Once developed, he said, such hobbies must further be turned into skills that could sell.

“For instance, watching movies may be a hobby and a way of relaxing but does it add value to you?” he asked.

Programme

Mr Adjabeng said this when he presented a paper on “Internship programme: A win-win situation” at Kings University College (KUC) in Accra.

The programme, dubbed: “Industry Academia Interface,” was organised by the Association of Business Students (ABS) under the leadership of the Dean of Kings Business School, Prof. Kalyan Kumar Sahoo.

Mr Adjabeng noted that the programme of internship or practical attachment was very important as it helped shape and prepare students for the job market.

“Seven per cent of the labour force in Ghana have some secondary education, 2.5 per cent have completed tertiary education, 35 per cent lacks formal education and a whopping 51 per cent are either primary or secondary school dropouts,” he indicated.

The statistics, he said, meant, “As a country, the skill sets available and the knowledge base or talent pool available for development and growth are scaling up,”  adding that students in tertiary institutions were among the few privileged ones to be developed for the labour market.

Internship

Regarding internship programmes, Mr Adjabeng said it was both beneficial to the employer and the employee, since it exposed the trainee to practical experience in the job market and was also cost-effective to the employer.

Networking opportunities, he said, also emanated from internship programmes because, “You will see a manager in company A and by the time you finish school, he is CEO of company B and he says come let’s work.”

For his part, the Chief Executive Officer of GN Life Assurance, Ghana, Mr Fiifi Simpson, said there was the need for “industry to work closely with academia to make sure that we are getting everything right”.

Speaking on the theme: “Employable skills,” he told the students that creativity and innovation would make them stand out among their peers.

Attitude

Attitude, Mr Simpson said, was key to their success, adding,  “You can have all the skills but if you do not have the right attitude, your skills will not help you.”

“The skill sets are good, but the underlying factor will be your attitude, and it is key to your sustaining and growing your skills set for you to be successful in industry. I have seen people in my lifetime, people who are very skilful but with terrible attitudes that make them end up being unsuccessful,” he noted.

The Registrar of KUC, Mr Simon Peter Tsekpo, said the university wanted to develop linkages with industry to afford the students the opportunity to have practical experience.