Topic: Nigerian graduate are not employable, is it true?

@bellafone1, I dont understand u. I one breathe, u said u agreed with this claim and in anoda, u said we are the best. Please be clear on which side u belong.
It is an insult to say Nigerian grads are not employable. Who ever said that or agrees with it is only looking for excuse to employ cheap labour, which is what employers are doing these days. Good communication skills, self-confidence etal are what u can get even from the average graduate, let alone real good ones. When most of them went to school, even with a Primary school cert, and without any experience, they got jobs. Now they want graduates to get work experience from the moon. Yea, some Nigerian graduates would luv to do volunteer work, just to get the needed experience, but how many employer (or NGOs) will give them the chance? True, some Nigerian grads (just as in the rest of the world) are not employable, but so generalize this is simply insulting.
Please they should stop insulting our collective intelligence. I know my worth, and I know so many other graduates who are very, very good. Let them tell us sometin else!

If they say nigerian graduates are unemployable, then it means they are studid abroad or something but if they are also nigerian graduates, then they must be crazy.
What they dont understand is that most of them are just lucky, many directors cannot even communicate very well, many of them got to the position becase of their financial status, I begin to wonder, what kind of a countryis this where the rich wants to dictate everything.
I met some people online that occupy big positions in companies and whe they speak english, u will begin to bow ur head so u wont be attacked by their grammatical blunders
God will just favour us sha

Originally Posted by bellefone1

An average Nig. lacks gud communicatn skils,self-confidence & most importantly experience which culd av bn gathered either as a volunteer or intern. Nig. grd. lack d ryt core values such as integrity,accountability,diligence,e.t.c. Nig. Grad ar nt trainabu.
Yeah,4 a truth, i bliv there ar a few that does nt fal in dis category,bt i bliv a whole lot blongs here.

@bellefone1, You attended a seminar themed Nigerian graduates are not employable, and you agree, trully i cannot agree with you more, did you actually read through your comment above and why can't you take time to write and spell correctly before posting, these are the little things that give us away, people on this forum should ensure they write well before posting, it's disgusting when people all the in name of 'this is just a forum' write appallingly and just don't bother with correcting their grammatical expressions, yes this discussion is all about Nigerian grads being employable but it all starts from the little things. As for this discussion, one big problem is the existing structure which is totally flawed. the foundation is shaky to start with, our education system is in a bad state, and as far as i'm concerned, this is about the most important aspect of an individual's growth and development, having said that Nigerians are very strong and talented and can adapt easily to whatever situation. What is still important is rebuilding our structure and creating an enabling environment to create a sound learning experience for Nigerians, without this, we will continue to struggle to move forward. My advice to all and sundry is develop yourself, find your spot and work as hard as you can to be a firstclass individual.

@ hanenabs.
Tanks 4 d corectn but i tink u ar takin it personal. Typo,gramatika & woteva kind of error u found on my postin culd either b intentional or as u said by mistake. The program is tagged employability program & d one u claimed. I posted dis topic so dat we culd hep develop ourselves. If u av problem wit it,am sory,i can't hep it. I beliv dis forum was created nt just 2 provid naija people an online job comunity,but 2 also hep equip ourselves wit usefu info. Fixin d blame or makin escuses wil hep d situatn,it wil only worsen it. I bliv,no matter ao gud u ar,there is always a rum 4 improvmnt. Lik u z,i tink d bst we can do 4 oursef is knowledge acquisitn & personal sef development. Once again,tanks 4 d korectn,afteral,no dirty water can perceiv it's owm odour.

D former CBN Governor(soludo)and others like Sam Egwu are also half baked human beings.they are all political animals that don't have human sympathy and understanding.My friends in abroad tells me dat Nigerians are smart and ahead academically.i strongly challenge those people dat believs dat nigeria graduates re half baked,2 sit down and think why does nigerian graduate performs better abroad and not at home?Soludo and co,lacks integrity and accountability which a leader should have.They nigerian leaders re also raw baked leaders when compared to their foreign counterparts. -soneyo the guru

Originally Posted by bellefone1

@ hanenabs.
Tanks 4 d corectn but i tink u ar takin it personal. Typo,gramatika & woteva kind of error u found on my postin culd either b intentional or as u said by mistake. The program is tagged employability program & d one u claimed. I posted dis topic so dat we culd hep develop ourselves. If u av problem wit it,am sory,i can't hep it. I beliv dis forum was created nt just 2 provid naija people an online job comunity,but 2 also hep equip ourselves wit usefu info. Fixin d blame or makin escuses wil hep d situatn,it wil only worsen it. I bliv,no matter ao gud u ar,there is always a rum 4 improvmnt. Lik u z,i tink d bst we can do 4 oursef is knowledge acquisitn & personal sef development. Once again,tanks 4 d korectn,afteral,no dirty water can perceiv it's owm odour.

