For most students, graduation day is a symbol of the end of a long and tedious journey, and as well as the beginning of the careers they have been hoping to pursue during their years of study. Since some of those people lack experience in the field they have chosen, this is where they can begin their employment hunt.
In the third quarter of 2021, South Africa’s unemployment rate reached a new high of 34.9%; the majority of the unemployed were young people, and 1.2 million graduates were jobless during this time.
This comes after many sectors were hard-hit by the Covid-19 pandemic and some of these individuals only have a paper that they qualify to occupy space in their chosen career but the lack of experience gets in the way of them receiving employment opportunities.
Job vacancies for graduates without experience are published on online platforms such as SA Youth, Keep Up With Career Help on Twitter, Careers Portal, and also on official company websites.
If you don’t have access to the internet, you can use the computers at your local library for 45 minutes each day per person by just showing the librarian your library card. These days, there is WiFi available in public spaces like libraries and other places in residential areas.
Graduates who are actively looking for jobs online might benefit from platforms like SA Youth, which are data-free.
According to Strategy Director at Yellowwood, Ntombizamasala Hlophe, the mistake made by most people is that they look up to the private or the public sector rather than self-income, thus limiting their choices, even going into bottle-neck industries.
It is for this reason that Hlophe has highlighted that it is important that students are made aware of different streams that one can make use of to generate an income and job definitions.
SA Council for Graduates’ Thamsanqa Maqubela also indicated that prospective students ought to be mindful of entrepreneurial opportunities, and the ability to see such opportunities should be a skill that is honed at a young age.
It is for this reason that some experts have pointed out that adopting a problem-solving mindset will make the South African youth thrive in their respective industries and help resolve joblessness in graduates.
