Millions of graduates are sitting at home, unemployed, and seemingly, entering the job market for fresh graduates is not easy either.
Statistics SA, in a presentation to the Parliament’s portfolio employment and labour committee in November 2021, said that approximately 3.4 million out of 10.2 million young people aged 15 to 24 years were not in employment, education, or training.
The Eastern Cape accounts for the highest number of unemployed individuals with 53% followed by the Northern Cape at 50.3%, and Limpopo at 49.9%.
As years go by, we are witnessing the sad increase of unemployed graduates.
In 2016, Vaal University of Technology BTech Chemical Engineering graduate, Anthea Malwandle, took to the streets and stood on a busy intersection in Rosebank, Gauteng with a placard on her chest, looking for a job.
This is what Malwandle resorted to after multiple attempts of securing interviews at corporate companies. Five years later, things are still not looking good for South African graduates.
Tracy Ashington, graduate recruitment, talent management, and career coach said
Over the years, challenges that have faced graduates are pretty consistent - what businesses need and what businesses have in terms of young talent.
“My key advice is for young people to start to engage with corporate companies. So, you don’t have to wait till your final year,” said Ashington.
Learners in matric are also advised to approach corporate companies for mentorship, receiving guidance in relation to which universities to go to, application processes, and which courses are best to choose.
It will also be best if corporates would pay it forward by going to schools with the aim to mentor young ones, even if it means giving them a vacation job.
It is important that graduates don’t think of approaching these companies after they have completed their qualification and are looking for employment, and for corporates to reach out when in need of skill but rather it is important that such steps are taken earlier so that people are then equipped at a later stage in terms of providing their future employer with what they need.
It is a mutual relation, after all, benefiting both parties.
