There is a growing army of university graduates who may be passing examinations with impressive grades, but many are entering the job market without the practical skills employers need to solve real business problems.
This is according to an observation by a Human Resource expert and practitioner, Joseph Nii Otinkorang Ankrah of Axis Capital.
Speaking during The High Street Journal’s X Space conversation, “The High Street Talks,” on Career Coaching for BECE & WASSCE Students and Parents, Nii Otinkorang said the country’s biggest employment challenge is not just the absence of jobs, but the widening gap between what graduates know and what employers actually need.
He argued that the disconnect is particularly evident during recruitment, where academic credentials often struggle to translate into demonstrable workplace competence. According to him, a graduate may leave university with a first-class degree, an impressive CV, sometimes professionally polished with the help of artificial intelligence (AI), and multiple certificates, yet struggle when asked one straightforward interview question: “Tell me about a problem you solved.”
That, he said, is where the real skills gap becomes visible. “A lot of them are not able to apply whatever they have studied. So, the biggest mismatch when it comes to hiring is we not having the right people for the right jobs,” Nii Otinkorang observed, stressing that employers are ultimately looking for people who can identify problems, develop solutions and get things done.
The outcome of the situation, he says, businesses continue to have staffing needs while thousands of graduates remain unemployed or underemployed. For the HR practitioner, the problem therefore goes beyond the familiar argument that Ghana does not have enough jobs.
The more fundamental question, he suggested, is whether the education system is adequately preparing young people to fill the jobs that already exist and those being created by industry.
He stresses that degrees are not the same as employability. The HR expert said Ghana has people with the potential to succeed, but questioned whether the country is giving them the right skills and enough opportunities to put those skills into practice.
He pointed to technical and vocational education as an important part of the solution, noting that countries such as China place greater emphasis on forms of learning that equip people with hands-on, practical abilities.
For him, knowing what something is does not necessarily mean knowing how to do it. To put it simply, for a graduate, that could mean understanding the theory of project management but never actually leading a project; studying entrepreneurship without building and running even a small business; or learning accounting without being able to interpret a company’s financial problems and recommend a solution.
This creates a cycle in which young people spend four, five or even six years obtaining qualifications, only to return home without the practical experience employers are demanding.
The mismatch starts long before the job interview. Nii Otinkorang’s argument also carries an important message for parents and students making decisions about their education.
The question, he suggested, should not simply be “What course will get me a degree?” but also “What problems will I be able to solve when I graduate?”
That shift could force greater attention towards apprenticeships, internships, technical and vocational training, project-based learning, digital skills and opportunities for students to work on real-world problems before they enter the labour market.
For employers, it also raises questions about how much emphasis recruitment processes should place on certificates and academic grades versus demonstrable competence, problem-solving ability, adaptability and experience.
Ultimately, Nii Otinkorang’s warning is that Ghana risks repeatedly producing graduates for an economy that needs problem-solvers rather than paper qualifications.
