Looking forward to employment? Here’s the reality check!

Are you in a tertiary institution pursuing a course that you hope will help you secure employment? Do you already have a degree or diploma which you view as your ticket to a decent job and social mobility?

Do you still hold the belief that your success will be defined by the kind of employment you will land after graduation? Granted, the education and training you acquire may be an integral part in your effort to secure employment, and as a young person, you are full of optimism, and are sure that a well-paying job is waiting for you out there. This could be the case, but then again, you cannot afford to ignore the reality. Here goes.

Statistics indicate that Kenya’s unemployment rate currently stands at approximately 40 percent, up from 12 percent in 2006. According to economic experts, Kenyan youth between 15-34 years constitute more than 40 percent of the national population of about 43.5 million people, yet they account for a whopping 70 per cent of the unemployed workforce.

According to World Bank estimates, close to 800,000 youth, mostly from the numerous institutions of learning, enter the Kenyan job market annually.

Out of this number, only about 70,000 may succeed in securing professional employment in the formal sector. This makes finding employment for the new graduates a massive nightmare. With the current unemployment rate of 70 per cent, Kenya needs to create about four million jobs for the youth by 2020, according to a study released in 2015 by SAP SE, and global non-profit organisation, Endeavour. At this rate, one can easily estimate that in the coming 10 years, there could be up to 15 million unemployed youth in the country, a massively worrying situation.

Needless to say, youth unemployment is not only a ticking time bomb, but also a growing monster that if not effectively tamed, may soon become uncontainable. And this should really worry us.

ENOUGH KNOWLEDGE

That the unemployment crisis in Kenya presents a particularly difficult labour market experience for the youth is not in doubt. The truth is, most Kenyan youth pray and hope that the degree or diploma they obtain after graduation will present them the opportunity of landing a job, hence a sure way out of poverty and a chance to pursue a decent living.

They don’t want to be put in a position of desperation. They have energy, talent and creativity which they want to exploit. They also want to stand out and make a positive contribution to the society, and to do this, they need to be provided with work. However, they don’t seem to have a fighting chance as they enter the current job market. Take the case of Kipchirchir Torrut, an IT university graduate who has been ‘tarmacking’ for quite a while now, searching for a decent job;

 “I had hoped to get into meaningful employment, be happy and feel wanted. I thought I had acquired enough knowledge and skills that could get me employed to enable me at the very least, provide for my basic needs, but I just can’t find a job.”

It is generally true that people with university degrees and college diplomas are more likely to find jobs than their less educated peers, but as it is today, many of those with university and college education are busy looking for elusive jobs. Should they be lucky to get one, they are likely to be poorly compensated, with few opportunities for career advancement.

What makes this issue so complex is that with so many unemployed youth, employers are still complaining about shortage of manpower - how can this be true?

James Mano, who is in the engineering and construction industry offers some insights;

“There is a mismatch between the output of our education system and what the industry requires. Generally, the education system does not enable students to gain necessary work-place skills and experience. This has forced several companies to set up their own in-house programmes to address the problem of unskilled and inexperienced manpower.” He adds,

“Even the graduates of vocational training institutes are not of the required quality, meaning, as a matter of priority, these institutions should be revamped to ensure their graduates have practical, work-related skills that would enhance their future employment opportunities - our education system ought to be re-structured, period”

Well said. In fact, our educational institutions should be the hotbeds of innovation, creativity and exceedingly ambitious enterprise.

David Kimathi, who is an employer in the service industry, had this to say on the youth unemployment problem;

“Most of the youth seeking employment have irrelevant or non-transferrable qualifications and skills from their education or training.

I think only 10 per cent of our educated people are actually employable, because 90 per cent of them lack one or more of some vital skills required for the job and employment, such as appropriate communication skills, analytical skills, negotiation skills and an in-depth knowledge or experience in their area of specialisation”.

BLUE COLLAR

It is true our training institutions must deliberately develop quality programmes in close collaboration with potential employers to understand what entrepreneurship skills are currently relevant. Due to the rapid changes in technology, there is also the need to inculcate an attitude of continuous learning in our youth.

“I also think most of our current graduates have only a conceptual understanding of things, and are more suited for the common white-colour jobs that hardly come by.

“I also think some are simply lazy, and do not want to think, work or get appropriate skills, yet they expect everything to come to them. Others have negative attitudes and perceptions towards certain jobs.”

“Our youth should be ready for self-employment, and also pay attention to jobs in the informal or Jua Kali sector, which comprises 90 per cent of all businesses in Kenya,” Kimathi adds. 

How to succeed where others fail

If you want to prepare yourself for a life in employment, career experts advise that you develop the most essential and desirable job seeking and employability competencies.

These competences include knowing your personality. *Personality is a characteristic way of thinking, feeling and behaving. Your personality is simply who you are and the impressions you make on others, either good or bad.

