Teaching young people to get jobs or work?

Imagine two people applying for the same job.

One has a degree, several certificates and an impressive CV. The other has fewer qualifications but can communicate clearly, solve problems, manage time and demonstrate what they can actually do.

Which one would you hire?

For years, our education systems have operated on the assumption that qualifications are evidence of employability.

A new UK report challenges this assumption. And also worries me.

The report Counting the Cost: The UK’s employability Skill Crises, by City & Guilds UK, draws on a survey of 908 employees and 1,014 young people aged 16-24.

Findings are problematic.

64% of UK businesses surveys say candidates’ basic skills such as face to face communication, problem-solving and time management are becoming increasingly difficult to find.

70% believe AI use in recruitment is part of the problem, with technical skills receiving greater priority than human interaction skills.

40% of young people surveyed feel confident about their ability to communicate well.

The report also find that more than half of young respondents fear AI is reducing opportunities for people their age.

These findings expose a contradiction.

We have built education systems around acquiring knowledge and credentials, while employers also need people who can apply that knowledge to, communicate with others and navigate real workplace situations.

The gap is not simply between education and employment.

It is between what we teach, what we assess and what work actually requires.

Pakistan’s degree obsession has a hidden cost.

We celebrate access to education, enrolment , degrees and certificates. These are important but they are incomplete.

A young person can spend 16 years in education and still struggle to introduce themselves in an interview, write a professional email or explain how they would solve a workplace problem.

A vocational trainee can complete a technical course without ever having to deal with a difficult customer, work under a deadline or collaborate with a colleague.

And a graduate can possess considerable theoretical knowledge without knowing how to translate it into economic value.

I call this the degree delusion: the belief that accumulating qualifications automatically translates into employability.

It does not.

A qualification may open a door. What happens after depends on a broader set of capabilities.

The UK findings should not be mistaken for evidence about the scale of Pakistan’s problem. But it provides an important framework for examining our education to employment transition.

We need to ask whether Pakistani employers encounter similar gaps , in which sectors and among which group of young people ?

Then we need to figure out what to do about it.

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