Catch them young.

It was my birthday recently and I spent the day traveling to a factory in Germany for some meetings.

I met a few people in the factory and interestingly most have worked for the company between 18 and 25 years, and they are all young. Average age between them I’ll say is 38.

The common thread running here was that they joined the company as apprentices, and gained work experience while they finished up their studies. Now they have both academic qualifications and many years of work experience under their belt, with many more years to go before retirement.

I do not know if the data exists but if the information obtained from google search is to be believed, most entry level job positions are advised for graduates no more than 23years to 25years. It is not common place in the Nigerian labour market to find companies who employ apprentices while giving them the opportunity to complete their studies alongside having full time paid employment.

It is common knowledge that money cannot buy experience. Nigerian labour employers are losing good money by not offering apprentice positions to the labour force and ‘catching them young’, in a manner of speaking.