Pakistan’s poor performance in education is well-documented in terms of statistics. What is, however, not so well-described is the learning level of those who are counted as educated.

I recently interviewed a young man of 22, who had completed an MA in economics in the hope of gainful employment. I had already given his CV to a number of my friends who manage large to medium organisations in the private sector. What I wanted was to give the young man pointers in the techniques of appearing good in a job interview. How this “coaching session” turned out is an entirely different story.

The man had a pleasant appearance but seemed shy and would not make eye contact or even look directly at me.

His CV stated that he had completed his MA in economics from the University of Jamshoro, Sindh. I asked him if he had studied there or had appeared in the exam as a private candidate. He seemed quite uncertain about this distinction and mumbled something that I could not understand. This worried me a little and I asked him what subjects he had studied in the MA program. He thought for a while and said, “Five subjects.”

“And what were these?” I queried. After some more deep thinking the boy replied, “Economic Development and International Economic Development.” He said he could not remember the other three subjects. I asked next if he could define the term “Inflation.” He replied confidently that it means “Afraat- e-Zaar” (the Urdu term for Inflation). “Good, now can you elaborate the term?” He seemed very perplexed and replied sadly, “Mein ney tu ratta lagaya tha, aab bhool giya hoon” (I had rote learned and have forgotten everything now). I tried a few other terms like “Balance of Trade” and “GDP” and drew a blank. That paid put to any further talk of economics.

I then asked him what he was interested in. “Computers!” he replied readily. This was in line with his father’s description of his son’s skill set that, “He is very good with the Internet and does it all night.” Egged on by hope, I asked if he knew how to use Excel or Word. He said he did not know Excel or Word but he did his Internet chatting in English. Hoping that his interest was more in computer systems than in software, my next question was if he knew anything about Microsoft Networking. This got him excited and he replied with a big smile, “Sure, I know social networking.” Another dead end had been reached in the pre-interview.

Looking desperately at the CV trying to find any skill that could be sold to an employer, I noticed he had mentioned, “Corresponding via e-mail regarding book.” This was rather intriguing as it pointed to the presence of a very special book so I probed further. “Seems you like to read books?” He went silent. “OK, what was the last book you read?”

“Sir, I only read textbooks and the last book I read was a Guess Paper on economics when I was writing my examination.”

Just as I was terminating the interview I noticed that I had missed a crucial skill in the CV. I could have a genius sitting right here in my humble living room. “Chess,” his CV stated under hobbies. “Wonderful! So you play chess?” I was afraid he would challenge me to a game, checkmate me in 10 moves and turn the tables on me. Alas, it was not to be. “Well, I knew how to play it but have forgotten most of it.” White loses in one.

This was the end of investigating his skills as stated in his CV. But sometimes people have hidden talents that need to suss out. “So, if an interviewer asks you how you can contribute towards his organisation, what would be your answer?”

“I would say, I can do anything he wants me to do,” came the ready response. A perfectly reasonable reply that would have gotten him a good job in the Government of Pakistan but sadly not in the private sector.

Having failed to detect any skill the young economist could have, I suggested that he should take some formal computer courses, as that was his putative area of interest and his nocturnal passion. He said he had gone to a computer institute and they had told him that there was a course that was for two months but which an enthusiastic student could complete in one month. This was encouraging. I asked him whether the course covered software, systems or hardware. He said he would have to go again and find out.

The interview ended and I came to the sorry conclusion that the young man was not yet “interviewable”.

I gave a gist of my observations and suggestions to his father. After listening patiently to my speech, he sighed and said, “But Sir, you know many people surely they can give him a job?” He added that a good marriage proposal was in place for the boy and just a job was needed for the happy ceremony to take place.

I sincerely hope the boy gets a job somewhere; he can then get married and do something more productive than “Internet” all night long.