It’s much more likely that you will land your next job through someone in your network than just through an online listing, so it’s essential to leverage this invaluable resource. To start, let’s run through a quick networking checklist.

Feeling well-prepared and confident about your interview skills will have a tremendous impact on your job search. Enlisting a friend or trusted colleague to help you practice answering some of the more commonly asked interview questions is a great start, but you’ll want to be sure you check each of the following items off your list before every interview:

Recruiters receive tons (we’re talking hundreds) of applications every single day, so having the right skill set for a particular job may not be enough to get you noticed. Getting on their radar will greatly increase your chances of scoring an interview. Finding a great opportunity, customizing your resume and cover letter, and submitting your application are obviously essential pieces of the process. But don’t stop there.

Years ago, getting a degree was all one needed to be successful in life. All one had to do was graduate from university, get a ready job, and stay in that job until retirement. But all that is gone with what we like to term the ‘good old days’. Now, university graduates must constantly and strategically search for job opportunities and sell themselves to several employers before landing their first job after school.

Cynthia Sefakor Bakah is a Cement Laboratory Technician with Halliburton Ghana. She studied Petroleum Engineering at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and began her professional journey as a B2B Commercial Sales Representative with Shell (now Vivo Energy).

Finding and landing your first job after graduation is not the easiest thing to do. It will require some consistency and hard work over a period of time. However, the time it takes for you to go from wanting a job to getting hired is greatly determined by how you approach the job search. But before considering the more advanced tips for securing a job, it is important to have the basics covered.

We are happy to announce that Brighter Investment (BI) and the University of Professional Studies Accra (UPSA) have decided to work together on improving access to higher education in Ghana.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, many companies are implementing voluntary or mandatory work-from-home policies. This will mean that lots of individuals are trying to get used to working from home for the first time, full-time.

With outbreaks in more than 150 countries around the world, the coronavirus pandemic has moved beyond being just a public health crisis to an economic one as well. Businesses are closing down, individuals are losing their jobs and the prices of essential commodities are shooting up.

With many companies opting for remote work and many others laying off employees in the current wake of the Coronavirus pandemic, things may appear gloomy for the average job seeker. You may begin to wonder if sending out resumes and following up with hiring managers is the right thing to do.

Funded by a crowdfunding campaign for the first cohort, followed by Impact investors for subsequent years, we have been investing in the higher education of the brightest students since 2015. Gradually building a successful track record has convinced investors to make larger investments and has allowed us to grow our cohorts. The long term objective has always been to prove the model to institutional investors who have the capital to really scale it up. With Vancity as our first institutional investor we’ve made a large step forward towards that goal.

“There was no money for me to go to school, things were very difficult for me since my mum lost her job. She wasn't working as a trader anymore, but with that determination that inspires me every day, I told myself I have to get a way out.” - Watch this video about Jacinta Ayambire Awinemina, Brighter student.

Meet Belinda Kugblenu, our new colleague at Brighter Investment. Belinda will work closely with our CEO Thijs Mathot to provide existing and new investors with the best investment experience. Belinda will reach out to new investors, update existing investors, and share investment related news with the larger world. Two days into her job the office closed due to Covid-19 and Belinda has been working from her floral bedroom since. So for now you’ll hear from her through emails and by phone. But as soon as travel restrictions lift, you will meet her at conferences and events near you.

The unprecedented Covid-19 crisis means that our bright students may need a little more time to graduate due to prolonged school closures or take longer to find a job due to the resulting economic downturn. But one way or another, our bright students will find their way to success. Our scenario analyses presented in this post show that your investment will follow a similar trajectory: school closures and increased unemployment may delay distributions, but long term returns remain strong. This is the letter our CEO sent to all our investors last week.

Are you a smart finance/business graduate with impeccable communication skills? And are you interested in a high responsibility/impactful role at the Accra office of a Canadian for-profit with a mission to improve the lives of millions? Let’s talk...

Lucy Akua Kyerede Quainoo is a Global Goals Advocate and an Award-winning Consultant with over 17 years of experience in the Development Sector; specifically in the area of Management and International Business.

Are you a recent computer science graduate who is equally interested in the business impact of your projects as the technology behind it? Someone for whom simple and good sounds better than high-tech? Someone that can talk to developers about the latest technologies as well as talk to end users about functionality and requirements? And do you want your work to make a positive contribution to the world? If you’ve answered yes to all of these, we should talk...

Are you a successful fundraiser for a non-profit or social impact venture? And are you interested in a high responsibility/impactful role at a Vancouver based for-profit with a mission to improve the lives of millions? Let’s talk. Help us invest in the education of the most talented students in developing countries.

At Brighter Investment, we are on a mission to deliver the dreams of academically talented but financially handicapped Ghanaian students of a billion realities. We understand that there will be many bumps on the road to success. However, we are confident you have all it takes to overcome every obstacle and rise to great heights. Just like Farida, an amazing woman we are greatly inspired by, you are full of solutions for the world. By utilizing your super power of determination, we know that the world would be a much better place for everyone.

A resume will most likely be your first step into your dream company. While it can be tempting to have a one-fit-all resume, it would be best that you keep tweaking your resume to match each job you apply for. 

Below are a few tips to make your resume recruiter-ready;