Have you been wondering how to get a job without having prior work experience? As a young job seeker, you can relate with the chicken and egg problem; you need a job to get experience, but you also need experience to get a job, right?
I know that you can agree with me that the joy of going to school, spending all that time, money and pains to get a degree certificate, is to make something good out of it. Imagine the joy of finally being abIe to land a paid internship that could end up with an actual job offer.
Read on to discover how to get a paid internship with a potential job offer for young graduates.
The root cause of unemployment in Nigeria
The frail economic condition of Nigeria has greatly aided the worsening case of unemployment in the country. For example, latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows that the nation’s unemployment rate has risen from 27.1% to 33%. Even worse, that figure currently puts Nigeria as the second highest for unemployment on the global list.
Same data from NBS also confirms that 60% of Nigeria’s working age population is younger than 34 years. I guess that some of you reading this might fit this age description and will be desperately looking for a way out. I understand! We have all been there.
Internship: An attempt at solving the “no-experience-no-job” dilemma
Did you hear that a survey from the Ladder revealed that over 61% of entry level jobs require 3+ years of experience? This is why internships are the way forward for solving the no-experience-no-job challenge for young graduates.
However, the current system has been exploited by some companies in which interns are constantly assigned clerical tasks that do not add up to career-relevant experience for the interns.
In fact, there are lots of cases where unemployed graduates are asked to pay the hiring company for an “internship” opportunity only to end up without gaining any advantage to advance their career.
There are other instances where interns are not assigned to the tasks stated in their Job Description, rather, they are required to run errands such as buying food, making photocopies and doing other mundane and unproductive work. This certainly leaves the interns largely unproductive, with loads of free time to watch movies and do other distracting activities.
A more methodological approach to internship that works
Paid internship is the answer to getting internships that offer you the opportunity to get appropriate work experience and they also give you a higher chance of being offered a good job at the end of the internship. Don’t just take my word for it, look at these credible statistics below:
A study from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), shows that 60% of the time, college graduates undergoing paid internships often end up getting job offers. The same survey also confirms that the reason for the discrepancy in the results of young job seekers who passed through a paid internship versus those who did unpaid internships is that paid interns spend 42% of their time on tasks that give them more hands-on experience as opposed to doing mere clerical jobs. You can agree with me that the paid internship method works better: Interns are paid, the company gives them more productive tasks which help the interns gain real life work experience. As a result, the interns gain meaningful work experience, get mentored and employers end up seeing good reasons to retain them.
How to get paid internships: real work experience and a real job offer afterwards
As a young graduate with great potential and so much fire, we know that you have a strong desire to find a company where you can learn while doing meaningful work and get paid while working (that’s the icing on the cake!).
It is now clear that a paid internship is a better way to get a job with no experience. Paid internships will definitely offer the opportunity to:
- receive financial compensation
- gain valuable work experience
- develop and refine your skills
- try out a career transition (if you wish to)
- build professional network
Now, let us tell you about the internship programme that can provide you the above opportunities and more.
The Youth of Enterprise (YOE) Internship Programme is an internship programme designed by EnterpriseNGR Professional Advocacy Group Ltd/Gte to help young and ambitious Graduates land paid internships that could culminate into job offers. As an advocacy group focused on promoting the Financial and Professional Services Sector in Nigeria, we have designed this programme specifically to help young graduates solve the no-experience-no-job dilemma.
EnterpriseNGR does this by partnering with its members (leading organisations across various sectors of corporate Nigeria) to provide internship opportunities for young Nigerian graduates. Through the YOE Programme, interns will get job-readiness trainings (free of charge) to help them get hired after interning with their assigned companies; the interns will also be paid a monthly salary while they work and learn.
YOE Internship Programme also provides great growth opportunities for every stage of the career journey, from signing up for YOE, to taking the assessment tests and landing an internship placement at any of our leading organisations. The Programme is packed with insightful experiences that will prepare you for real life. Your career journey starts now! Go the entire stretch and build the life of your dreams with a #GreenStart from YOE.
We have opened the door of opportunity for your career, just sign up HERE to walk right into the YOE Internship Programme.
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