By SYCORAX TIYESA NDHLOVU –
It was Tuesday, April 1, 2014 at about 15:00 hours when I stood quietly with my arms folded to my chest. I had done much of my day’s work although I was not feeling well. Flu and a cough were my health challenges. I was breathless and uncomfortable with such a situation.
Without me noticing, Maria saw me and she asked: “What is the problem for you to fold your arms to your chest like that as if you are in sorrow?”
I looked at her in surprise. I didn’t expect her to be around. “Ooh, Maria. How are you?” I asked her before answering her question.
She said don’t fold your arms like that. You might threaten young ones with an impression that the affairs of the family are now dwindling to the lowest negative levels.
I told her that things were fine; except that I have flu and a cough which were bothering my normal health.
She said: “Ooh, it’s bad that you have flu and a cough. I am able to prove your ill-health situation from your hoarse voice.”
“But that is a small issue;” Marita continued. She said that coughing can be wiped out within hours if I took lemon and glycerine solution. Inquisitively, I asked: “What?”
She said I should take a lemon; and squeeze out some juice out of it.
Then, take few millilitres of glycerine from a bottle with a label of a black naked young lady on it; steer well; and drink it. She said if I can do that in the evenings and the following morning, I would be surprised that the cough would be gone.
“Did the medical doctor approve such a solution to human cough problems?” I asked her. She replied in the affirmative.
She asked me why I asked about a medical doctor approving what she advised me to take. I told her that I have a career to manage and develop. Therefore, I don’t want unnecessary risks to my life. I said that the amount of investment I have done so far in my life is like that of a person who is about to retire; and is avoiding making any mistake that would make him or her lose his or her retirement benefits. I told her that at every stage in life, one should be making investments. And time comes when one feels to harvest what one sowed for many years before.
Maria looked at me; and said: “You and your thinking.” Then, she walked away without looking back at me.
When Maria had gone, I started thinking about some of the issues affecting our labour market in preparation for this article.
Suddenly, my phone rang. Looking at the name of the caller, it was University of Zambia (UNZA) Ridgeway Campus lecturer, Daniel Changwe. When I answered the phone, Mr Changwe thanked me for the article headlined ‘Employers should treat job applicationts seriously’ which appeared in the Times of Zambia on March 29, 2014.
Mr Changwe, who is one of the lecturers in Diploma programmes in Finance and Accounting, said: “Mr Ndhlovu, we have a problem. The problem is poor co-ordination.
And because of that most people in human resource (HR) department just do anything to advertise vacant positions.”
I asked Mr Changwe what he meant by that.
He said what should be done to avoid too many applications for one vacant position is that requesting departments should be specific with what they want the job holder to be doing. They should state clearly the relevant paper qualifications and at what level which a job holder is supposed to have according to the job description of that vacant position.”
I wondered whether what Mr Changwe was explaining wasn’t what HR departments do whenever there was a vacant position to be advertised.
I told him that that sounds too elementary a solution to be ignored by almost all HR practitioners. But Mr Changwe said: “No! Not all HR practitioners and requesting departments in all organisations do that.” he said this is the main cause of having too many job applicants on a certain advertised vacant position.
Mr Changwe wondered why some employers put many different but related paper qualifications on a certain vacant position.
“Zambia now has more than enough qualified people in every field of study. Why put BA Economics, BA Business Administration, BA Development Studies and BA Accountancy on an Accounts-related vacant position?” Mr Changwe asked.
He explained further that the problem of one position like that of an accounting officer attracting even those with CIMA, ACCA, MBA, among others, is also a product of requesting departments not being clear to HR departments about the relevant levels of paper qualifications for the right candidate to fill the vacant position.
He said in the absence of specific qualifications on, say, Accounts, HR officers might guess and put any paper qualifications in that field of study, thereby attracting everyone with such qualifications in the field.
While Mr Changwe was using an example of an Accounting-related vacant position, such issues arise in many vacant positions which are advertised in the press.
And former education permanent secretary, Dr Sichalwe Kasanda in a separate interview with this author agreed with Mr Changwe; adding that the other causes of such a situation are high unemployment levels and the nature of our education system.
Dr Kasanda argued that our education system allows an army of graduates flooding the streets every year, leading to accumulation of unemployed people in the streets.
He said whenever a vacant position related to what one can do is advertised; one tries his or her luck by applying for such a vacant position to come out of joblessness, adding that this is because our education system only prepares someone to be employed in an office and nothing to do with entrepreneurship skills.
Dr Kasanda observed that most of the people doing tailoring, carpentry, bricklaying, mechanics, among others, feel that employers in formal jobs have rejected them.
He urged Zambians to move away from the blame syndrome and start looking for solutions to long standing challenges like high unemployment levels, noting that some Western countries have made strides in improving the lives of many citizens because they use other people’s mistakes to correct such mistakes before challenges escalate into a crisis.
Dr Kasanda urged various private and public institutions to research on challenging issues in society to arrive at sustainable solutions to such challenges.
Dr Kasanda also stated that in other developed countries, the challenge of experience before one is employed is taken care of at every stage of one’s education system where each institution one passes through provides a certain level of experience; and such a level of experience is passed on to another educational institution until when one reaches a certain level of education, one has some experience to talk about in that field.
But whatever the case may be, not being specific in what type of candidates an employer is looking for can worsen the increase in number of job applicants for a vacant position.
Therefore, reviewing our education system , creating educational institutions where pupils and students can be gaining relevant forms of experience at every stage and being specific in qualifications of relevant candidates to fill a certain vacant position would reduce the number of job applicants on each advertised vacant positions.
It is against this background that Mr Mulenga Nsosombi in Lusaka laments that each time he goes to the farm, he misses the Saturday Times of Zambia newspaper where he reads about issues affecting job creation and how that affects some people’s lives in this country.
Mr Nsosombi said each time he comes back from the farm, he makes sure that he looks for the Saturday and Sunday Times of Zambia newspapers to read articles on Let’s Talk Careers and Public Relations’ Forum respectively.
And Mr Stephen Yuka in Lusaka said he enjoys reading Let’s Talk Careers articles every Saturday in Times of Zambia. Like Mr Nsosombi, Mr Yuka, who is a UNZA Diploma in Infection, Prevention and Control (IPC) student at Ridgeway Campus, said each time he is out in the field over the weekend, he misses Let’s Talk Careers’ article. Mr Yuka said articles in this column open one’s eyes on issues relating to one’s career; and how best to handle one’s studies and job for a successful career development process.
Make your contributions to issues that affect careers in our Mother Zambia.
The author is a trainer and career coach.
Contact: Cell: 0976/0977 450151
E-mail: sycoraxtndhlovu@yahoo.co.uk