Experience – An inhibitor of the Nigerian graduate

The rate of unemployment in the country is appalling; graduates are churned out year after year like cash crops with no ready market. There have been endless calls for the Government to create more jobs and empower the youths - a justified and worthy call. However I have chosen to view this bane from a different perspective.

 Week in week out there are hundreds of job adverts in our dailies and on the internet but the contents of these vacancies bother me and therefore form the crux of my discussion. While I am not in any way suggesting that there are enough jobs to go round, I am amazed at the restriction of fresh entrance into the workforce of the nation.  The available jobs are more accessible to people who have on- going jobs and are looking for a company or career switch.

These days experience is required for every job; companies shy away from training and are more inclined to employing experienced workers who had been trained by other companies, even graduate jobs now require experience. This is distasteful considering the fact that whatever experience a person has was learnt on the job; a confirmation that at some point the individual was a green horn. This phenomenon has created a scenario of job rotation - experienced workers change companies like clothing while fresh graduates wait mostly in futility.

The most annoying part of this poorly written script is that these jobs (particularly entry level) that are branded for experienced hands would easily be mastered with proper tutelage and a willingness to learn - given an ability to comprehend and implement.

I am certain that if companies adopt the policy of recruiting at the base and commit to training rather than demanding experienced hands to perpetuate jobs that better fit fresh graduates, a sizeable chunk of unemployed graduates will be off the streets.