boay: Hello Nairalanders

Some human resources managers and other pundits in related fields have been peddling the idea of 'unemployability' to save and help Nigerian graduates.

One of them once said during a lecture that 'the problem of nigerian graduates is not the prevalence of unemployment that has pervaded the country's economy, but unemployability'

Inasmuch as it is crystal clear that unemployment is prevalent in our country, we should not give this as an exclusive excuse. It is important for us to focus on what we can change id est 'employability'. We can only complain about the high rate of unemployment, only our leader can change the staus quo.

So my question is how can a graduate be an employeable one?

With my 23 years of experience across administrative cadres of an audit firm, two law firms, a medical concern and a conglomerate where i spent my last 15 years before retiring in August 2012 at the age of 39, I have found so many things wrong with Nigerian graduates and why the best employers dont go for them. The standard of education has fallen to the extent where graduates commit hell of mistakes in basic communication. Why this is prevalent is that the Nigerian graduate dont read books beyond their texts. I once asked an interviewee graduate what was his prospect working for our organisation. He replied" I will do my best to perform well on the job"Tautology.He met his Waterloo with that answer. You can hardly see a Nigerian graduate reading a motivational book, watching an educative television program like Donald Trumps apprentice, or even attending a seminar for the sake of it. Some are simply arrogant and have no regards for bureaucracy because their qualifications has made them crazy. They are thinking of a job that can provide the good things of life for them. So easy to make a lot of money.We dont pick it on trees.A Nigerian graduate hates pressure. They cant work in the most difficult environment. They know little of Customer relations management. Most graduates of Business administration cant even write a sales pitch or business plan. They argue that they were not taught these things in school. Even if they are not,they dont reason that such little things matter on the way up. Most of them lack initiative and dont have future plans until the reality sets in.

I am now an entrepreneur.

I believe they should simply change their approach to life and get into the information age as fast as they can. That is a chip of the iceberg for you undergraduates and graduates reading this. Cheers.

nicety: Wait, y did dis make f.p??

because it deserves 2

Eluala: I have attempted to address this issue at several for a, either while speaking to a small group of people or with individuals. I quite appreciate the numerous challenges the average Nigerian student must encounter in order to become a 'graduate'. W

thanks

donigspain: Fortifying oneself with the required soft and technical skills needed for an employment.
End of Discussion!!!
Next >>>>>>>>

can you please expatiate?

Why wont Nigerian graduates possess low skills and termed unemployable. Nigerian students pass through the worst form of training with lack of basic teaching and learning facilities, how do you expect a graduate that passed through decayed tertiary institution with illiterate lecturers, poor curriculum to be highly qualified for a job. Infact Nigerian students are the most hardworking when compared to their peers worldwide. If the standard of education in a country is poor and feeble, what do you expect as the end result?
My assertion is if our standard of education is equivalent as what we get in the developed world, i firmly believe we will standout tall any where we find our selves.

rhames:

Wonderful! I have absorbed that.

All comments are noted. Thanks

It's not true that graduates are unemployable
There are stages to graduates have to go through but the profit seeking employers are not willing to contribute their quota in Training and development.....

The attitude of posts 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and others like them is part of the problem.
Our educational system is poor-at least the public schools. Every Nigerian should endeavour to develop themselves by STUDYING-especially those in public schools (you can't just resign yourself to fate). You are only as good as what you KNOW. Study any and every subject; no knowledge is ever lost-you are only better off for it.

make una go acquire skills

@emzybrown,hahahahaha take it easy haba,your post is so funny infact am still laughing till now.

donigspain: Fortifying oneself with the required soft and technical skills needed for an employment.
End of Discussion!!!
Next >>>>>>>>

My brother, if i tell you i've not learnt valuable lessons on this nairaland since i joined it, then i would be an ingrate.. a big one for that matter. See, as an undergraduate, i've made myself to stand far wide different from other job applicants when it's time to hunt for job and with God's grace, i shall find a job and a lucrative one for that matter without much stress. Am equipping myself with the necessary skills and trainings that will make no firm say 'NO' to my cv when i submit it. Building a robust cv is the answer. That's what am doing! It's not about the certificate, it's abt what special skills you can render to the firm u apply to.

