Train Students On Job-hunting Skills

It is no secret that there is a widespread perception, right or wrong, that some Tanzanian graduates are being deliberately passed in favour of foreigners when it comes to job placements.

Part of the answer to the perception may lie in what the Government Communication Unit in the Public Service Recruitment Secretariat has said about graduates’ skills in the area of communication.

We have also heard of the fears that partly because of the above skill deficiencies, Tanzanians will not be able to fully exploit the opportunities being created by the ratification of free movement of labour in the East African Community partner states.

Riziki Abraham who heads the communication unit says despite having the required qualifications, most Tanzanian graduates fail to get jobs because their curriculum vitae are not written properly.

Worse still, the language skills of many of them leave a lot to be desired and contribute to many of them failing in interviews.

This is part of the problem facing many of our young graduates at the moment, for which they are not to blame.

They are not to blame because it will be remembered in past curricula grammar and writing skills were taught and practiced.

In the good old days, right from primary schools, pupils were taught letter writing, including how to apply for a job. This helped them a lot, for on leaving school they were able to write job applications to a number of offices or firms without much difficulty.

Indeed one of the toughest tests that boggled the minds of ‘graduates’, before completing primary school education in those days, was the oral interview.

For half an hour or so the pupil was grilled by a panel of teachers and tested in the art of answering questions for some minutes.

The teachers usually came from other schools. These tests infused confidence in the pupils in facing the outer world, instead of the familiar faces they were used to interacting with at their school on a daily basis.

Late as it is therefore the idea of equipping students with skills of writing job applications and CVs in higher learning institutions is more than welcome back. 

The problem needs to be urgently addressed because it is denying some of our graduates the opportunity to put to some use the knowledge they have gained.

We live in a world where possessing or lacking communication skills may actually seal the fate of someone who is otherwise highly knowledgeable.

The argument is that however much knowledge one may possess, without communication skills, that person will be at a disadvantage compared to a more eloquent, but less knowledgeable rival, in a race for the few jobs available.

Lest we forget language skills are a basic tool in the pursuit of any knowledge. It is at the elementary school that the building blocks of language skills are laid. It is at this level also that it is easy to start moulding pupils into skilled communicators.source the Guardian

Posted in: