Ever since Anthea Malwandle started the trend in 2016, we saw more and more graduates asking for jobs at the robots and on social media.
The problem is that in 2022 it's a laughing matter, and if you ever do such, you will be displaying a lack of awareness of the time we're living in. See the screenshot below which I took on Twitter of a graduate who wanted a job having had a BSc in Soil Science. Who ever knew this would be a laughing matter?
Living in South Africa in 2022, do you know what time it is?
It's time to work for yourself
South Africa has been one of the countries where formal sector employment opportunities have been shrinking quite significantly over many years, resulting in a rather bleak economic and development outlook, especially for young adults. With the reduction in formal sector employment opportunities, a certain vibrancy in the informal sector (self employment and entrepreneurship) has been evident.
Many have demonstrated remarkable ingenuity and creativity, resulting in them surpassing what might have been, had they gained employment in the formal sector. Lekau Sehoana is an example.
It's been coming for 100 years
Let us look at the u-shaped graph below. For the past 100 years the educational system worked to perfection because as more and more people got educated (INTENSITY OF COMPETITION), people’s lives improved – more jobs, wealth, etc (INCENTIVES OF EDUCATION).
Somewhere in the year 2000 this started to change. Can you guess what caused the change? It is the internet – the availability of information. We are starting to see a sharp decline in the incentives of education (few jobs, more poverty, etc) although more and more people are educated. In other words, the opposite is happening as more and more people get educated. This is a result of the formal sector shrinking and the informal sector gaining traction. In other words, people are “doing it themselves” - they are finding and exploiting opportunities.
Entrepreneurship - identifying a gap in the market or the need for a more effective and efficient product or service that may not be new.
What is a job? What is work?
I am convinced that this is one of the most misunderstood concepts. When I heard it for the first time I was astounded by and amazed at the misunderstanding and the terrible misapprehension I had.
Work
The original meaning of the word “work” (ergon in Hebrew) is:
“A deed or action that carries out and completes an inner desire (intension or purpose)”
Finding your gift enables you to search and find this inner desire (work). This is why people who are gifted in a specific area don’t need to be given work to do; they just find it. Naturally they find areas to improve and proceed to do the work necessary.
So, can we say that finding your gift is key and the first step to pursuing entrepreneurship? Yes. Here is how to find your gift.
Another interesting description of this word was given by Dr Myles Munroe as:
“The original meaning of the word work means:
To become,
To manifest,
To fulfil,
To reveal,
To become yourself.”
To put this into context: If I plant an apple seed, it will reveal its intended purpose and become what it was created to be through self-manifestation, and fulfil its purpose of becoming an apple tree.
Job
A job is simply something you wouldn't do if you weren't paid.
Did you know: A job only exists due to someone discovering their gift and working on it. In essence, someone discovered their gift and refined it to the point of success where they ended up needing another hand to help them and offered to pay money for the help - hence employment.
Did you also know: A job exists due to someone finding a solution to a problem. By and large, someone discovered a problem and with their gift proceeded to solve it, which required the acquisition of labour to help - hence employment.
Jobs offer us the opportunity to develop ourselves. They allow us to interact with people, develop good interaction and communication skills and give us the necessary patience to be under submission. In my opinion, jobs are only placeholders for entrepreneurship and self employment. They allow us time to discover and refine our gift while receiving an income to keep us going. If your work is your daily job then you are well set because you are going to do something every day that feeds your gift. Very few people experience this.
70% of people hate their jobs
I have figured out that more and more people are stuck in careers they hate and are working in jobs they despise – the only reason for going to the job is for the sake of self-sustenance. After all, this is the definition of a job: something that you wouldn’t do if you did not receive money. This, I believe, is rotting the core of all our systems. We are not choosing careers based on our gifts and natural inclinations, but based on “what career can give me more money” (I know I did). The pathology of this is, for example, having nurses who aren’t really caregivers at heart, teachers who not really educators and law enforcers who do not want to guard and protect people. As a society we are frequently and repeatedly asking ourselves questions like “at this point in my life what can I do with my gift?” and “do I need to go back and study the thing I have always wanted to do?” We are probably starting to see how useless education is if a gift is not attached to it in one form or another. The good news is that it is 2022 and you don’t have to do things you hate and go to a job you despise for the rest of your life.
The money keeps us going but is that all life will be? Do you want to keep waking up in the morning and doing something where most things don’t resonate with your gift? Look at you! Look at what you have accepted!
Deep in you there is a natural DNA coding that always poses questions like “is this all it will be for me?” or “why do I have to do this?”. These questions are normal because the human spirit cannot be oppressed permanently, and education is somewhat a tool of oppression for a majority unfortunately.
You better start thinking beyond your job! What is your gift? What is your uniqueness? What can you bring to the table that only you can offer? Remember; you are unique and with your uniqueness (capabilities, character, feelings, or motivations) comes a commodity that the world needs NOW! Please do us a favour and bestow it upon us. We need it.
If a lion is raised in a cage while in captivity, why do they still lock the cage if it has never been in the wild? They lock the cage because they know that even though the experiences of the lion might all be in the cage, it will always have the instincts of a “lion” which tell tell it “I belong out there!”
This illustration is the same thing to you – your instincts tell you that even though you are stuck wherever you are, you are bigger than this! You belong out there! You might not even have the knowledge or training for what you want but there is a natural urge or a itching yearning in your to be free and live your life according to who you were created to be.
Many of my readers have asked for my personal bank account in order to fund my work. Thanks in advance for your contribution.
Account Holder: Sphesihle Cedric Mthana
Bank Name: TymeBank
Branch Code: 678910
Account Number: 51014476592