The proverb in the title comes to Ambrose Kibuuka’s mind each time he thinks about unemployed graduates. But Mark Twain’s words follow quite quickly: “You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus”.

There are unlimited job opportunities out there. There are too many undone jobs waiting for someone whose mental eyes are sharp enough to recognise them. But here is the bait: the access code to those opportunities is not your paper qualifications. The unfailing access code is what you have to offer that the market out there needs.
In other words, what do you know how to do that adds value to people’s life? How badly is it needed? What makes you the most suited person to offer it? To put it differently, imagine you do not have any academic papers on you, what would you front to convince anybody to hire you? What would you do for people out there that they would pay you for without a blink? If you have discovered the answer to these questions, then you know exactly what your Immediate Employability Value is.

Labour market trends in the 21st century environment are more in favoyr of professionals who are multi-skilled against those who are narrow-skilled. The more multi-skilled you are, the greater the value of any single task you perform. But being multi-skilled alone is not enough; visibility is ultimate. In order for the market to know that you can offer superior value, they must see your works first. Put your ideas to action. One average idea put into action is more powerful than one thousand great ideas that remain on paper or in your mind.

Let me provoke you:

1. If these insights seem so obvious, why are university leavers missing the point? Or are they obvious in the first place?
2. What do universities need to do to help young people deal with the intimidating question: “After university, what next?”

Ambrose Kibuuka