Head of recruitment at Jobberman Ghana, Michael Akwasi Gyimah, is calling for a re-engineering of the country’s educational curriculum to meet the job market needs of emerging industries.
According to him, the evolving needs of the economy is demanding and will continue to demand technology and creativity, hence the need for a re-focus of education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) which will be necessary for job security in the future.
“With the new and emerging industries in E-commerce, Financial Services, Oil and Gas, Agrobusiness, etc and the skill set being acquired, I believe as a country we must take cognizance of this and re-engineer our educational curriculum to meet these new demands”.
Michael Akwasi Gyimah
Quizzed on whether the students in the country’s tertiary institutions are prepared for the labour market, Mr. Gyimah said “It will not be fair to say NO because some organizations can still make good use of graduates from our universities”.
Job market trends
With regards to the job market trends, Jobberman’s head of recruitment highlighted that locally, there are more demands for business development and sales professionals for both product and services, digital marketing roles, graphic design, website developers, and office administration/management role.
Industry wise, Mr. Gyimah stated that the ICT sector still looks “more promising with the Sales and Marketing sectors also looking good”, in terms of future job demands.
The international labour market, according to him, seeks for data science experts, business intelligence, artificial intelligence experts, UX/UI designers, healthcare professionals, cyber security expert among others.
Most often than not, job seekers complain that all the vacant roles being advertised require 2 or more years of experience in related fields which majority do not have, especially fresh graduates. It is therefore, appropriate to find out whether every job demands experience or just acquiring knowledge guarantees a person of getting a job right after school.
Job requirements
The HR Expert said “most jobs demand hands-on experience which comes with consistent practice to create confidence and competency in new recruits”. However, Mr. Gyimah disclosed that some organizations make good use of fresh graduates but “most companies will trust their systems into experienced hands”.
From the recruitment point of view, “I will say skill set, experience, etc on a well-written CV and Cover letter” makes candidates stand out and more attractive to potential employers. Most people, especially employers, believe majority of fresh graduates are not adequately prepared for the job market, begging the question: At what point would you say graduates are adequately prepared and ready for work?
To Mr. Gyimah, “right after school”. Yet, he said, there are so many ways to get hands-on experience as a young graduate, including the need to take internship and volunteering opportunities. However, tertiary institutions also have a role to play as “I strongly think there is more to be done to bridge the gap between employability skills and what is taught in schools”.
Preparing graduates for the world of work
Touching on some strategies to help graduates prepare for the world of work, he said “have a plan to efficiently and effectively use the resources that you have to land your dream job. After school, there is enough ‘Time and Energy’ to study more on your career”.
In a nutshell, Mr. Gyimah urged tertiary students to gain more experience by learning the principles of their career and target the right hiring companies to create career networking and mentorship relationships. He also urged fresh graduates and jobseekers to “customize your resume and cover letter to suit the job advertisement”.
According to Mr. Gyimah, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the way businesses manage their human resources and has forced a lot of organizations to adapt to the new normal with regards to managing their workforce.
However, he stated that “as much as we are not expecting to revert to the old ways of doing things, there are still employers and customers who still prefer the traditional channels of deliveries, thus demanding companies to use the HYBRID or right MIX channel to keep everyone happy”.
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