Advice to Unemployed Graduates
Stay in school, work hard, be the top student, go to University and get a good job. Do these things, and someday you will be successful.
It is really a big discouragement when you do all these things and still end up scrubbing soup containers at your local Mandazi kiosk or picking tea in your village farm for a minimum wage.
Thankfully, we are talented in different ways. Today, there are many entrepreneurs and business leaders who have proved that there is more to life than what the education system has always taught us.
In school, we were taught to avoid failure and that is why some of us stooped to nearly unspeakable levels just to “pass exams”.
We sneaked our phones to the exam room so that we could google the correct answers. Some of us invested in mwakenya; while a few others decided to spend the whole night before the exam cramming (otherwise known as trans-nighting).
The “creative ones” hacked into the school system and tried to change their results.
We did all these things just because we feared FAILURE… and that is why to-date we still continue to play hide and seek with failure at our workplaces, with our health and with our families.
One thing you will learn in entrepreneurship however, is that FAILURE is good. Failure is not an exit strategy but rather a learning opportunity. In fact a popular quote goes that “If you have never failed in life, then you have never tried something new.”
So forget about being a “Google-Perfect” person and immerse yourselves into the murky waters of life so that you can fail and learn a lesson or two from that.
It’s not about how many (A) grades you have in your transcript; it’s about what skills you have to offer.
“So Juma, if we give you this opportunity what will you bring to the table?”
That is the most frequent question you are going to get in real life – whether you are convincing an investor to fund your business or you are looking for a job.
Yes, getting good grades in school is quite important – but those A’s cannot take you so far if you don’t have the skill base to back them up.
Entrepreneurship teaches us that only those who are able to convert their knowledge into actionable ideas and concepts are recognized in the 21st century.
Irrespective of what grade you got in school, life gives you an opportunity to re-affirm your dominance in your niche. Keep loading up on new skills and keep moving forward.
There was always that one student in class who seemed to do everything right. He understood mathematics, was always in time for his lessons, had a good handwriting and never dozed off even when a boring teacher came in.
Because he was the perfect example of what a good student should be, he was constantly rewarded with free school trips, gifts, luncheons… and was even made the school captain.
Then the rest of us were urged to emulate his ways and strive for perfectionism.
Life however, teaches us that “perfectionism” is a potential detractor. In other words, if you keep waiting for the perfect business idea or the perfect time to launch your dreams, you might as well wait forever.
We live in a world that changes very fast, and as you sit down there waiting to perfect, you’ll be surprised to learn that someone else has already implemented the idea you thought was “not-so-perfect” and has taken your place in the market.
In other words, if you strive for perfectionism in real-life you’ll keep going back to the drawing board and you’ll never accomplish anything in life.
Your parents told you “Get a good job so that you can raise a family”.
Your teachers told you “Work hard so that you can join the best university.”
All these statements misrepresent life as being a destination rather than a journey.
The destination in this case is “the dream job” which as they suggest will help you fulfill all your basic needs in life.
However, as you will come to learn later in life, there is something more about life than just fulfilling your basic needs.
Life is a journey to be traveled, explored and experienced… so get moving, follow your weirdest dream and live it!
Also don’t forget to join our training on Online Writing Business.
We only have 5 days remaining.
Online writing has come as a blessing in disguise as it provides employment to most of the Kenyan unemployed youth.
About 50,000 graduates are churned out of public and private universities in Kenya every year piling into the number of unemployed youths in the country.
With a growing young population and the value attached to university education for a better life, most Kenyans join universities with an intention of getting an academic qualification that can land them a good job. The reality however, is quite different.
According to Kenya Bureau of Statistics, it takes a Kenyan university graduate an average of five years to secure a job in Kenya today.
After their study, most of the graduates move to the city where grass is deemed to be greener, before they are hit hard with the high rates of employment.
In the face of a weak economic growth, there has been a fervent call for university graduates to become entrepreneurs rather than seek employment.
By
Timothy Angwenyi
Business Consultant
Justine Nyachieo
Business Man & Mentor
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