Certifications and Skills You Need as a Nigerian Graduate

Certifications and Skills You Need as a Nigerian Graduate

Over time, it has been made crystal clear that having both certifications and skills is among the sure ways to gain a notable edge over people in Nigeria’s job ecosystem. It is also a vital way to take your academic pedigree to a higher level.

We will take a look at the certifications you need as a Nigerian graduate before delving into the skills you will have to acquire.

Certifications You Need

As it stands, professional exams and courses are always organized by the accredited professional bodies. All of these exams and courses are developed and made available for experts who are done with their tertiary education.

After the preparatory classes and you pass the exam, you will be awarded a professional certificate to display your superior knowledge in the chosen field. When it comes down to Nigeria, having one of these professional certificates in your curriculum vitae will help you climb up the promotion chain faster.

It does not matter if you are in the civil service or any industry in Nigeria. The certificates that will help you achieve your promotion faster than having just a university degree include:

• The Project Management Professional Certification

If you never knew, PMP is an essential industry-recognized professional certification for project managers worldwide. Its importance is hinged on the fact that it applies to almost all the known industries.

This is the most vital certification for the project managers, and its training leads to a sharp salary increase. It was estimated that in 2020, there would be over 15.7 million jobs created for project management.

• The Certified Associate in Project Management Certification

Also known as CAPM, it is the ideal certification a Nigerian graduate will need to jump-start their project management career. If you want to start a career as a project manager or are interested in transitioning to this field, you will need to attain this certificate.

Similar to PMP, CAPM is a professional certification in Nigeria that is amicable to almost all industries. You should bear in mind that this certificate is the entry-level professional certification for all project managers.

Interestingly, it is usually administered by the PMI Project Management Institute. It is also designed for the project team members interested in attaining more project management experience.

An important fact to know about this certificate is that it was created for the existing project managers who cannot meet up the prerequisites of the PMP. This also means that it is for people who aspire to gain a PMP certification down their career line.

• The Professional In Business Analysis Certification

This certificate is a business analyst professional certification designed majorly for people who want to work with stakeholders in shaping project outputs, pushing intended business outcomes, and defining various requirements.

Note that this certificate is different from the IIBA business analysis certification. Asides from being administered by the PMI, it is a critically vital certification to those who want to pursue a career in project and business management.

According to the pay scale of PMI, this certification is capable of hiking your salary to about forty-five percent. You will stand out for sure.

• The Global Professional In Human Resources Certification

The GPHR certification is a professional one that validates a person’s expertise in multinational human resources. It is a global yet impotency-based certification that is created to validate HR professionals’ knowledge and skills who work in the global marketplace.

Skills You Need

There are specific skills you will need for those interested in getting their dream job once they graduate in Nigeria. In all honesty, your University will not provide all you need to get a job once you graduate.

When you fulfill the requirements to gain a BSC degree, it is your job to do everything g possible to face the next struggle, which is getting a job. We must let you know that learning new skills is not always easy.

No matter the unemployment rate in Nigeria, there are graduates out there who are getting employed because they have the right skills. Some of the skills you will need include:

• The business acumen or commercial awareness skill

Are you a fresh graduate and seeking a job in Nigeria? If yes, you will need skills in commercial awareness. For those unaware, it centers around knowing how a business or company works, and all that makes an industry tick.

When you have this skill, it will show that you understand what the company wants to achieve via its services and products. You will also have an understanding of how they can compete in the marketplace.

• Communication skill

While you will not cover this in the University, it is vital to have good communication skills. The communication skill covers listening, verbal, and even written communication. It focuses on being concise focused and clear.

You should be capable of tailoring your message to a company and listening to others’ opinions and views.

• Negotiation and persuasion skill

With this skill, you will be capable of setting out what you need to achieve, how to about it, and understanding where the other person is coming from. This is vital so that both parties can get what they want and need and feel positive about everything.

Every company needs someone on their side that will be able to go into negotiations with clients and persuade them to buy their services or products.

• Problem-solving skills

As a graduate seeking employment, you will need problem-solving skills as it will help to display your ability to take both analytic and logical approaches to resolve issues and problems.

It will show the company that you are good at approaching problems from diverse angles.

 

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• Leadership skills

While you may not be a manager all at once, you will need to show the potential to motivate both your team and colleagues that may work for them. Having a leadership skill entails delegating and assigning tasks, setting deadlines, and leading your team to victory.

Asides from these skills, you will need some technical skills even though you studied something different in the University. These technical skills include:

• Big data analysis

In our modern world, every company today depends on data to make sound decisions about their products and clients. Due to this, these organizations now need employees capable of collecting, organizing, and interpreting data.

• Coding and programming skills

Coding and understanding the programming language will make you a powerful and valuable candidate in lots of jobs. As a third world country, Nigeria currently holds the highest number of self-taught software developers

More than one hundred and forty-two thousand Nigerians on platforms are trying to learn and improve their coding skills. This simply means that programming and coding are new skills that one should have irrespective of your course of study in the University.

• Project management skills

If you are a good project manager, you are an effective leader, and you are incredible at paying good attention to details. With such a skill, you can easily delegate tasks and measure the success of a project.

You must note that not everyone can do these, and so with this skill, lots of organizations will be waiting for you.

• Social media skills

While most of us are on different social media platforms, however, your social media expertise will not impress potential employers if you are unable to explain how well you can utilize social media for an organization.

For fresh graduates searching for jobs in Web development, public relations, marketing, and digital media, you must scale up your social media skill.

Conclusion

As a fresh Nigerian graduate, these skills and certifications are in high demand. This means that learning any of them is the ideal way to prepare and position yourself for the job-seeking challenge ahead.

It is advisable not to depend solely on your degree certificate as most employers do not care about it so much like they did decades ago.