#Fact

Pasca07: @emzybrown,hahahahaha take it easy haba,your post is so funny infact am still laughing till now.

How is my post funny, bro abeg forget matter for Mattias, we are wasting our time schooling in naija, i bet you when you experience foreign education in developed countries, you don't need a pundit to tell you there is educational decadence in Nigeria.

Olubodef: I knw dat i wil gt dere 1day.... 3rd 2 comment

KIDS

The majority of Nigerian graduates are unemployable. Fact.

Here are some reasons why:

1. Many cannot spell (just check out some of the pathetic spellings on Nairaland. Many times I want to weep when I see a person spell 'things' as 'tinz' or 'because' as 'becux').
2. Most lack soft skills (presentation, communication, IT skills, customer service). In short, they are in need of a LOT of refinement.

This is the PRIMARY reason why they are unemployable. I blame the above partly on the educational system, but also partly on the nature of the upbringing that many receive these days. Parents no longer encourage their children to read novels, watch educational programmes, take part in initiatives that give them exposure.

The way out is for graduates to invest time / resources In learning and self development. Take advantage of the free educational resources on the internet - read professional blogs / articles frequently, take up IT training courses (that focus on Microsoft Office Packages and any other software relevant to your profession) as well as industry-specific training courses, and if possible, work voluntarily for an established organisation, and learn a few things about how to thrive in the corporate world.

RedBenson:

My brother, if i tell you i've not learnt valuable lessons on this nairaland since i joined it, then i would be an ingrate.. a big one for that matter. See, as an undergraduate, i've made myself to stand far wide different from other job applicants when it's time to hunt for job and with God's grace, i shall find a job and a lucrative one for that matter without much stress. Am equipping myself with the necessary skills and trainings that will make no firm say 'NO' to my cv when i submit it. Building a robust cv is the answer. That's what am doing! It's not about the certificate, it's abt what special skills you can render to the firm u apply to.

#Fact

Exactly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Even if it entails one working as a volunteer just to get the skills et experience. That is what our graduates do not understand. I did a volunteer work for WHO while serving and need I tell you it did gave my CV a new glamour.

donigspain: Exactly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Even if it entails one working as a volunteer just to get the skills et experience. That is what our graduates do not understand. I did a volunteer work for WHO while serving and need I tell you it did gave my CV a new glamour.

Well said!!!

Eluala: I have attempted to address this issue at several fora, either while speaking to a small group of people or with individuals. I quite appreciate the numerous challenges the average Nigerian student must encounter in order to become a 'graduate'. We can go on and enumerate all the good reasons why we end up not being as good as we should be post graduation and honestly, we could succeed at justifying same.

But the key reason why a lot of people do not have jobs is not necessarily because there are few employment opportunities, but rather because we have a severe dearth of top quality talents, who are fit for the positions we seek to resource.

The key challenge is that our graduates are not good enough. As trivial as it may sound, the basic qualities an employer would like to see in a potential future hire are lacking. For instance, how do you cope with a graduate who can barely construct a sentence in English without fundamental grammatical errors, either verbally or in a written form.

The attitude is equally very poor, devoid of any inner sense of desire to achieve, cannot go the extra mile either to acquire knowledge or to get things done. There is too much focus on 'making money 'without laying the right foundation. Decision making and thought process are very shallow or completely lacking. Our graduates are too impatient to think things through and make use of available data in a sound manner to make good judgments. Asking some of our graduates to even attempt to provide novel solutions requiring some level of abstraction is asking for too much.

