He gave the exhortation last Friday while addressing the students during celebration of the institution’s Student Week on their campus near Westfield, Serekunda.
According to Minteh, a career is the most important thing in life and it needs to be taken seriously where one needs to dig deep before even going for one. He said that career development starts with self-assessment, in a form of research using the internet as well as going to consultant firms such as their office to know what ‘career suits you best before going in for it’.
He added that some students are in school learning but have not decided what they will end up being at the end of their education. He said the students should take a concrete decision regarding their careers.
“It is always important for someone to have a goal in life and you make sure that you are committed to follow that path towards succeeding and achieving result at the end,” he said.
“After finishing school, one needs to be smart to be able to get a job, knowing the fact that the job market is a competitive one. Some students have good grades in paper but when it comes to looking for a job, you realise that they lack some requisite skills to do a job,” he said.
He added that as a jobseeker, you need to convince your employer during an interview to be able to get the job and not on your results in school. He concluded by urging the students to show commitment to what they are doing and not to be financially motivated.
Samboujang Dampha, the partnership manager at Centre for Excellence Consultancy, while introducing their programme to the Stradford students said they are stakeholders in moving the education sector to another level.
He added: “Our objective is to link students to universities abroad, as it gives you meaningful education which makes you learn something beyond the four corners of the classroom culturally. It also strengthens your humanity as well as enriches your experience and gives you opportunity in a job competitive country like The Gambia. Therefore the decision to study abroad needs to be revisited and one needs to know what you are getting into before making a decision.”
On scholarships, Dampha said they are simply and purposely there for any student who does well while urging the students to take their education seriously.
He concluded by commending the management of Stradford for giving them the opportunity to orient its students on career development. He said that among all the learning institutions in the country they wrote to, only Stratford responded by inviting them to their student week.
Mrs Patricia Osuagwu in her speech commended the management of the school for organising the event which gave the students the opportunity to showcase their potential and talents.
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