Google search engine will change job narratives in Nigeria – Presidential aide

Afolabi Imoukhuede, the Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Jobs Creation and Youth Employment, says usage of Google, a search engine, will change job narratives in Nigeria.

Imoukhuede made the assertion on Thursday at the unveiling of Google’s new Job Search Feature in Lagos.

According to him, the job world is really evolving and government is partnering with the private sector to make the needed change.

“The economic strategy of Federal Government to tackle unemployment is going to be both private sector/government-driven.

“There is need to attack the problem of unemployment headlong and partnering with platforms like this will make things easy.

“Government’s focus is how to turn youths into assets and not liability,’’ the president’s aide said.

Also, Ayodeji Adewunmi, the Co-founder, Jobberman, said that unemployment rate in the country was a massive social problem that needed urgent attention.

Adewunmi said tackling unemployment should not be left to government alone, adding that the private sector also has a role to play.

“Getting a job is not an entitlement, but a gift and so when one gets a job, it should be held with utmost care.

“We are having problem with skills set in the country as the school curriculum does not enable one to have skills that will aid in job getting.

“Government does not have the responsibility to create jobs, but the private sector. What government does is to create an enabling environment,’’ he said.

Adewunmi urged government to create policies to aid job creation and also increase its political will to push the policies.

In his remarks, Tayo Olosunde, the Executive Director, Mind the Gap, said the problem that existed as regards jobs creation was that of linkages and not unemployment.

Olosunde said the linkages had to do with youths knowing what to do in life, adding that this could be achieved through building on one’s skill within the immediate environment.

“Technological skills is not all that one needs to get a job, but skills that are relevant to the existing jobs,’’ he said.

Olosunde added that the Google job features would streamline job offers to making things easy for seekers on their platform.

Also, Ogugua Belonwu, the Founder, MyJobMag, urged government to create a platform that would enable youths to access resources.

Belonwu called for more training for human resources departments on employment processes, saying that it would aid them to match candidates with jobs.
He urged Google to put a quality control check in the job features to checkmate offers that came into the features.

The Google Country Director, Juliet Ehimuan-Chiazor, unveiled a new job search feature in its search engine in Lagos on Thursday.

“For the first time, when someone uses his phone or computer to search on Google for a job, he will see a streamlined experience letting them explore, research and find relevant local job postings.

“As of today, job seekers in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria will be able to use the new job search experience to help them to quickly and easily find opportunities suited to them.

Giving further details about the tool, Ehimuan-Chiazor said: “Users will be able to view at-a-glance details about the posting, such as job title, location, whether it is full-time, part-time or an internship.’’

She said that they would also be able to get detailed information should a job be of interest.

“Using Google Maps integration, job seekers can search for jobs any place they can find on the map.

“If they are signed in, they can even see how long it will take to commute to the job from home,’’ she said.

The country director said that being an open ecosystem, Google was inviting all job sites, platforms and employers, big and small to integrate with them and make their jobs eligible to display in the new jobs search experience.