Lack of jobs continues to be a major concern in the country, with thousands of job seekers sending their resumes to various companies daily. A common complaint from those seeking jobs is that they do not get feedback, a form of rejection which can be demoralising.
James Watare’s company, Executive Jobs Hub, a HR firm, offers full cycle recruiting for contract and full-time roles, modern sourcing strategies and approaches, head hunting, HR audit as well as organisation development.
“I am a human resource enthusiast passionate about helping job seekers. I realised that many job seekers are qualified, but they lack adequate skills to stand out of the crowd and be noticed by employers,” he says, pointing out that having a professional CV is one thing, but how you use it to search for jobs is another thing all together.
Before setting up his business, Watare was attached to the advisory department at Ernst & Young where he managed senior consultants hired by the firm to work on a particular government project.
When his contract with the firm ended in 2015, he conducted research on areas that normally let down job seekers when it comes to winning jobs
“With this in mind, I created an online page with helpful resources for career branding which I called Project Innovation Hub Associates,” he explains.
Watare, who struggled to get a decent job after graduation partly because there was nobody to guide him in his job search, hopes to make the search easier and more fruitful for others through his company.
“When I started this company, I would make an average of Sh3,000 per week, currently, our average is Sh70,000, translating to over Sh280,000 per month. In a week we get at least three testimonies from clients who contact us after receiving a job offer,” he says.
LinkedIn, he points out, is an important job search tool which most job seekers don’t take advantage of – his research indicates that 80 percent of job seekers’ profiles on this platform are dormant and communicate nothing about their profession, as a result, many job seekers are losing opportunities to get their dream job since employers and recruiters use the online service to find potential candidates.
“Major focus is a modern CV. We have noticed most CVs that job seekers send to us are analogue. They are not customised for artificial intelligence and online systems,” he adds.
Watare’s aim is to reach more employers and advertise more jobs so that young people can get employed and transit from junior professionals to senior ones.
He signs up an average of 30 clients per week especially for career branding, such as CV and cover letter writing revamping and LinkedIn optimisation. He also carries out interview coaching and once in a while he recruits for companies.
“Owing to the fact that I am conversant with all the services I offer, I prefer doing most of the work myself, but I have two people who work with me on a need basis. Our clients are diverse, from different professions and backgrounds,” he says.
There are times of the year when there is a slowdown in demand for his services, which have especially been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic when many companies are laying off staff.
“Last year, many organisations were not employing and we had some slow months, however, demand for our services has been going higher from August last year.”
Watare charges for his services based on what the market dictates. Charges are also determined by one’s career level and years of experience.
Challenges he faces include earning the trust of job seekers, job seekers that cannot afford the service fee, as well as spammers and hackers.
“To keep the spammers and hackers at bay, I ensure that the page is secure and that only members can access it. When a new member wants to join us, they must answer some questions to help us ascertain that they are genuine, and if a member does not follow the rules set to govern our page, we revoke their membership,” he explains.
Watare’s long-term goal is for his company to become a household name in Africa and become synonymous with career coaching and HR consulting. BY DAILY NATION