Graduation season is upon us! It truly warms my heart up to see young folk going out there and uplifting their lives through education.
But as much as it is a great achievement to finally put that diploma, degree or masters to bed, the reality one has to face is the scarcity of jobs at this point in time within our borders.
A substantial number of young people complete their studies, but have to deal with the harsh reality of spending weeks, months and sometimes even years, without employment, as their qualifications gather dust.
For most, the varsity experience isn’t always a pleasant one, and you would hope that once you complete your studies the storm will clear up, nope!
It has now gotten to a point where one has to stand at traffic lights with a board and a stack of cv’s selling them while begging for a job.
Desperate times, right?
A while back we saw the hashtag ‘Hire a Graduate’, trend on our feeds, where young people took to the streets draped in their academic regalia, wielding placards with various messages and the qualifications that they possess in a march to create awareness over the frustrations of unemployment.
Now, I don’t blame these graduates, it is kind of frustrating to apply for job after job and hardly get any call backs or response, when you do get a response it’s the same old, “we regret to inform you that your application was unsuccessful”.
Going through this for months on end, the mental anguish and disappointment, if you aren’t strong-willed, could easily break you down.
Some graduates, due to desperation have turned to bribery to secure jobs because corruption and nepotism run rampant in SA, others resort to crime and transactional relationships as a means to survive and get by.
Applying for a job these days, means waking up on a daily basis to stand at a traffic light to beg for a job and distribute your cv. Sad, really sad…
