By Morgen Makombo Sikwila
In every country, youth face the challenge of deciding on a career path and starting their professional lives, often while navigating a weak and constantly changing labor market.
Though having an education and in-demand skills are crucial components, youth need to know how their economy- on a local and national level is going and changing and how this influences the job landscape. They need to understand how the available career options relate to their own interests and talents. And they need to develop the soft and technical skills that employers seek, while gaining relevant experience for workplace. Effective career guidance services address these issues, helping youth to make confident, tailored and insightful career choices.
Changing career guidance to be more effective and relevant can significantly address youth unemployment by helping young people make informed decisions about their education and career paths. By focusing on practical skills, real-world experiences, and aligning guidance with industry needs, career services can empower young people to enter the workforce with greater confidence and success.
Youth employment and up-skilling is the pulse of economic growth in Africa South of the Sahara. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates that 30 percent of the youth in Africa are unemployed and according to the World Bank, Sub-Saharan Africa economies need to create 40 million jobs in the decade between 2025 and 2030 to meet employment demands.
That’s a tall order – but there are ways to turn this situation around. Career guidance is key. Effective career guidance can be the key to youth choosing to develop the skills or pursue the qualifications required to find employment. However, this is something which is remarkably lacking in the region. Disadvantaged youth don’t have access to role models or a strong institutional setting to give them the guidance they need. Academic institutions are not aligned with the private sector. Providing hands-on experience through industry-relevant programs allows young people to gain valuable skills and build connections. Helping young people develop portfolios that demonstrate their abilities and experience can help them stand out to employers.
Young women are often not inspired or encouraged to succeed in a technologically-driven world. This makes it difficult for youth to work out what to study in order to make themselves employable. In addition, the ministries of education and labour are not closely aligned when it comes to matching the demand for skills in the working world to what is being studied at school and university level. Studying the right thing is not prioritized.
Collaborating with businesses can ensure that career guidance reflects current job market needs and provides relevant training opportunities. Inviting employers to speak with students, offer internships and provide feedback, can help young people understand what employers are looking for. Connecting students with professionals in various fields can help them explore career options and build valuable relationships.
Many young people feel pressure to pursue a specific qualifications because of its associated prestige. There is certainly merit in attending university and obtaining a degree, but it is equally important that qualifications match up to industry demand. It is sometimes the case that there is more demand for people with vocational skills, who can immediately find themselves in satisfying and well-paid careers. It’s about choosing and having the means to acquire the right skills-set and access to proper career guidance.
A vocational career also lends itself to being an entrepreneur, which leads to future employment of others. Most youths overlook soft skills. When speaking about a skills shortage, the problem lies not only in a lack of 21st century technology skills, but the softer skills required to land and hold down a job. Often, where youth have the opportunity for education, they gain theoretical knowledge but lack the practical skills to add value and to the workplace. Offering training in in-demand areas, such as tech, data science, and soft skills (communication, teamwork), can improve employability.
A lot more needs to be done to develop students’ soft skills. Governments need to ensure that there is a growing ICT sector and knowledge economy to stimulate growth in job-rich sectors like manufacturing and services. The public sector must lead by creating a favourable regulatory environment for investment in ICT and new technology. Just having access to the internet can change a young person’s life through online learning resources and platforms with which to start businesses or develop an ideas.
Mobile phones are already ubiquitous across the world, but youth must be encouraged to use them for productive activities. Government policies and relevant processes that favour ICT will have a significant impact in countries such as Zimbabwe.
These issues are easier to address than one might think. Along with the public sector working on its ICT policies, private sector companies, have the power to provide greater career guidance and skills development, and communicate with the education ministry to ensure there’s an accurate reflection of the job market. Providing personalized guidance to help young people identify their interests, strengths, and career goals is crucial.
By combining resources, companies can make a bigger impact on growing the entire talent pool through integration of different skills programmes across sectors and disciplines, providing mentorship and online assessments.
In fact, the old formula of state-led, labour intensive job creation is becoming more and more obsolete with not enough resources to create a sufficient number of jobs. Simultaneously, with rapid developments in the IT sector, the way we work globally is changing, which has the potential to sweep Sub-Saharan Africa emerging markets moving forward.
Utilizing online platforms to provide information about career paths, job openings, and educational resources can make it easier for young people to find support. Ensuring that young people have access to accurate and comprehensive information about the job market can help them make informed decisions. Ensuring that career guidance services are adequately funded and staffed to provide effective support is essential.
These developments affect the workforce as they open up direct job opportunities, but beyond this they are a means of opening up opportunities for business process outsourcing, and for people to gain skills and knowledge online and through virtual mentorships.
Microsoft’s Employability Platform, an online employment hub in countries such as South Africa, Kenya, Ghana and the Middle East region, can also be of help to Zimbabwe youth. The portal provides relevant courses to develop professional skills, connects youth to career opportunities via a job search function as well as expands skills by connecting job-seekers to professional youth mentors.
Given the nature of Microsoft’s Employmeyability Platform as an online-based, portable, adaptable and transferable platform, it is no surprise that it can place millions youth across Africa in well-paying, satisfying careers.
Higher youth employment in Sub-Saharan Africa can be a reality. It is initiatives like this, tapping into the world of ICT, that the region requires to up skill its youth and find new avenues of employment.
Making sure that career guidance services are accessible and engaging for all students, regardless of their background or circumstances, is important. Encouraging young people to start their own businesses can create job opportunities and empower them to take control of their futures. By implementing these changes, career guidance can play a crucial role in addressing youth unemployment and helping young people navigate the challenges of the labor market.
If we can combine this with empowering young job seekers and entrepreneurs with career guidance and relevant skills needed for today’s workplace and entrepreneurial environment, we may just have an enormous and real potential to make a very real impact on creating employment in the region.
Morgen Makombo Sikwila
MSc Peace and Governance
BSc Counselling
Diploma in Environmental Health
Certificate in Marketing Management
Phone Number 0772823282 email address: *morgensikwilam@gmail.com
