YOU ARE NOT UNEMPLOYED

To be unemployed means to be jobless, to not be in a paid employment, to not be in use.

So, are you unemployed?

The fact that you are not officially on the list of employees in a firm or organization does not make you unemployed. Even if you are not an entrepreneur in any form, you are still not unemployed.

Yes, the fact that you have something to do (you are not jobless) you are of value (in use) and can get a form of remuneration (be paid for what you do) means you are not unemployed.

You are unemployed and in fact unemployable if you are totally jobless, have no value that makes you useful and cannot be paid in return for certain products, services or value added.

So, are you unemployed?

The fact that you do not have the job of your dreams does not make you jobless; it just means there’s more work to be done to get that job.

This is actually supposed to make you look within and in being true to yourself, become better.

So, while you’re in that state of being labelled unemployed, there are certain things that you can take up to employ yourself so that you’ll be “employable” when the time comes. I’ll be succinct!

Read books:

You don’t know everything you need to know right now but you can if you commit yourself to reading. By the time you get employed, you’ll never have as much time on your hands as you do right now and even if you do, there’ll be more competition for that time. So read up and add up.

Learn the things you need to learn:

I bet you have a list of things you want to be able to do within a certain time frame. The time frame is now, you may (will is more appropriate) not be able to do so much learning especially outside the scope of your career once you get employed. Learn how to play a musical instrument or learn a language, it’ll keep you humble at the very least.

Volunteer:

You need a certain level of work experience to prepare you for your dream job or any job at all. This is the time to get the experience and YES, volunteering counts beyond paper work. Truth be told, you might not get paid in monetary terms but you’ll get more than money can give. Internships are also great opportunities to learn, go for it.

Soft skills:

What else do you have to offer beyond your academic qualifications, professional certifications and certificates? You’ll need more than that to be employable. Learn soft skills and if you have learnt them, it’s time to hone them. You want to be ready, don’t you?

Finally, be prepared always. Tomorrow might be the day.

© Ruth Nzere

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