JOB HUNTING; THE HURDLE.

For most young people within the country, unemployment has become the bane in their lives. The sole aim of education as the key to employment and job creation has only become a mirage. This is the sad reality of our times.

In the wake of this new reality, some unscrupulous people have taken advantage of this and are using it to their selfish advantage. These days, the worse kinds of crimes are being committed in our formal institutions within the corridors of the so-called legitimate businesses by the so-called honourable people.

A visit to several institutions both private and public would reveal that bribery and corruption is now the requisite skill required by applicants in the pursuit and securing of jobs. On the panels usually set up for various job interviews, a number of applicants have been asked shamelessly to pay bribes to these panelists to secure their chances of gaining employment and in some cases, to gain employment. Some unfortunate applicants upon payment of these bribes, however, fail; they fall victims to various scams!

This problem is most visible in the oil and gas industry today, in our beloved country.

Within the last couple of months also, several training programmes have commenced to provide training for people in the oil and gas sector. With all the tales surrounding the lucrative nature of the oil and gas sector, several people naturally apply for these short-term and supposedly job-oriented training. The problem is that, most of these agencies have no accreditation and are operating on their own. These institutions or people usually charge huge sums of money as fees in lieu of the training and promise their customers of possible employment in the oil and gas sector to no avail. This is the new form of fraud currently being perpetrated within the country.

A lot of recruitment agencies have also sprung up to serve as agents for the unemployed and in search for jobs. In return, these agencies demand percentages from the salaries of their clients, usually over a period of time. The truth is that, these percentages are usually rather on the higher side. As expected, some recruitment agencies have liaised with some companies who provide them with information on vacancies. Subsequently, these agencies in return pay some percentages to their internal sources within the various companies who provide them with the information on the vacancies. Consequently, the ordinary and innocent applicant who ventures into any of these companies without the services of any recruitment agency does so at his or her own loss. They would be told of no vacancy although a vacancy exists!

Another issue of grave concern and especially linked to various job advertisements is the issue of experience. A critical examination of some job advertisements in our news papers and quite recently on the internet indicates that for most companies, persons without any working experience or for others, persons with experience less than two years, five years, and even ten years have nothing good to offer. Most companies these days request for people with experiences that span three years and above. What becomes of the beginner? Do our young people these days not deserve any chance?

As for the female job seeker, the story is different. A date for a job! These days in Ghana, the males cannot be left out considering how fast things have changed. A lot of young female graduates and diplomats fall victim to unscrupulous employers, usually to no avail.

Is there any hope at all for the jobless? Job searching in Ghana today has become a herculean task! Those who fail to consider themselves as potential Hercules’ have in the end resorted to all kinds of means to an end. Is it them surprising to encounter several robbery cases, and even prostitution with the resulting accompaniments? Can we therefore blame them completely?

In various institutions both public and private, there are several individuals who have reached retirement and are yet reluctant or unwilling to vacate their positions. Ultimately, the relatively younger generations who are in need and in search of employment are unable to find any since there are no vacancies. How then do parents expect their children to gain any employment when they fail to vacate their posts at their various jobs upon reaching retirement? This is the basic law of Karma.

On our streets, electronic media, and even on our individual lips, people constantly scream about corruption and how much this is affecting us as a nation. We easily blacklist and even shortlist various institutions, agents, and agencies that could be labeled as corrupt. As expected, politicians are always the ones usually rated as such. The truth however is that, we are all guilty of this very sin!

Currently in Ghana, a lot of people cannot find jobs as a result of several factors. Among these include ethnicity and tribalism, gender, appearance, social status, religion, political affiliations, nepotism and favouritism, among others. One way or the other, we are all guilty of one of these. Let us look beyond these inhibiting and limiting factors, factors we have personally created, and give more appreciation to quality; examine what a person can actually offer rather than looks and other unnecessary considerations.

Let us learn to help one another unconditionally! This is our nation. A nation’s pride lies primarily in her human resources. Let us encourage the youth to take possession of their destiny; the destiny of our nation. We need to empower our youth to be pro-active and responsible. For some people, the first step of being responsible stems from the activities assigned them at work. May God have mercy on us all!