My dear you must understand that becoming a graduate is just the first step. You need to constantly improve yourself and be versatile to enable you convince an employer that you are 'job fit' otherwise getting that 'dream job' may end up being a mirage. There are so many other factors to consider example market forces. You must know that people don't just look for who they will give jobs. Businesses hire 'human resources' to enable them deliver a niche service to the market. So basically it is the market that determines what products and services they prefer and what they are willing to pay for them. Correspondingly, businesses emerge to fill the gap and in the process equally goes to the market to seek for the talents and resources that will enable them remain in that business and if possible be the leader. So you need to ask yourself the question: Do I have a skill that the market is ready to pay premium for?

The market is not just interested in paying for certificates but for skill. Trust me if you are good enough and you have 'sellable' skills, the market will find you and surely they will buy you. But you must demonstrate that you are better than the average candidate because in the final analysis, it is a competition or if you will, a game and only the best emerges as winner. I 'll stop for now.

K

How will they learn when they are taught in environments not good for standardize poultry? At that level of education people still don't understand that basic amenities could be plausible. They still don't understand that clean water could be easily available 24/7 and that electricity should not for any reason go off except in a state emergency like war and natural disasters. Yet they are learning.

What are they learning?

ayusco85: Because nigerian graduates arent smart. They cram and make good grades, but in the long run they arent smart, and they only think within the box.


Lastly, they are very lazy.

This is the summary!

Eluala: I have attempted to address this issue at several fora, either while speaking to a small group of people or with individuals. I quite appreciate the numerous challenges the average Nigerian student must encounter in order to become a 'graduate'. We can go on and enumerate all the good reasons why we end up not being as good as we should be post graduation and honestly, we could succeed at justifying same.

But the key reason why a lot of people do not have jobs is not necessarily because there are few employment opportunities, but rather because we have a severe dearth of top quality talents, who are fit for the positions we seek to resource.

The key challenge is that our graduates are not good enough. As trivial as it may sound, the basic qualities an employer would like to see in a potential future hire are lacking. For instance, how do you cope with a graduate who can barely construct a sentence in English without fundamental grammatical errors, either verbally or in a written form.

The attitude is equally very poor, devoid of any inner sense of desire to achieve, cannot go the extra mile either to acquire knowledge or to get things done. There is too much focus on 'making money 'without laying the right foundation. Decision making and thought process are very shallow or completely lacking. Our graduates are too impatient to think things through and make use of available data in a sound manner to make good judgments. Asking some of our graduates to even attempt to provide novel solutions requiring some level of abstraction is asking for too much.

My dear you must understand that becoming a graduate is just the first step. You need to constantly improve yourself and be versatile to enable you convince an employer that you are 'job fit' otherwise getting that 'dream job' may end up being a mirage. There are so many other factors to consider example market forces. You must know that people don't just look for who they will give jobs. Businesses hire 'human resources' to enable them deliver a niche service to the market. So basically it is the market that determines what products and services they prefer and what they are willing to pay for them. Correspondingly, businesses emerge to fill the gap and in the process equally goes to the market to seek for the talents and resources that will enable them remain in that business and if possible be the leader. So you need to ask yourself the question: Do I have a skill that the market is ready to pay premium for?

The market is not just interested in paying for certificates but for skill. Trust me if you are good enough and you have 'sellable' skills, the market will find you and surely they will buy you. But you must demonstrate that you are better than the average candidate because in the final analysis, it is a competition or if you will, a game and only the best emerges as winner. I 'll stop for now.

A more explicit point!

rhames:
The standard of education has fallen to the extent where graduates commit hell of mistakes in basic communication. Why this is prevalent is that the Nigerian graduate dont read books beyond their texts. I once asked an interviewee graduate what was his prospect working for our organisation. He replied" I will do my best to perform well on the job"Tautology.He met his Waterloo with that answer. You can hardly see a Nigerian graduate reading a motivational book, watching an educative television program like Donald Trumps apprentice, or even attending a seminar for the sake of it. Some are simply arrogant and have no regards for bureaucracy because their qualifications has made them crazy. They are thinking of a job that can provide the good things of life for them. So easy to make a lot of money.We dont pick it on trees.A Nigerian graduate hates pressure. They cant work in the most difficult environment. They know little of Customer relations management. Most graduates of Business administration cant even write a sales pitch or business plan. They argue that they were not taught these things in school. Even if they are not,they dont reason that such little things matter on the way up. Most of them lack initiative and dont have future plans until the reality sets in.

