Are we the reason why we cant get jobs?

by Biodun Laaro

"Its not news today that university education; despite being a prerequisite, is not the basis upon which a job is secured, as we have seen cases of people who earned degrees in chemistry working in Banks and telecommunications industry."

With the duration of time spent at the university struggling to get a degree, it is assumed that the wealth of knowledge attained will be enough to secure a job in the professional industry. However with the rapid development that has met the changing society, the demand by prospective employees has shifted from basic knowledge to applicable skills.

It goes beyond being able to gain employment but the ability to sustain it; the trait that employers are on the search for.

The possession of “employability” is a matter of self development, a conscious effort to personally develop one’s self to stand proud in the labour market. In the face of competition, the odds of securing employment with either only a BSc or an Msc are very slim.

Existent today are countless training courses, diplomas, and  seminars most of which could be found free online thanks to the internet's ease of access, these resources are targeted at developing the knowledge and skill sets that an individual possess.

Its not news today that university education; despite being a prerequisite, is not the basis upon which a job is secured, as we have a case of people who earned degrees in chemistry working in Banks and the telecommunications industry. With whatever resource available at ones disposal it is important that knowledge acquisition and skill development be put on constant improvement.

It might just be that one little 2 week training that will secure that ground breaking employment.

The Human Resource department in a firm is saddled with the responsibility of getting the most qualified manpower to the benefit of the organization, and to achieve this they adopt a rigorous method of scrutiny set to expose individuals’ mental, emotional and tactical capabilities.

These skills aren’t exactly taught at tertiary institutions, but they are skills that can be imbibed through different means, and its necessity in life can’t be over emphasized.

The idea is that before and most likely after every interview you question yourself “if I were the employer, would I employ me?”

The issue of who to blame in the case of job availability and job security is quite impartial. 

There are obvious reasons to reassess the level of employability in the labour market today; refining skills, training and retraining might just provide the break-even between the job-seeker and the employer.