Youth should be advised to consider a career as an artisan than desperately try to go to a university and get an academic degree, which is becoming obsolete as the workplace becomes increasingly driven by technology. You must have heard this before, but it is high time it was taken seriously, argues Sean Jones, Chief Executive Officer of the Artisan Training Institute (ATI).
“There needs to be a mind shift in South Africa about artisans, both by educational institutions and the broader population,” says Jones.
Artisans have a quicker access to fulltime employment – with apprentices often getting an apprenticeship with a company in their first year, meaning they can also start earning money far sooner, he observes.
Students will often study for three to four years and struggle to get gainful employment – that is if in the least they get it.
“Graduates in most cases earn rock bottom salaries as there is an oversupply of their skill and knowledge offering. Many, with degrees who are not absorbed into large corporate companies, end up working as waiters or waitresses, or other semi-skilled jobs such as sales assistants or in security for example,” observes Jones.
