Say ‘goodbye’ to unemployment
Like career, unemployment is also a ‘choice’ for most Bangladeshis!
In a country of 160 million people, you can even make a living by selling ash. Anything you sell, there is a market for it, and any skill you have, there is a scope to utilise it.
But most of the unemployed people in Bangladesh are lazy. Why wouldn’t they be? They have the luxury of waking up before noon and can still manage to find lunch on the table.
You can’t afford that luxury in most other countries. In case you didn’t know, there is no exact word in English for ‘bekar’, simply because the concept doesn’t exist in the west. The closed translation of the word ‘bekar’ in English is ‘useless’!
Making a living is very tough in the developed countries. I read about a school teacher in the US who has to sell her blood if she has to buy a toy or anything extra for her child. Another 25-year-old diabetic patient died recently because he couldn’t afford insulin despite having a job. His salary was too little to afford a medical insurance but too high to qualify him for free medical care from the government. And after the age of 24, he is no longer covered by his mother’s insurance. After days before his death, he told his mother that he was looking for a second job just to cover the cost of insulin, but that second job was too hard to come by.
Only in Bangladesh, many youth can afford yaba and other drugs with dad’s money while staying jobless! S/he would stay jobless but wouldn’t take up ‘small’ works.
In most cases the little education s/he has acquired is actually the main cause of his joblessness. The jobs s/he can easily do, s/he now considers them ‘too small’, and the jobs s/he wants to do, his/her education is ‘too small’ for those opportunity.
No work is too small. In this country, anything you do can easily earn you about 500 taka a day, which can feed you for 3 days. Manual labourer, rickshaw puller... with no skills or experience, you can make that kind of money. Too shy to do that? I have seen many graduates, university students or former businessmen doing that with ease.
Acquire a little bit of skills and you double your chances of livelihood. Learn driving, painting houses, electrical works, wielding and the likes, and easily earn 700 to 2000 taka a day. I know many drivers, with honesty and basic English skills, earn up to 60,000 taka a month in decent jobs with international organisations. No! acquiring these skills is not at all difficult. You can learn how to paint a house or lay tiles in a week or so. Offer to work with technician for free some time if needed, and you are good to go.
Too lazy to learn something new? Don’t worry, look inside yourself for anything you are good at and build on it to be the best in it. Here are a few examples:
I know someone who knows how to call Azaan. He attended a few classes in madrasa but didn’t complete it. He also memorised a few juz of the Qur’an but didn’t complete it either. But he lived what learned, I mean, wearing a madrasa outfit. He went to the city seeking livelihood, and managed a job of a muazzin. He also took up some tuition of Qu’ran lessons around the masjid, and has been earning a decent living since.
I know someone who only completed higher secondary education. Then he went to the Middle East, and with his knowledge of broken English, he started private tuition of English to schools kids. Now he is a millionaire, literally.
Another jobless primary grad I know had a physician neighbor. The doctor needed someone to carry his bag and he grabbed the opportunity. After several years with the physician, he learned to administer injections and a few basic treatments. Now he is a well off rural medic in a remote area where doctors are hard to reach.
You know nothing? Never mind! If you only know some people, that would also do. An elderly sister I know runs a home-based shop. She has shared her phone number with everyone she knows within rickshaw distance. She got herself a rickshaw and hired a part time driver. Every morning, the housewives in her network start sending her the list of things they need, and she delivers the orders to their homes. Once in a while, she makes special sales of fish or beef. All she needs to do is share the photos on the network, and in hours everything is sold.
A sickly man in my village is too weak to work. He goes around, takes contracts of earth filling or digging, and use the workers to get it done, keeping his profit aside.
Most graduates in our country focus on job search after completing their education. That’s not a good idea. You have to be on the lookout for opportunities and prepare yourself for the job market from the early years in universities.
A Chinese student in Sydney was giving tuition to college students. He became a millionaire even before his graduation. Of course he was just too good at it. I know many Bangladeshi students earn a decent monthly income through freelancing. Many others drive Uber or Pathao, or work as a delivery man for FoodPandaand Hungrynaki. Many of those freelancers find great career opportunities in writing, editing, desktop publishing, web development, market research and so on after graduation.
You cannot secure any opportunity unless you are honest, willing to work hard, and confident in your ability. None will give you a break if you are not totally honest, sincere and dependable. Unless you work hard, you will only be a good dreamer, and if you don’t believe in yourself, who will?
Last words -always stay close to people who appreciate you and believe in you. They will strengthen your confidence boost self-esteem. Try to avoid the company of those who undermine you or laugh at you. They will destroy your confidence.
*Javeed Ahsan lives and works abroad