EMPLOYABILITY

Abstract

The term employability has become a common name amongst educators, researchers, and employers. It
refers to the knowledge, skills, and abilities required to look for work and continue successfully in a
career. Employability has been a challenge for graduates of Nigerian higher education institutions (HEIs)
due to their failure to meet the current labour market expectations. Current Nigerian graduates have
consistently not acquired the skills needed for success in the workplace to learn and thrive continuously
in rapidly changing world. HEIs have been blamed for producing graduates who fail to meet employment
demands in the labour market. Several distortions in the higher education systems are responsible for
youth not being able to obtain and keep employment. Failures to collaborate are obvious as employers
continue to voice concern that the curriculum and standard teaching methods are not generating the
graduates and future leaders they desire to hire. Employers are more satisfied with graduates who
possess core skills, such as creative and critical thinking, interpersonal, and leadership’s skills, that will
help graduates to identify and analyse complex phenomena, evaluate and converge new ideas. Problem
solving, communication, and life-long learning are now the basic requirements to compete and be
successful. Collaboration and reflection will be a transformation of the relations between the students
and the teaching staff and students are required to make decisions about how to complete a task.
Future employers, institutions and students must collaborate to ensure graduates have the needed skills
for employability and success. Thus, the interactive session will focus on what should be the specific
innovations, programmes and approaches to improve the graduate employability in Nigeria.//Paper ID
27

Enterprise, Entrepreneurship and

Employability Skills
Employers are looking for more than just good qualifications. They are looking for skills which
show you can work in a team, plan and organise, make decisions, communicate clearly with
your colleagues, that you are committed, demonstrate initiative and enterprise, and that you
show commercial awareness. Put together, these skills are called 'soft skills' or 'employablity
skills'. You probably have many of these skills already. But they can be developed further as
you go about your home life, through any paid or charity work you do - and through the
experience you gain as you study. And even if your holiday or weekend work isn't related to
your future career, you can still develop skills that are essential for and transferable to most
jobs. The world of work is continually changing. And employers today are looking for graduates
who are enterprising, resourceful and adaptable and who, as well as their degree, possess a
range of skills which can be used in a number of different work contexts. So, in parallel with your
studies, you should aim to make sure you develop these 'employablity' skills.

THE SKILLS TO MAKE YOU SHINE

Written and verbal communication skills:

These are essential to life and employment. Working well and getting on with others helps achieve both
personal and work goals.?What do you think an effective communicator must be able to do? Jot down
some thoughts and compare them with our list.

 Listen and understand

 Speak clearly and directly

 Write to the needs of the audience

 Clarify and summarise when talking

 Help others define their problems

 Be able to effectively put across your message in a talk, speech or presentation

 Be aware of the effect of positive and negative body language

 Use numeracy effectively

 Gather, analyse and arrange data logically

 Persuade effectively

 Negotiate positively

 Empathise - understand how the other people might be feeling

 Be assertive

 Share information

 Read independently

INITIATIVE AND ENTERPRISE

Two words frequently mentioned by university and employers are enterprise and entrepreneurship,
says the CBI, the UK's top business lobbying organisation. An individual with these qualities can make a
significant difference to any business. Showing initiative requires you to develop the interest and
motivation to try something new. Enterprise skills involve seeing opportunities not obvious to others.

Jot down some thoughts on the skills needed to show you have initiative and enterprise and compare
them with our list. To demonstrate these skills, you need to:

Have a 'can do' attitude - even in demanding situations

Identify opportunities not obvious to others

Be creative with your ideas and have innovative solutions

Put these ideas into action

Take responsibility

Adapt to new situations

Have goals and a long-term vision - learn new skills

Leadership involves managing, coordinating and supervising, taking responsibility for people; directing,
organising and motivating them. Jot down some thoughts on the skills needed to be a leader and
compare them with our list.

A good leader is someone who is capable of:

 Setting objectives

 Organising and motivating others

 Taking the initiative

 Persevering

 Taking a positive attitude to frustration/failure

 Accepting responsibility for mistakes/wrong decisions

 Being flexible - prepared to adapt goals in the light of changing situations

 Adapting to new situations

 Developing a strategic, creative, long-term vision

 Identifying opportunities not obvious to others

 Translating ideas into action

 Initiating innovative solutions

Youth Employability and Entrepreneurship

With almost 200 million people between the ages of 15 and 24, Africa has the highest concentration of
young people in the world. Unemployment averages 30 percent across low-income countries in Africa,
and the majority of the unemployed are youth. Some of the challenges that young people in Africa face
include:

Lack of relevant curricula, leading to a mismatch between young people’s skills and market needs.

Variability in the quality of learning at educational institutions, including vocational training schools.

Lack of formal jobs, and difficulty starting and growing a business.

Lack of access to appropriate financial services, including capital and support for young entrepreneurs.

Regulatory and policy hurdles.

Our Youth Employability and Entrepreneurship initiative aims to equip young women and men with the
skills and knowledge they need to access jobs or grow businesses, access financial services, and expand
the economic opportunities that are available to them.