By Matṧeliso Phulane
Human resources (HR) practitioner and consultant Masims Tsikoane last weekend hosted a career workshop at TRC Hall in Maseru.
The workshop aimed to capacitate people to position themselves in the world of work.
Tsikoane draws on her long experience in recruitment to help people overcome mistakes that jobseekers usually make at various stages of the application process.
She has over 15 years’ experience in the field of HR, from being a lecturer in a couple of institutions such as Institute of Extra Mural Studies (IEMs), Lesotho Institute of Public Administration and Management (LIPAM), and Institute of Development Management (IDM) where she has taught HR modules as well as organisational behaviour.
She is currently the owner of Ramatsi Consultancy, an HR, leadership and management consulting firm registered in 2011.
Among others, Tsikoane develops companies’ HR policies, and trains organisations on different levels on HR leadership and management issues.
In an interview with theReporter this week Tsikoane said: “The workshop was successful in that we had many people attending.”
She noted that the session also managed to fulfill its objectives.
“I also do one on one sessions for people who want to revamp their CVs. We look at it together and discuss until we reach the final stage that we are both happy with the CV.
“I also assist people to review their covering letters or write one when they apply for a job.
“Whoever says they are going for an interview, whether it’s a junior position or a senior most executive position, I still help them to prepare for the interview,” she said.
She pointed out that some of the people she has assisted are now executives.
Tsikoane also prepares teenagers who are starting their high school level on challenges they will encounter and how they can overcome them, such as peer pressures, identity issues, bullying, and so on.
She told this publication that the workshop also sought to help tertiary graduates how to get ready for the workplace and how to prepare their CVs and make them catchy.
“The most important thing that I always tell people is that a CV is a marketing document. I was inspired to host the workshop after having worked on CVs in my long-time experience in HR from different industries.
“As a result, being a recruiter myself I noticed that most of the people write their CVs carelessly and they don’t understand the impact that it may have in terms of the opportunities it could open for you at work or even become shortlisted,” Tsikoane indicated.
She warned that if a CV is written carelessly, the recruiter who has thousands of CVs from applicants may notice that an applicant did not give such a marketing document attention including:
Its layout, content and typing errors as well as important aspects such as work experience not being clear; then they cannot even see if that person meets the minimum requirements of work.
For interview preparations, she said, things like looks matter, thus a professional look is needed depending on the type of industry. For corporate interview, she said, there are safe colours to wear and look presentable.
“The way you enter the interview room, how you sit and how you portray that you are a confident person, matters,” she added.
This was the fourth in a series of workshops which started in May last year and Tsikoane described it as a beneficial eye-opener.
Participants had an opportunity to understand there are different techniques now to search for jobs unlike in the past when they were used newspapers. With the transition of technology, organisations are also moving towards using digital platforms.
They also learnt the right way of using social media platforms and how they can affect their jobs.
“I also tackled issues of self-development, namely how you stand out, because the world of work needs people who are driven and those who get out of their comfort zone and really want to develop themselves and become better people,” Tsikoane added.
