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Life After National Service- Five Things You Can Do

It’s been one year of compulsory national service. This is where the real hassle begins. National service is a period which creates a platform for you to learn and develop practical skills in the world of work.

Life after national service can be a struggle especially if you live in a country like Ghana where unemployment is a huge problem; unless you have a fortune waiting for you. There are few opportunities in the job market and graduates in my opinion, are left with five options.

These are five of the options you can explore after your compulsory national service and their implications.

 

Job Search

Day in day out, graduates from universities nationwide flag companies in search of jobs. Some of them spend hours browsing job sites in search of available jobs. They send out tens and tens of CVs. Unfortunately, there is a mismatch between the number of available jobs, the number of graduates and the qualifications needed to take up the few available jobs.

One of the options available after national service is to join the tons of graduates already in the struggle to find jobs.

That said, finding a job is not far from your reach. The only danger is that it might take a while to get any job at all. Some people will advise you to take any job that comes your way, but that comes with two implications; you could be working without being passionate about your job, which could affect productivity, or you can work diligently and grow to love that job.

There are others who believe that you can accept any job at all and work until you find a job you are truly passionate about; this depends on you and your aspirations.

 

Become an Entrepreneur

Some of the world’s renowned entrepreneurs say entrepreneurship is not an easy road. Some young startups have similar sentiments. However, entrepreneurship can be truly rewarding.

There are opportunities for you out there to start a business about something you truly care about and make things happen.

One major hindrance that scars young people from starting their own business is that it is capital intensive. While this may be true, it will not hurt to start where you are. The internet provides so many opportunities for growth and you can acquire new skills just by learning from online tutorials.

Take a chance and start something, fight against all odds and you may be on your way to becoming successfully self-employed.

Be warned however, that there may be challenges and opposition from friends and family. You must learn to deal with that and be guided by your true passion.

 

Stay at Home

Painfully, this is an option too. You can decide to stay at home, throw a pity party and curse all your successful friends and family who are not helping you out while they can.

Point is, if you do not act, nothing will come to you. Nobody owes you anything, therefore you cannot blame somebody for not helping you out.

Do not be part of the people who whine about not finding a job and are doing absolutely nothing about it.

Even if you are home, you must be doing something which will potentially lead to a job.

 

Pursue Higher Education

Even though higher education can be expensive, you can pursue higher education if you can afford it. Even if you are not ready for a masters degree, you take up a training course in an area you are interested in or undertake skills training to acquire valuable skills.

As mentioned earlier, there is a mismatch between jobs, unemployed people, and the required skills, therefore you must seize every opportunity to upgrade yourself and position yourself to be competitive globally.

 

Other Things You Can Do

There are tons of other things you can do. Even though they may not earn you some cash, you can still acquire some experience by taking an internship or volunteer to serve. Some internships pay, but sadly, most of them don’t. However, building your experience and expanding your network are as important as finding a job.

You can also work towards a social cause. You can voluntarily teach children in your neighborhood or organize some exercises to make your society a better place, and by extension, your country.

 

Wheeww! Maybe you have cold feet, or you just don’t care, but the reality of trying to position yourself globally will catch up with you at some point. However, stay strong, work hard and be successful. Congratulations on ending your national service and best wishes!

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August 1, 2018

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