I am now an entrepreneur.

I believe they should simply change their approach to life and get into the information age as fast as they can. That is a chip of the iceberg for you undergraduates and graduates reading this. Cheers.

Another Cogent point! Thanks

To be employable in Nigeria;
-You must put GOD first
-You must understand the Nigerian market
-You must be very ready to work hard
-You must be ready for insults
-Humility, Hardwork, discipline, loyalty, passion and focus is required
-You must have listened to a couple of GEJ's speech -LOL

I rest my case for now

//

A girl who just graduated from one of the universities in Nigeria asked me to buy a "list watch" for her.

When she did not hear from me for some days, she asked "why do you weekend me like this?"

I simply gave up!

//

i dont need your money..I spam now and cash out...let d goverment do as they like and u keep find finding work of 40k up and down......

InvertedHammer:
//

A girl who just graduated from one of the universities in Nigeria asked me to buy a "list watch" for her.

When she did not hear from me for some days, she asked "why do you weekend me like this?"

I simply gave up!

//

Lmao!....you got me bro!..."list watch"...I'm thinking is some kind of list of companies about to hire! Where on earth can she pass an interview for any job? This is the quality of so many graduates....unemployable.

rhames:


With my 23 years of experience across administrative cadres of an audit firm, two law firms, a medical concern and a conglomerate where i spent my last 15 years before retiring in August 2012 at the age of 39, I have found so many things wrong with Nigerian graduates and why the best employers dont go for them. The standard of education has fallen to the extent where graduates commit hell of mistakes in basic communication. Why this is prevalent is that the Nigerian graduate dont read books beyond their texts. I once asked an interviewee graduate what was his prospect working for our organisation. He replied" I will do my best to perform well on the job"Tautology.He met his Waterloo with that answer. You can hardly see a Nigerian graduate reading a motivational book, watching an educative television program like Donald Trumps apprentice, or even attending a seminar for the sake of it. Some are simply arrogant and have no regards for bureaucracy because their qualifications has made them crazy. They are thinking of a job that can provide the good things of life for them. So easy to make a lot of money.We dont pick it on trees.A Nigerian graduate hates pressure. They cant work in the most difficult environment. They know little of Customer relations management. Most graduates of Business administration cant even write a sales pitch or business plan. They argue that they were not taught these things in school. Even if they are not,they dont reason that such little things matter on the way up. Most of them lack initiative and dont have future plans until the reality sets in.

I am now an entrepreneur.

I believe they should simply change their approach to life and get into the information age as fast as they can. That is a chip of the iceberg for you undergraduates and graduates reading this. Cheers.

Sharaap ,entreprenur my foot,everyone is claiming entrepreneur .stupidd rice and beans entrepreneur
.The problem with Nigerian Graduate is not that they are unemployable ,but because the companies have not been fined for not employing them.When the govt starts

Na God dey give job.

with high rate of coruption in Nigeria, my take is for you to register in my New Party Called...OFYOF (Operation Find Your Own Food)

Its just so sickling to hear such demoralising remarks about nigerian graduates. These same persons(just so fortunate to be what they are now) are the ones who victimize undergraduates in class. I remember a lecturer already apportioned percentages to the supposed outcome of a course he was teaching for the first time, saying: "only 5% will av A in this course 10% B , 20% C others will carry the course" and believe me it was exactly so. Did they ever ask Why is it that if a Nigerian undergraduate gets an oppurtunity to school abroad in a better learning environment makes the best grade & break records? Really Nigerian graduate have suffered.
My two kobos for Nigerian graduate is empower yourself in a little way you can & you will make it as time goes on.
Peace