Getting job after university is a nightmare
Oct 26, 2006
UNIVERSITY students usually get big dreams in their final year; a good job, a big house, a nice car, beautiful wife and healthy children.<br>But that is before facing reality and the hurdles of finding employment.
Francis Baryevuga
UNIVERSITY students usually get big dreams in their final year; a good job, a big house, a nice car, beautiful wife and healthy children.
But that is before facing reality and the hurdles of finding employment.
For those from poor families, our kin look at us with a lot of expectations as soon as we graduate. They think we are the bridge to deliver them from poverty. They only end as a disappointed lot!
One year down the road, only a few graduates from my class of over 100 students have been lucky to get jobs. The rest of us are jobless and this is not because we have not tried hard enough. We have been to every place where we see some activity going on.
What is more disturbing is that every advertisement asks for experience of two years and above. One wonders where we are expected to get experience when we have not been given the slightest opportunity to work. This is not because we got poor grades. Most of us are brilliant and obtained good classes of degrees. How I wish we could be given the chance to shine.
For strange reasons most companies or potential employers are not even willing to give us opportunity to do unpaid internship. I believe this would be the cheapest and most effective method of identifying talented people from fresh graduates. It is only companies like KPMG, Ernst & Young and Pricewaterhouse Coopers that seem to subscribe to this school of thought. I wish other companies such as MTN, UTL, Celtel, Shell and UBL could borrow a leaf from the above companies.
Granted, there are fewer jobs compared to the number of graduates being churned out from the various institutions but even the few jobs go to undeserving individuals because of nepotism and corruption. Gone are the days when people were employed on the basis of qualifications. Today, what matters is “technical know who.â€
Recently Makerere University held its latest graduation ceremony but very few jobs await the big number of graduates passed out that day.
And there are over 10 other universities that held or will hold graduation ceremonies this year. I wish those who throw big graduation parties could use the money to start businesses and save themselves the gruelling ordeal of job hunting.
The writer is an unemployed
graduate of Bachelor of Science in Accounting & Finance of Makerere University
UNIVERSITY students usually get big dreams in their final year; a good job, a big house, a nice car, beautiful wife and healthy children.
But that is before facing reality and the hurdles of finding employment.
For those from poor families, our kin look at us with a lot of expectations as soon as we graduate. They think we are the bridge to deliver them from poverty. They only end as a disappointed lot!
One year down the road, only a few graduates from my class of over 100 students have been lucky to get jobs. The rest of us are jobless and this is not because we have not tried hard enough. We have been to every place where we see some activity going on.
What is more disturbing is that every advertisement asks for experience of two years and above. One wonders where we are expected to get experience when we have not been given the slightest opportunity to work. This is not because we got poor grades. Most of us are brilliant and obtained good classes of degrees. How I wish we could be given the chance to shine.
For strange reasons most companies or potential employers are not even willing to give us opportunity to do unpaid internship. I believe this would be the cheapest and most effective method of identifying talented people from fresh graduates. It is only companies like KPMG, Ernst & Young and Pricewaterhouse Coopers that seem to subscribe to this school of thought. I wish other companies such as MTN, UTL, Celtel, Shell and UBL could borrow a leaf from the above companies.
Granted, there are fewer jobs compared to the number of graduates being churned out from the various institutions but even the few jobs go to undeserving individuals because of nepotism and corruption. Gone are the days when people were employed on the basis of qualifications. Today, what matters is “technical know who.â€
Recently Makerere University held its latest graduation ceremony but very few jobs await the big number of graduates passed out that day.
And there are over 10 other universities that held or will hold graduation ceremonies this year. I wish those who throw big graduation parties could use the money to start businesses and save themselves the gruelling ordeal of job hunting.
The writer is an unemployed
graduate of Bachelor of Science in Accounting & Finance of Makerere University