Graduated. With skills?
Companies are finding it hard to find suitable people to fill positions or decide to train recruits afresh.
According to data, the USA had 9.3 million unemployed people in 2014. They also had 4.3 million unfilled positions that couldn't suitable candidates. With the right skills, these positions could have been filled. The bias is more on academic achievements as opposed to growing skills.
The case in Germany is totally different. The Federal Government's programme called 'duales Ausbildungssystem' has kept unemployment at bay for decades. The German Vocational Education and Training System ensure that young people with minimum high school or graduate qualifications can be trained in a company while taking classes concurrently for a period of 3-4 years. The bias is more on the training where they get on-the-job industry skills; a working apprenticeship model that has ensured that a large percentage of those in the programme getting jobs after they finish it. It is no secret that the strength of German industry is pegged in this successful programme.
Here in Africa, apprenticeship is a model that was used in the traditional culture to pass down skills from one generation to another. This ensured that there was continuity and growth as newer generations could pass on their new learnings to the next ones.
The best successes in any endeavour has been achieved by meshing new ideas into well founded culture.
African economies are predominantly informal a case in point is the Jua Kali sector in Kenya. A combined apprenticeship - education studies approach could be the answer to ensuring unemployment is reduced but also bringing a free flow of ideas that will bring growth in the industry.
#growth #milearconsulting #training #employment #unemployment #dualesausbildung #skills #skillsmismatch #apprenticeship #vocationaltraining #recruiting


I had visited my barber and we started talking about a local alcoholic brew called 'Mùratina'. He told me that what is made now is not authentic; the original recipe was made by a select group of master brewers who handed the skills down to their sons and so on, from generation to generation. The son would be the father's apprentice for years, a practice that usually started with doing menial jobs around the 'brewery' before they even started learning the actual brewing. Unfortunately this doesn't happen anymore.
It was an interesting conversation that got me thinking. One issue that adds to growth of unemployment is skills mismatch. A huge number of graduates leave school with the right paperwork but without the right skills needed for the industries they are 'qualified' for.