My Dear Bellefone, i really am not taking anything personal, i just felt since you wanted to put a very good and strong argument before us, it should come across very well projected. I relate with this discussion very well and understand the challenges facing the typical Nigerian graduate especially in terms of developing a career and fitting into the society at large. I take exception to these soo called employers labelling Nigerian grads as 'unemployable' cos they are in advantaged positions to make indelible changes to the system but nothing much seems to be happening. I will really love to read your postings about the seminar to have a better understanding as to why they hold such views about the Nigerian Graduate. anyways take kia. i look forward to reading more from you.

Jibowu,thanks for the wonderful contribution.I was burning inside as i was going through the anger-provoking topic until i got 2 ur reply.U av spoken my mind.I just wish 2 add this;those tests administered by the so called employers are not only laughable but indicative of their lack of the so called basic skills.I attended a test where all of us regardless of our discipline were given accounting questions.Until i stood up and left the paper before my desperate colleagues joined the bandwagon.

Good topic for discussion i must say! my opinion is that MOST Nigerian graduates are NOT employable.. i say this from the perspective of an employer who has been in business for over 10 years in Nigeria and is constantly looking for able hands.. the issues are multi-faceted, most of these so called graduates have gone through a watery education process that they can hardly write a simple business letter, let alone a business report. As an employer, i have discovered that you have to start teaching a new recruit from the scratch, they come to the table with nothing and i mean nothing.. no communication skills, no inter personal skills, no self improvement drives.. I have also argued that there is no unemployment in Nigeria, because 95% of people out of work are not employable anyway- my first question in intrviews is always - "what position have you applied for in my company?" 90% either dont know or cant remember.... how can i give you a job when you dont even know what you want?

I bet the unemployed graduates on this forum will disagree but do a critical analysis of yourself, would you empley me if i were you? if the answer is YES, then you are probably one of the few employable ones.
keep trying, your time will come

@Joblots
Mr Joblots, do you really think that most nigerian graduates and new recruits had : nothing to offer, no communication skills, no inter personal skills and no self improvement drives ?
I disagree with your bias hypotesis.
Do you know how many Nigerian "fresh - graduates" are writing ICAN, CCNA, CCNP,OPC,NIM,MCSE,CISA, etc.So many has gotten their certifications long before they got employment.Infact, an average nigerian graduate his a class of his own.He went to school in an over crowded environment,no electricity in his classroom, he sat on the floor, and study hard to gain admission into university.At the university, he stood to listen to lectures,no accommondation,no fund for research, there is disequilibity in the academic calenda of Asuu.Yet he manages to strive when opportunity arise to travel out side her nation shore

Can you really tell the network of friends an average nigerian has base on inter personal relationship.Do you know how many young nigerian graduates are in "NAIJA HOT JOBS", Face Book,nigeriacareers.com,etc. Can you give an estimate of what NYSC has done to create interpersonal relation ship among our graduates ?Can you give a valid statistics of how many nigerian graduated that has been sacked in any structure organization based on "Inter Personal Skills" .

In your write - up,you wrote that most fresh graduates you have interviewed had " nothing to offer ". Hmm, May be your company is an unstructure one - man business that is still struggling to survive.Every organization that knows her onions will train her staffers whether he has experience or not.

I believe their is future for every Nigerian graduate,I believe tomorrow is bright and i believe as many that donot have jobs presently will soon smile with a profitable employment.
God bless all Nigerian graduates
God bless naijahot job
One luv
Jibowu

why whould they be employable when all they employed in their org. are their friends and relatives.No wonder they cant give us the best in the banking industry.Inshort, all their friends and relatives are unemployable.I can say it "ho ha" that Nigerian graduates are among the best in the world irrespective of the institution.Lets not allow all these destroyers of Labour to destroy our dreams.Lets keep the dreams alive,One day we will get there.

in response to Jibowu, i wont join issues with you on the structure of my business, i have made my analysis and comments based on my experience sitting on the other side of the interviewing desk. while it may be true that some are sitting ICAN, ACCA, ETC while in school, the truth still remain that this is only an insignificant portion of the job seeking graduates, i have conducted well over 200 interviews for my organisation and i have met probably less than 10% who has given me anything more than their certificates. Secondly, the discussion did not ask WHY there are unemployable graduates, thats why the introduction of ASUU, Classrooms etc to your argument is immaterial, i did mention though that the education system is totally watery, so i am not unaware of the environment that persists.
Having said that, i have read of criticisms of people giving job to their families, now this is not entirely bad in itself if the relative fits the bill and if the business model support such.It is unfortunate that this discussion is turning to WE vs THEM, from the arguments i have read above, i think the questions that people who are out of work for more than 1 yr should be asking is - what do employers want? because like it or not, the owner of the business will employ who he feels will help his business the most. I know there are good graduates there, i am lucky to have some working with me, but out of every 10 in interview, 80% just dont come anywhere near scratch.. take the thread of this discussion as an example (look at the topic and look at responses, how many of the respondents here can you employ based on the quality of their argument ?