Where are the Jobs?

THOSE who think that having series of certificates is a visa for getting a good job don't know what is happening nowadays.

In December 2008, I was assigned to do a feature on some of the achievements and challenges recorded by the Finance department during the course of the year. This programme was part of a traditional programme which the national broadcaster has been doing for so many years.

At one of the banks located on Kairaba Avenue ( which is undoubtedly Gambia's wall street) one senior official told me the dramatic changes that have been recorded in recent years. While my story angle was on institutional achievements, this man dragged me into his personal story. At some points, I got nervy because our news editor was crazy about adhering to the conventional style of reporters writing a three or five minute Tv feature. I attempted to stop my interviewee, but I could not help but take his sound bite: ' Personally, I think things have changed for me, I remember in those days it was easy to get a job even with bad 'O or A' levels but now things have changed.'

Armed with two diploma certificates, a first degree Plus an MBA, this man told me it took him close to two years before he could get employment. Students in high school are getting more and more ambitious about the prospects of seeking employment, unlike in the early 1970s, coming down to the 1990s it was unthinkable to see a high school graduate in The Gambia running for security or receptionist jobs. Nowadays, the situation has drastically changed, not only are high school graduates getting frustrated, some of them are not even thinking of going to university because its a waste of time.

Even with your first degree, chief executive officers or managing directors won't give you a job, because you are raw, untested, and as a matter of fact, you have to accumulate enough experience to be counted. Crazy world isn't it?

A new trend has also emerged, perhaps you already know about: some people are now going for multiple degree, say double master degrees, and a PhD. Despite all this, some of these people may never be employed, or even if they are absorbed into the system, some managing directors may not be comfortable working with 'sharp' intellectuals.

If you think that getting employment in The Gambia is getting more difficult and complicated, come with me to India. Post graduate journalism students are facing torrid times running up down for employment. Charu Ratnu who is in her early twenties told me that a number of media houses have turned her down when she applied for internship. 'Its a big problem for some of us, even if you don't have experience some media houses won't take you even if you have good results' said Charu.

Infact here in Delhi, a local newspaper recently published a story about an MBA graduate who took her own life when she failed to get a job. In the U.K and elsewhere in Europe a number of friends or former colleagues have written to me that they have lost their jobs.

It is not how much you know, or what you have, I suspect you need to be lucky and smart to get a good job. The other thing is that before leaving your job, think twice otherwise the job you are abandoning may soon be occupied by your own friend.

Even if the salary is bad, just hang on things may improve in the years to come, half a loaf of bread is better than none.