MEMO TO GRADUATES: JOBS ARE EARNED, NOT GIVEN

Recently, an image of a Nigerian female graduate displaying a placard with the message “I Need a Job”, went viral. I do not think there is anything wrong in such unconventional, creative even if weird, way of seeking employment.  She eventually got to meet the Vice President and the picture and details of the chat with the VP also went viral. That is good too.

In the resultant internet comments, some Nigerians  started throwing darts the way of the VP for not expressly offering the lady job. And this is where the problem is. The truth is,  the VP doesn’t owe it a duty to offer the I-Need-A-Job advert lady automatic job. This is my view and I will explain.

First, to be frank, I think we have too much sense of entitlement in this country. I often see statements like “I’m a graduate, yet I don’t have job”. As a career issues blogger, I get that question almost on weekly basis, and one of the first follow-up questions I ask is: Have you written any test? I get a reluctant “yes, but it wasn’t successful” from most of the questioners. Now, this usually untold part of the story is an issue. Why didn’t you do well in the test/interview?

Fact: the fact that you’re a graduate, even if you have a first class and all other qualifications in this world, doesn’t guarantee anyone job. You need to at least go through the assessment criteria of the prospective employer. If you don’t do well there, there is nothing anyone could do.

There is also the grade part, we all know the grades most good employers ask for, but when we don’t make them, our chance in that line is obviously impaired. The grade issue and whether it correlates to performance on the job is another debate, but that’s not the subject of this intervention. You know the rule beforehand.

As an aside, a good news: More organizations are now relaxing their 2.1 rule. Ernst and Young UK recently dropped theirs.

Another issue is family and friends. People tend to think anyone, any friend or family member, can just hand them job just because they work in that company. Most good companies have structured recruitment policies and the best anyone could do is help push the CV to get shortlisted for test/interview, provided they meets the basic requirements in the first place.

And I’m talking of structured, good companies, not one-man businesses or extremely politicized workplaces.

So, please, the fact that you’re a graduate doesn’t guarantee you automatic employment, you still have work to do by scaling the recruitment hurdles.

This doesn’t mean there are no ways you can legitimately help anyone in job finding. You can. Such acceptable ways include:

1, Recommendations
2, Availing the candidate with info that are not available in public space. Not all jobs are advertised.
3, Helping submit CVs in your company and within your network. Sometimes, CVs submitted by an internal person stand higher chance, as the internal person usually knows the right place to drop it.

I have played a role in at least 20 (qualified) people invited for job tests/interviews within my circle of influence in the last 8 years. About half eventually got the jobs because the recruiters were sufficiently convinced about their ability/qualifications/suitability based on independently conducted test/interviews. There was nothing I could do to help those who the recruiters were not convinced about.

But the mentality that one must get job for you is misplaced in my opinion.

No one hands someone automatic employment, except you’re the son of a certain Solomon Arase or Abubakar Atiku and the company is CBN.

In good, serious, structured organizations, employers are looking for people that can add value to their business. Being a graduate doesn’t automatically mean you have that value. You need to demonstrate you do.

While not having any issue with anyone exploring unconventional ways of job hunting (which I actually encourage), our graduates need reminding that no serious employer hands you job just because you’re a graduate. That is not sufficient.

***

Subscribe to JarusHub for more articles on careers

[subscribe2]