The Role of Nigerian Tertiary Institutions in Graduate Recruitment

The Role of Nigerian Tertiary Institutions in Graduate Recruitment

Most Nigerian graduates leave college with the mindset of securing high paying occupations dependent on the fact that they are preferred or connected to the proper people that will help them get employed in almost any high paying organization of the choice.

It needs to be noted that the economic position and the employment market in Nigeria will encourage this thinking, therefore most young people graduates in the tertiary institutions are ill-equipped.

In the light of the above mentioned, organizations recruit new graduates with the purpose of creating the skill sets of those individuals before eventually absorbing them into the mainstream roles in the business.

Graduate recruitment has become an uphill task, as thousands of applicants need to get tested to get a small number of great candidates fit for specific job/role.

The tertiary institutions that produced these graduates have not been able to match with the conventional output expedient in the current workplace. They've become centers for academic certifications acquisition instead of the training ground for knowledge and skills acquisition.

This explains employer's preference for global talent, hence the rush to research abroad. The British Embassy alone claimed to have received over 60,000student visa applications in 2007 from Nigerian students to research in the UK.

Incessant strikes, unstable and incoherent government education policies, lack of great facilities, interrupted and disjointed academic calendar, problems of funding, obsolete course materials and many other vices are part of the distractions that is affecting the tertiary institutions.

In light of the above, it's pertinent that modifications must come to the tertiary institutions to meet with international employment requirements. Tertiary institutions in Nigeria must offer career development services which include career counseling, job skill trainings, training and training, scholarship schemes, etc to be able to improve and develop the skill sets and interests of their pupils. This will help build the level of professionalism needed in the workplace.