Ferdinand N. Kamati
Self-leadership and empowerment are significant milestones in life for building the human capital that allows young people to circumvent poverty. The human capital formed by youth is a fundamental factor of long-term development that a country can invest in. Therefore, ensuring that youths are well-prepared for their future is immensely momentous to poverty alleviation and economic development. The upsurge in the number of youth in secondary and tertiary education is a positive development. Nevertheless, the labour market in Namibia is presently unable
to absorb the expanding pool of graduates.
Due to a decrease in employment opportunities and the escalation in the
number of unemployed young people, many
are forced to enter the informal sector of retailers, while others found themselves in transgression with laws. After graduation, young people supposedly join the pool of economically active groups, but are oppressed by the monster called unemployment. By 2022, the population of unemployed graduates in Namibia stood at 84 000 people ,and is projected to double by the year 2027. The reality is that the Namibian economy is too small to absorb this large number of graduates. Furthermore, there is no vibrant manufacturing sector which can absorb unemployed youth in Namibia.
Gone are the days the myth that says “if
you have a university degree, you have a job” was true. It takes the average university
graduate months, if not years, to secure employment after graduation. While
graduates want to secure a job immediately after graduation to earn an income, they sometimes face unemployment challenges.
Unemployment is detrimental to the
individual because it leads to financial
difficulties and frustration. If graduates do not have the skills and experiences needed by employers, they are unlikely to secure a job. University education plays a critical role in training future leaders, based on societal demands. However, after completing a university education, graduates expect to find a paid job comparable to their qualifications. But the fear of unemployment demotivates the graduate in the journey of a job search. Thus, graduates find themselves in a difficult decision-making process influenced by diverse external environmental factors such as individual perspectives and employable skills and abilities. In this aspect, university students are required to be more careful in planning and preparing for life after graduation to lessen the risk of unemployment in future.
Nonetheless, those who are more determined have more opportunities to find jobs, while those who are hopeless will struggle to survive in the job market. The gap between graduates’ developed skills and experiences and practical job requirements can prolong the journey for a job search. Securing a job depends not only on their academic performance, but also on their determination. Moreover, motivation levels, commitment and positivism also play a certain role in whether an applicant is employed. In addition, the skills and experiences gained through the university curriculum are sometimes not satisfactory for entry-level positions. Sometimes, education is limited to the general level, which does not provide the specific skills needed to be employed. Also, the course content that the university provides does not match the practical needs of society, and those differences contribute to unemployment. In this aspect,
the work experience or practical skills of graduates are important for employment. In other words, the market requires sufficiently knowledgeable, skilled and experienced individuals.
Therefore, post-graduation, one needs to apply self-leadership to navigate a challenging journey of job search. Self-leadership is the act of influencing your thoughts and actions to align your goals and objectives which ultimately lead you towards achieving your personal and professional aspirations. As an unemployed graduate, you need to have self-mastery and be perseverant to swim through complex uncertainties and ambiguous environments. You need a change of mindset, self-awareness, confidence and self-efficacy to attain personal goals. You should possess the ability to lead yourself to achieve your personal and professional goals and objectives. Establish a good understanding of who you are, where you want to go, and what you can accomplish, and have the ability to control your emotions and behaviours in a way that guides you towards success. To secure employment immediately after graduation, you should opt to work as a volunteer at a work comparable to your qualifications to accumulate skills and experience which will enable you to secure a job. Volunteering will help you to gain and demonstrate self-awareness, emotional intelligence, mindfulness, empathy, social intelligence and learning agility. This requires constant individual influence, set self-direction and self-motivation to enable you to find the desired job. You need to take cognisance that individual self-determined behaviour, attitudes and beliefs all affect your success as well as life satisfaction. An individual who possesses strong self-leadership can regulate their thoughts and behaviours, and set appropriate goals and select actions and thoughts to attain those goals. As you pursue the journey of “Job Search”, you need to influence your own happiness and life satisfaction by focusing on the enjoyable aspects, constructive thinking and optimistic thinking. Self-leadership helps one to cope with difficulties, even if an activity is difficult to do. Post-graduation, you need to possess self-leadership to manage and develop your energy to initiate, improve and sustain your motivational level to continue trying till you secure a desired job. Everything from how you wake up and conduct your daily routine depends on self-leadership. Empowerment is not enough to make you succeed, so self-leadership is what makes it work. Empowerment can’t exist, won’t work solely, and is meaningless without self-leadership. So, to succeed in life, you need to possess the ability, energy and determination to push ahead, despite the severe challenges one faces in the journey of “Job Search”. You need to take responsibility for your success, search for what you need, and stop blaming the system and circumstances for unfavourable
conditions. Remember, self-leadership is the only key, nothing more, nothing less.
* Ferdinand N. Kamati is a Ph.D scholar. His research interest is educational leadership and management. Reach him at ferdinandkamati@yahoo.com