Students are graduating with the high hope that they will land their dream job right after completing their degree. But they don’t realise their dream, and reality is far from their reach. It is getting tougher and tougher to get a decent job which can pay them a decent salary. Most of them who look for a job have no experience or very little experience.
They expect a decent salary and they don’t think about what they can offer in return. They are not willing to work in the RMG sector or banks. They are very picky about jobs, but they don’t have the skills that the employers are looking for. There is a huge gap between employers’ needs and the skills fresh graduates can offer.
Students don’t pay much attention to gain experience during the university level. They are not very serious to get an internship. Their focus is to complete the degree and to get decent grades. They don’t realise that their future employer will require job experience besides decent grades. They are not willing to do an internship without remuneration, and they forget they will learn a lot from the organisation which will help them to get a job.
I still remember when I did my first internship in one of the top banks in the US. They didn’t pay me anything but at the end of my graduation they offered me a full-time job with a handsome salary. Even making photocopies and doing data entry can help students to learn about the corporate world. This way they can get exposure to the real world, which will help them to go the extra mile. This internship and real corporate experience could be a solid foundation for their career. These fresh graduates should focus on long-term gains and not worry about the short-term benefits.
Graduate and post-graduate students should pay attention to acquiring skills, especially soft skills. They have to find out what employers are looking for these days from fresh graduates and which skills will make them marketable for the future job market. Nowadays, good CGPA and extracurricular activities are not enough. Employers and experts in career planning in Bangladesh are recruiting fewer graduates than before. The average recruitment of graduates in the last one year dropped by about 25% compared to the past four years.
Also, last year’s political uncertainty, frequent shutdowns, political agitation, and local and foreign investment decision delays have seriously affected the Bangladeshi job market. And it might not get better any time soon. So keeping this in mind, the fresh graduates or soon-to-be graduates should get serious and pay attention to acquiring the skills which will attract the potential employers. In the current job market, employers are looking for fresh graduates with the following skills.
Communication and presentation skills: Employers want to see if an employee can communicate with others within and outside of the company, over phone, emails, or direct conversations. The language skills, especially English language skills are very important in this case.
Passion: Hiring managers want to know how much the candidate knows about the organisation and the industry. How much effort are they going to give when hired? How much commitment will they show for the company? How positive is their attitude?
Analytical and technical skills: How well are their critical thinking and analytical skills? How well can they solve problems on their own? Can they handle multi-tasking? What type of technical skills do they possess?
Work experience: This plays a major role in the hiring process. Employers like to know what kind of real work experience they have and for how long.
Ethics and values: It is important for an employer to find out if the potential employee’s values and ethics align with the company. Will his/her personality match well with the others who already work for the organisation?
Emotional intelligence: Are they aware of their own strengths and weaknesses? How motivated and confident are they about themselves?
Teamwork: Do they have experience working in a team and can they get along with the team? Do they have the sense of team belonging?
Extracurricular activities: Any social and club activities by the candidate inside and outside of the institution matter during recruitment.
Leadership skills: Do they have basic leadership skills or do they always follow orders? A good numbers of students with very good CGPA lack leadership skills and struggle to get a job.
The above qualities can make any candidate marketable to any employer. Local and multinational companies will love to have employees with these skills and will be willing to pay a good salary in return. In reality, some college and universities create the environment to teach these skills, but most students don’t reach out and grab these opportunities.
It is students’ responsibility to work hard to acquire these skills. They know what they are lacking and where they need to make the improvements. At present, the employers have the luxury to be picky because they can pick candidates from a bigger pool, and they are willing to pay good amount of money and benefits for a good candidate.
If we ask ourselves what type of employees we want in our organisation, we will answer that we want the best. On the other hand, because of globalisation, people are coming to Bangladesh from neighbouring countries to work here so our potential employees are competing with them too.
So I am going to urge all undergraduate and graduate students to improve their skills for the competitive job market. They should attend skills development workshops, follow the trend of the job market, learn about the employers’ requirements, and acquire the necessary skills. They should believe in themselves and believe that the sky is the limit.
