Desperate degreed people turn-up for nightclub job

Scores of graduates from various universities throughout the country and even abroad were part of over 300 jobseekers that turned up for #Hashtag Nightclub job interviews conducted in Bulawayo last week.The place was crawling with job seekers, who after years of joblessness, are prepared do anything.Unemployment in Zimbabwe is estimated at well over 80 percent, yet universities continue to churn out thousands of gradates every year.Industries in Bulawayo, once the country’s industrial capital, long shut their doors and young people either have to cross the border into South Africa or make do with menial jobs.The economic downturn coupled with currency instability, which followed the ouster of late former president Robert Mugabe, has made it impossible for industry to absorb graduates from universities and colleges.Some qualified nurses and teachers are jobless in a country where there is a shortage of both, particularly in public institutions as Government lacks budgetary capacity to absorb.

A spokesperson for #Hashtag Nightclub said she at first could not believe it when people with Masters Degrees interviewed to be considered as bartenders.

“There are guys that have studied hospitality and tourism at college – those we always come across. But when people that have Banking and Finance, and Economics degrees start applying to work in a nightclub, that is surely a bit shocking,” said the spokesperson.

She said except for the specialised areas like accountants, and engineers – bar jobs were about a person’s learned or inborn talents not what they have studied in school.“So, in the end as a prospective employer of these people you are left in a very tight spot. You end up not getting what you are really looking for because the real talents out there end up chickening out thinking they are underqualified.

“On the other hand you get largely useless degreed people who will not be able to cope with the demands of the job and sometimes because of that belief that they have an upper hand because of a superior formal education – they just end up not being able to perform.”

Previous and current ministers of education, both lower and higher, have been calling for certain “useless” degrees to be scrapped and adopt an education system that creates innovative and entrepreneurial graduates who do not have to depend on industry for jobs, but are inventive enough to create the much needed employment.

The level of unemployment in Zimbabwe has also been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, which saw many companies shutting down as Government implemented measures to control spread of the disease.A number of companies have either cut down on their staff complement or could not resume operations after Covid-19 health regulations were relaxed.

And just as the economy was beginning to open up – another lockdown threat is now on the horizon. Covid-19 cases have begun to increase again, causing a lot of apprehension among the populace and in the corridors of power.

Preparations by players in the tourism and entertainment sectors who are eyeing a perfect comeback during the festive season could be in jeopardy, plunging the economy back into the abyss. Nhau/Indaba