This archive report was first published on 7 May 2020.
Published on May 7, 2020, a study by CPS International has shed light on the challenges faced by university graduates in securing employment.
According to the study, many graduates price themselves out of the job market by making demands that exceed what employers are willing to part with.
With a high youth unemployment rate in the country, lack of experience works against fresh graduates.
Some 84.8 percent of employers sampled prefer hiring people they will not spend much on training.
Paradoxically, students who acquire experience before graduating tend to have a higher premium to companies, making them less affordable.
“Graduates who are more affordable have [a] higher employability rate compared to those who are too expensive to recruit on the account of higher wage demands, high costs of on-job-training, poor perception of courses and low university rankings,” the report says.
While many take internships with companies and government agencies hoping to increase their chances of securing jobs, the study shows that only 26.1 percent of employers look for such graduates.
Top on the list of employers’ expectations alongside work experience are skills, hobbies, and talents.
Some 54.3 percent of employers also said the reputation and ranking of the university applicants attended has an effect on hiring.