Knowing your personality type simply means, getting the facts about yourself right! You can know more about your personality type by carrying out a personality assessment through free personality test sites such as, seemypersonality.com or mypersonalitytest.com

Another important competence is knowing and understanding what job you actually want by doing a self-assessment to understand your strengths and weaknesses, determining your career options, matching your options to your strengths, and taking appropriate action. One way of identifying your major strengths and weaknesses is through knowing your personality. *You should also strive to develop the ability to write a compelling resume. You may visit websites such as blueskyresumes.com and biginterview.com for free guidance. These and similar sites will also help you know how to write effective cover letters and applications.

•   Another competence to develop is strong communication skills. To achieve this, ensure you know how to communicate your goals, how to explain your ideas, how to improve your listening skills, how to handle criticism and how to use affirmative language.

•   You can also develop strong analytical skills by knowing how to use numbers to gain accuracy and clarity in your communication.

•   To improve your ability to search for jobs using the internet and social media, you may visit websites such as jobhunt.org or careerthinker.com

•   The ability to network and market yourself is also crucial. Ensure you develop this competence through among others, effective communication, self-branding and effective use of social media.

•   You should also be keen in identifying what the employer really wants, and ensure you have adequate preparation for interviews. Preparing for an interview may not be a one-fit-all process.

•   You should, however, ensure you research the organisation as this will help you answer more questions and stand out from less-prepared candidates; compare your skills and qualifications to the job requirements, prepare responses to possible questions, plan what to wear and carry, as well as pay due attention to non-verbal communication during the interview.

Mr Alloys Nyamoko an employer and recruiter, put the importance of compelling resumes and interview preparation in perspective. “It takes an employer about 30 seconds to scan a resume and decide whether a job applicant should be given the opportunity to attend an interview,” he says. “It will take an interviewer less than two minutes to decide if one is the right person for the job,” he adds.

Create a job for yourself

But the question is; do you really have to depend on someone to create the job for you? Just believe in yourself and start thinking of how you can create a job for yourself and others. It will not be easy, but with a plan, strategy, focus, patience and hard work, you can make. If you fail somewhere along the way, remember, “A failure is a person who has blundered, but is not able to cash in on the experience” said Elbert Hubbard.

Now that you have finished reading this article, what are you going to do to achieve self-employment or increase your opportunities for a successful job placement?

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GET EXPERIENCE

Stumbling blocks 

One main problem the youth have to deal with is experience, which most employers expect them to have, yet they are newly graduated. Career experts suggest some alternative routes through which to get the opportunity to gain important knowledge, skills and some useful work experience as you search for a job.

These routes include:

•   Temporary work

•   Internships

•   Seasonal work

•   Apprenticeship

•   Short-term contracts

•   Part-time work

•   Unpaid or voluntary work.

Take the case of Valentine Mugambi, an Information Systems (IS) expert who got her current job with the same company she had her internship; “Internship gave me substantial work experience and skills that the company needed,” she say, and adds, “My relatives and friends tell me that I am polite, cheerful, friendly and respectful, most probably, these attributes helped me secure the job too.”

Phineas Munene also got a job in a Bank where he had earlier done voluntary work, soon after graduating with a degree in procurement and logistics management. He said; “I chose to do unpaid work during the university semester breaks since this provided me with valuable knowledge and on-the job work experience. I however had to work hard. I also believe knowing what I wanted, having the right work attitude and discipline during the volunteer-ship period gave me a head-start when my current job opportunity arose.”

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HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT 

Unemployment is a global problem with no simple solution

Unfortunately, the youth are hardest hit. In Kenya, the main causes of this crisis, such as lack of quality and relevant education, lack of effective protection mechanism for the local industries, weak economic conditions for the private sector, lack of rapid  industrialisation and economic growth need to be isolated and decisively addressed.

There is near consensus that the high unemployment rate in Kenya is related to the overall investment climate in the country and the economy’s low capacity to create new jobs. Reasons for this range from deficits in education and skills, to lack of work experience and difficulty in obtaining information about career options, owing to deficient career guidance programmes in our learning institutions. In addition, there are inadequate job chances as well as the irrational recruitment practices such as nepotism and discrimination on the basis of gender and age by some employers.

There is also lack of necessary national assets to implement and sustain youth employment policies on entrepreneurship. In addition, the youth empowerment programmes such as Uwezo Fund, Kazi Kwa Vijana and Youth Enterprise & Development fund that were meant to generate jobs have not lived up to their billing, mainly due to alleged bad leadership.

Creating employment should be a concerted effort by all stakeholders, including the government, private sector, NGOs and the whole society.

Failure to effectively manage the current youth unemployment foreboding catastrophe, means we should be prepared to deal with the consequences, such as escalating incidents of crime among youth who feel disenfranchised economically, socially and politically. This is in addition to escalating drug abuse and alcoholism among this group.

The writer is a practioner in a wide range of fields, including IT, Project Management and Training. Kinoti holds an MBA from the University of Leicester, UK and a BSc from Oxford Brookes University. He is also the author of the book, Exploring Career Options A-Z.