’s even the customer care service person that might even change your mindset about a particular company overnight on one call whether positive or negatively. So employers always feel that training people is just anything and sometimes you end up paying dearly.

For an organization that wants to hire someone who fits into a position but does not have the required skill. What should they do?

People do learn best on the jobs, so you can have a more senior person on the team and have a conversation with that person and give the person to train him. You can also have someone job shadow the person through challenging tasks, helping them grow the skill. It’s a tough one when hiring people. So it can bring damage to you and even the employee. We can’t help everybody who wants to be helped in the way they want to be helped, a business is not a playing ground. So you can’t take someone on board who is proud and wants you to pay him what you are paying your most senior person.