Staff writer - Latoya Wakefield
Recently my friends graduated from university, they all have their ‘big time’ educational certificate known as the degree. We were all told from the preliminary stages of school that education is the key to success hence we all aimed for the highest level of education we could get as the more educated you are, the more pay you’re entitled to. That was a big plus in our books.
However, many of us couldn’t make it to university as funds just weren’t available and either we decided we didn’t want a loan or we just couldn’t get one in time. Those who did this went straight in to the working world.
Now university students are on the hunt. Many of them haven’t found a job as yet and are deemed to be ‘overqualified’…very ironic indeed. After years of burning the midnight oil, stressing over exams, running down the lectures, cramming notes, reading too much so that at the end of it all, you can get a well paid job, you either can buyativan.org not find one or you just have too much education for the job. So is education really the key to success?
A friend once told me that being realistic is something that Jamaicans never quite conquered. I agree to a point. Yes, it’s true that jobs are hard to get even with having a degree. However, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t try to get that dream job and if society just can’t afford to let you have that job that makes you wake up early every morning without an alarm then you just have to create it. How can we be progressive if we do not broaden our horizons and think outside the box even ‘if times are hard’?
Job creation is the best way out for theCaribbean. We got to do our own thing, promote our own businesses, services and products. We got to promote ‘Be Caribbean, Sell Caribbean’ and I’m not talking about selling our land to foreign investors. We need to be advocators for our countries. Yes, the Caribbean has the potential to be on par with the likes of U.S.A,China,Japan, etc. We just need the innovation. The skills we can learn.
Clever job hunting...?
A friend of mine lost his job the other day and instead of being depressed about the loss of his means to a living, he sorted his own. He didn’t know how to do video editing but it was something he always wanted to do. He youtubed and googled away on video editing and now who thinks that he self taught himself?
There are many agencies that offer loans like the local banks, Small Business association, etc. So if you have an idea; put the concept on paper and start looking for organizations that can finance your idea. If not, you can always write companies asking for sponsorship. Do not give up until all your options have been explored.
If you do not want to go that route, you can continue looking for jobs in the Sunday and Wednesday Gleaner and constantly search sites such as splashjamaica.com, jobsinthecaribbean.net, advertise in the jobs wanted area in the classifieds. Add all the pages about jobs on the facebook. Networking, volunteering, doing the free programs…totally marketing yourself and soon you will get something.
To me, the sky is the limit and that’s one saying that will never just be a cliché. What’s your experience…?
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