There comes a time in everyone's life when they must leave the nest, spread their wings, fly off to the horizon and conquer the world. Even in times of plenty, leaving your parents' home is a costly endeavour: car installments, rent, bond and groceries, and many other expenses, take a big chunk out of the average starting salary.

Recent events of global proportions have swelled the level of difficulty of the pursuit of independence to near impossible. A recession has reared its hideous head and dampened the pioneering spirits of many a 20-something. The sad sight of graduates spending their days watching TV is becoming far too common.

The dean of the faculty of commerce, law and management at Wits University, Prof Mthuli Ncube, defines a recession as being "a situation in which the economy (contracts) for two successive quarters". He says South Africa has faired well when compared to other countries.

"South Africa is in a mini-recession. Compared to America and European countries, we are doing a bit better," Ncube said.

Bad news for University graduates

The repercussions of economic contraction have been alarming. Banks have collapsed and multinational corporations have declared bankruptcy.

"Unemployment increases because companies downsize and retrench workers, and everything in the economy slows down and shrinks," he said.

This is not good news for your average university graduate, who finds that his eagerness to get a job rams into the corporate world's defensive response to the economy.

Convincing a corporation to employ you is a tall order if it is set on cutting its costs and retrenching its workers instead. This is the conundrum that Shaka Vilakazi (22) a graduate with a diploma in business information systems, must now solve.

"The recession has inconvenienced a lot of people in terms of growing into independence, and acquiring a car and house," lamented Vilakazi.

Faith Mangope (22) a Wits graduate with a degree in international relations as well as a degree in industrial psychology, feels that the failure of some young adults to find employment cannot be blamed entirely on the recession.

Employment not the only option

"Students need to start thinking beyond their circumstances while in school. We fail to think beyond high school or university. We must look at trying to work at weekends and get into the mentality of tackling more than one thing," she said.

Ncube advises students to fight the urge to make money and stay in school instead.

"Recessions are good for business schools. The higher-education sector benefits from recessions because students stay in school longer. I advise students to study further and add skills to their armoury so that, once the global job market improves, they are highly skilled," he said.

A constricted economy might, however, force some students to leave school so that they can find work and help support their family.

Ncube advises these students to "go out and become entrepreneurs. The government offers assistance to people who want to start a business. Employment is not a graduate's only option."

Forced to get creative

Vilakazi agrees: "The upside of a recession is that people stop relying on the corporate world for jobs. People are forced to get creative and become entrepreneurs."

In addition to producing the DJ Sbu Breakfast Show for Yfm, Faith Mangope has heeded Ncube’s advice and started her own recruitment agency.

"The passion of my agency is students. It offers students one-on-one screening to help them conduct themselves and write better CVs.

"A big problem is that a lot of young people are qualified, but they don't know how to say it — they don’t know how to sell themselves. Even though it's a recession, companies are always looking for fresh talent. There are opportunities available," she said.

"Corporations advertise jobs in the classified sections in newspapers, and a lot of kids don't read newspapers. Some kids don’t have computers and access to the Internet. But they do have a radio."

Today's turbulent job market

From 8am to 9am on Saturdays, Yfm broadcasts the YDiddy feature, which is hosted by Mangope and Kgomotso "Motso" Taje. Together, they discuss the hurdles youngsters face in today's turbulent job market and tell listeners about job opportunities.

Personally, I have enjoyed the thrill of working during the recession. Having watched family members sell their souls to large companies only to get unceremoniously spat out after decades of service, I have been rather cynical about the benefits of a permanent nine-to-five job. Instead, I have chosen to enjoy the precarious adventure of freelancing.

This, of course, has its challenges. The absence of a permanent income can be depressing and nerve-racking. Nevertheless, I would not sacrifice my flexible diary for any of the comforts promised by the corporate world. Entrepreneurship is proving to be a tantalising option.

The bottom line is that if you want to succeed, and you put in the hard work, you will.

The recession might yet be a blessing in disguise for young adults struggling to find work. It is during these tough times that we learn that all that glisters must be worked for incredibly hard.

It is during recessions that we brave the daunting waters of entrepreneurship and build our own multinational corporations.

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