Nowadays, a lot of jobs are available for graduates to be employed and to earn a fair amount of income. However, it is believed that the youth is facing joblessness not because there is a lack of jobs out there, but because they do not have the right skills for the jobs they apply for. Here are 3 reasons why.

1)   Little or no focus on building and learning new skills

A lot of graduates focus too much on the academic and neglect building up on their authentic selves. They have been told from their parents to go to school, middle school and high school with the aim of reaching the highest grades : the famous A+. Teenagers are pressured into going to university or college right after they finish with their schooling, so as to have a tertiary education. Then on, they are compelled to look for full-time jobs with their degrees. This extreme focus on academic results and the lack of time and effort put into building the right skillsets they need to be employable is actually what denies the youth of a well-paid job by a potential employee.

2)         Modules need to be reviewed by universities

Gaps in formal education are also another reason for why the youth are not prepared for work. According to Fraser Nelson, students are “egged on by teachers (and government ministers) who say that a university degree is always worth it; perhaps true a generation ago, but not anymore” (The Telegraph, 2016). Universities have been charging a lot of money out of students, though they do not frequently review their syllabuses. Hence ‘useless’ modules are being taught to students year after year, with the growing lack of the necessary soft skills needed for these future graduates to kick start their careers. If universities partnered with companies and the government to change what’s being taught once every two years, and to instill important skills into future degree holders, the job market would not have been such an unnerving zone.

3)   Working experience is highly needed from graduates

More than academic results, experience is much needed in the workplace. Many graduates have never had a job before their university lives. Because employers look for past work experiences in students, the large majority of graduates keep waiting in the dark for this super important call to confirm if they got the job they applied for, or if they still need to go hunting. The Bureau of Labor Statistics report that in 2016, prior work experience was required for 47.8 percent of all jobs, while a bachelor’s degree was required in 17.5 percent of jobs. The necessity of working experience has outgrown the need for a degree, or a diploma during the last decade. If graduates want to have a full-time job right after their degree, they absolutely need to work on their soft skills by being on the lookout for job experiences.