This is exactly the same question I asked a new friend [Amaad] that I met on a weekend about three years ago during the Entusi Youth Summit many kilometers [ 485.8 km] away from home. It seems like a cliche because many people ask this question- parents, lecturers, government officials, relatives, even the priest.
The job market comes branded with many skills many of which are not taught at university or in college- skills that only experience can rival. Many of these skills are the very skills that many students ignore with little acknowledgement to the fact that these are the very skills that the job market requires.
The routine of a normal/mediocre university student can be summarised in a few words, lecture room — bedroom. It’s not entirely lack of opportunity that most students go to class and from class they go back to bed. A lot of time is wasted, zero work is done.
This kind of routine breeds laziness, mediocrity, poor time keeping skills, poor team work skills, procrastination and voluntary unemployment as much as it cements the comfort zone.
There are very many skills that are not taught in University or in class and many other skills that might be useful in the job market or work place that are also not taught in university. We must rule out the thought of the conclusivity of a degree or university.
Graduation doesn’t crown the end of learning but the beginning of a whole new learning phase. As a graduate, I implore you not to sit at home and wait for jobs to look for you but to add onto your knowledge bank- attend seminars, summits, learn a new language or something entirely new, get a few online certificates as opposed to watching porn, earn some extra money online.
Let’s face it, you are only unemployed because you want to be- sadly, you know it already.
Originally published on https://medium.com/@DavisKawalya