Job centers a rip off!!

[Mathilda, Lusaka]

Dear Zambia, more and more job centers are mushrooming up all over Lusaka, the guys there are taking money from people looking for jobs, finally when they get a call of a job vacancy its usually rubbish jobs like working for 'amachoncholis' who over work people and pay them less money than the agents get from the job seekers. These agents are just adding more heartache to the already impoverished Zedians!

[Plofessor]

I'm sorry to hear that Matlidah,

But you gotta understand this world is more cut-throat than ever, and those agents you talk about are doing this just ease their own heartache, to escape their own impoverished lives. Not that I condone it.

Reminds me of the new trend in the realty sector where we have 'estate agents' charging K 50,000 viewing fee and the desperate people who actually pay these fees. I knew a girl who practically gave away K400,000 in 'house viewing' in one day. What's worse? Her monthly salary was ZMK 1 million.

My advice is to use word of mouth advertising (your friends, your family, your colleagues) to market yourself to prospective employers. A referral like that carries much more weight and can increase your chances of getting hired.

[Rogue Trader]

Mathilda

Any recruitment agency worth its salt will not charge you for their services. They get paid for introducing the right candidates and it is therefore against their interest to reduce the pool of qualified candidates by charging them (unless they don't have paying companies/employers on their books, in which you won't get anything from them). A couple of companies such as Mac Recruitment and Prosoft appear to be quite helpful. I don't know what industry you operate in, but as for mine, the bulge bracket companies tend to advertise on their websites and in the national press. Actually, one finds that the smaller companies (in my industry) are the ones that resort to recruitment agencies as they find it harder to attract the best candidates.

As Plofessor said, broaden your network and try to get referrals. Referrals are the most trusted means of finding employment. Get yourself out there and work hard to potray a positive image. Always be professional in your conduct and attain as much knowledge as possible about your industry.

All the best.