By Neelam Rahim

Many young adults seek employment and do not know where to start or what process to follow. Any experience is better than no experience.

Radio Islam International is joined by organisational psychologist and career coach Phiona Martin.

In an interesting Instagram post, Phiona shared fascinating insight in that regard.

According to Phiona, one of the challenges, particularly for people coming out of tertiary, is that they lack experience, making them unmarketable or having a lesser appeal to employers.

She says as a student or even while you are studying there are certain things which can be done. Strongly encouraged is getting involved in campus activities.

Take on a formal role, whether on the committee of a particular society. During school breaks or on holiday, do internships and job shadows. Those are valuable as it is found that the ability to get a job is significantly increased when one graduate with the ability to build skills in any area located is going to enhance the ability to gain a career, she added.

The interview process can be daunting. You are often thrown a curve ball you don’t know how to answer.

Phiona tells Radio Islam that interviews are very tricky not only for early career professionals but even experienced professionals because the pressure is answering questions sometimes not anticipated.

She says her top tips for an interview include encouraging people to look at qualities from the outlined job description and prepare to speak around those.

All the questions that cannot be predicted will be asked in an interview. Even with the best preparation, there will still be half or, if not more or fewer questions that are not anticipated. She added that the principle in practice is speaking about oneself competitively and compellingly.

Meanwhile, the idea is not to panic but to show yourself in the best light.

We also see that mental issues are severe.

According to Phiona, you have perhaps been diagnosed with anxiety or depression or need to take time out because of a potential nervous breakdown. Legally you are not obliged to disclose that sensitive personal information.

She advises people that the precursor to disclose something means you must have safety. She added that if companies have not created that safety for you to inform and know that you’re not going to get backlash, then it is unnecessary.