Why we still need the village

There’s a saying that it takes a village to raise a child, but where does this village disappear when this child becomes an adolescent or just enters the job market? One thing we have noticed in the market is that there are a lot of jobs that are in high demand, but what are we as individuals doing to lower the demand? How are we helping young adults get into the market or even just helping someone who is unemployed get a job?

These days almost every job spec requires you to work in a fast-paced environment. We are currently living in a ‘rat-race’ world that isn’t sustainable anymore and this has caused us as humankind to lose our humanity and ultimately an ‘every-man-for-himself’ mindset.

Getting feedback from your application is non-existent, not getting a reply when asking for advice or a referral, or your calls not being answered are all examples of where we are failing. It’s as simple as that. Professionals easily forget what it was like when they had to find employment, and it’s as clear as daylight that it has become more challenging in finding a job in this new era, we live in. Not being able to give 5 minutes of your time to provide a reference to someone because you are on holiday is self-centered when it merely means that this reference could have been a do-or-die situation for the person on the other side.

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When a community of healthy adults supports another individual, they build a robust social and emotional support system around that person.?It’s proven that it doesn’t cost you anything in life to be nice to someone. You don’t have to like someone to be kind to them.?We should be a healthier ecosystem that is willing to offer support and guidance. We should remember that we all once were in this position and ultimately, realize we need to be more in sync with what is happening around us.

We should be able to learn from each other and share knowledge freely. Start mentoring people not because you must, but because you want to add value to someone else’s life.

Let’s break this vicious cycle and start paying it forward. If someone doesn’t meet the requirements of the job, tell them why and/or what skills they are lacking so that they know where they can improve. Communicate and be more open. This is the only way we will be able to really identify where the gaps in the market are and steer people in the direction of getting into the fields of these high-demand jobs.

Lastly, let’s keep in mind that it also takes a child to build a village and bring everyone together. No one can do anything on their own, we need each other to be successful and create harmony.?