Good day dear listeners and welcome again to overcoming temptations, My name is Oyisi Okatahi. Today our topic is titled Unemployed or Unemployable. To be unemployed means to be without a job or work, according to the National Bureau of Statistics the Nigeria unemployment rate is about 30%, some experts may argue it is more than that. However it shows that a good number of the population that are active and can work cannot find work. However are these people really unemployed or are they unemployable, to be unemployed means you are looking for a job and have the skills but do not have a job, however to be unemployable means you are looking for a job however you do not have the skills for that job. Many people are actually unemployable.
One thing we need to realize that no one or no true employer will give you a job to do you a favor. People give you a job because they have a problem and need someone to solve it. So your salary is a reward for solving a problem. Many times I discovered that when people say they are looking for a job, they are actually looking for free money. In some government organizations there are several people doing nothing and are getting paid, so this has become the concept for employment. People want a job that they do not have to do anything, or add any value, but want a salary at the end of the month. This is abuse, it eventually cripples any society.
Anyway my suggestion to you is to become employable, seek to add value in what you do and someday even if you are not currently employed, God will give you an opportunity and you will get employed. In Mathew 20 Jesus speaks of a parable of the Workers in a Vineyard, The landowner had been hiring laborers for his field for an agreed daily amount, some came in the morning others in the afternoon and others in the evening. In the evening he met some workers standing around and asked them why they had been waiting all day, and they said because no one had employed them, they were still waiting because they believed they would get a job. The landowner now told them to go and work in his vineyard. At the end of the day he paid all the laborers the same wages. Now this parable has several lessons but what I want to bring out is that those who were unemployed were skilled and only waiting for an opportunity and God in His mercies eventually provided that opportunity.
Many people have missed opportunity because they have no skill, now skill is not paper qualification. We seem to be obsessed with titles in Nigeria. Someone can address himself as High Chief, Professor Doctor, Bsc, MSc, MBA Phd, JP, MSS, PSC and so on. However does not have any skill, qualification should be a proof of skill, so if you have the qualification and don’t have the necessary skills the qualification is meaningless because qualification alone cannot solve the problem of the employer. Imagine you employ a cook and she says she has been to the best catering school in the country and you ask her to make rice and stew for you. And she says she does not know how to do it, neither can she cook any of the food you eat. You will fire her, because you cannot eat her qualification, you need her to be able to demonstrate value by cooking well.
So let us pursue skill and expertise in whatever we do, there are many problems in the word and money is the reward for solving problems. Mobile networks like Glo, MTN, Airtel and Etisalat make a lot of money, you don’t buy phone recharge card because you want to do them a favour. They have solved a problem for you and that is communication, so you are paying them for a solution. The better and cheaper their services the more patronage they have. Your skill may just be the ability to make people laugh, people have a need to be happy, so if you are a comedian, people will be willing to pay you to make them laugh. People have a need for companionship, so people are ready to spend and put effort to get married because it solves a problem in their life. So the idea is that try to be a problem solver and you will be sought after, your breakthrough will come someday, just be consistent at it.
Find something that you can develop skill in, everyone is important, there is dignity in labour. Without nurses, health attendants, cleaners, drivers and so on then Doctors cannot do everything by themselves in the hospital. Without instrumentalist and backup singers then musicians cannot bring out their best, So everyone has his or her place in adding value.
So be employable and desirable by virtue of your skill. Have a blessed day.
So in summary you can be unemployed but make sure you are not unemployable. Wish you a blessed day in Jesus name.
