Graduate unemployment in many African countries keep rising year in and year out. On a daily bases young people express their inability to secure good paying jobs after school. Many end up settling for menial jobs as a means of survivor just to keep body and soul together.
All over social media and individuals I know personally have expressed how what they find themselves doing now, has nothing to do with what they learned from school. In fact many business owners and hiring managers have stated how courses taught in universities make students unemployable for the job market.
The advocacy for industrial, telecommunication, business, Information Communication Technology (I.C.T) courses and others are on. But will it mean that until all (students) take and pass these courses we are good for nothing. The graduate unemployment rate must increase? Certainly not.
Even those who try to reduce the graduate unemployment rate by engaging in entrepreneur jobs also end up being frustrated to the core if you ask me. I tried registering a business recently and oh no, what an experience it was. The volume of documents to fill and submit, the processes to go through and the man-hours spent going back and forth is another story for another day.
Ghana’s employment rate as at 2018 was 4.16%, it declined to 4.12% in 2018 and 2019 again it increased to 4.53%. In recent years the situation has grown worst at least on the surface of things.
A young graduate recently took a bold step to venture into town holding a board with the inscription “Please I need a job”. After some hours according to him, he started receiving phone calls with offers.
Speaking in an interview on television, he added a lot of companies reached out to him. Oh! These companies suddenly created work after the young man took this bold move right?
When I stood there with my placard, some people laughed at me and others too sent words of encouragement that I’ll get the job. I stood there for about 1hour 30mins and I’ve received some calls after that.
— #HotCakeonGHOne (@GHOneTV) July 6, 2022
Topic: Graduate Unemployment #GHToday w/ @Serwaa_Amihere pic.twitter.com/uJCta2OaXs
Yes, your guess is as good as mine. There are jobs but I guess most recruiters or hiring managers are looking for “something” job seekers don’t have. I think its sad how we are treating each other as Ghanaians and Africans. Sometime ago it was the “who you know syndrome”. Today some young guys were insisting that it is now “who knows you”.
The issues of recruiting agencies and scammers is also an issues that needs a holistic approach to. I personally encountered scammers in my quest to secure work. You are asking if I didn’t do any background checks right? I did a thorough one but with these people you can never be too careful than to avoid them totally.
I think the world of work for the sake of graduate unemployment should have another look again. Human resources managers can allow room for training of would be employees to fit into what they are looking for as the curriculum in schools are being revised.
Again individuals who are due for retirement for some strange reasons refuse to embark on such. They either falsify their documents to keep them at post and refuse to create space for young vibrant ones to take over. Another practice experienced in most government institutions.
The system needs to make things relaxed yet still lawful for entrepreneurs. The bureaucracy, the alleged “kickbacks”, with the continuous preference of family and friends over the real competent workers should be done away with in the world of work.
I know you have heard the above several times but until we see how dangerous the culture we have created is for the future, we can only keep engaging those who take decisions. Have you paid attention to the crime rate increasing with many youth at the centre of it?
God help us all.