Kenya: Here is why you are not getting hired

By Steve Umidha

Tens of thousands of graduates across the country are not getting hired, a frightening revelation now being attributed to a widening disconnect between what students are learning at the universities and what they need to know to get a job.

As a result, young Kenyan graduates are taking longer to reach the conventional milestones of adulthood that naturally consists of career stability, home ownership, a partner and established family.

And it is not because they no longer want these necessities but because they have become harder to attain in the current economic setup.

And with the month of December typically a job-hunting season for employment-seeking individuals, weak job market is also adding some extra stress to the New Year for many job seekers.

A new study by Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) on Skills Mismatch in the country’s labor market confirms these fears and now says there is sufficient evidence that shows graduates are studying the ‘wrong’ subjects at the universities with most courses being offered are not only subject-knowledge but also leaves out employability skills – a precarious missing knob being asked by many employers.

“There has been an increased trend in skill mismatch among employees in the labour market. This anomaly, described as a skills mismatch by Labour economists, leads to wastage and impedes Kenya’s global competitiveness,” reads the survey in part, whose drafters say was necessitated by the need to understand educational mismatch between the knowledge graduates possess and market demands.

Two separate studies conducted prior to these findings and by different institutions – unsurprisingly, support the workers’ lobby theory.

A survey undertaken between 2010 and 2011 by National Manpower Survey Basic Report (NMS), for instance, showed that Kenya’s education and training institutions churn out tens of thousands of graduates who end up in careers for which they were not trained, a trend that has been replicated over the years.

“It is also to blame for mass unemployment among Kenyans,” says a report by the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA), which estimates that about three (3) in (10) ten Kenyans aged between 15 and 64 are unemployed.

What’s worse the new findings paint even a nerve-wracking confidence to the mismatched graduates who it says face poorer prospects and lower earnings than their peers that are on careers aligned to the knowledge acquired of four years of study and skills obtained in three months of internship programme.

“It is a serious concern for most employers since most graduates do not have the right technical skills to perform on their jobs without experience and most of them do not even have the right and soft skills to perform on their jobs without proper training,” according to FKE’s chief executive Ms. Jacqueline Mugo.

The research is recommending a host of changes including a complete overhaul of the current curriculum being taught at the universities and a possibility to provide paid internships by some employers in order to match the labour market demands.

It further wants industry stakeholders to consult with tertiary institutions when preparing curriculum, have more internships, industrial attachment for training and follow up on them as well as to expose and educate learners on real job market.

 “There is need to review curriculum to meet labour needs-Putting more practical oriented units, ensuring all the students who graduate are exposed to more contact hours in terms or practical training and ensure effective implementation of the curriculum by the tertiary institutions,” reads the report.

But some recommendations like having a mandatory paid internships would come at a cost, according to the acting director general of Kenya National Employment Authority (KNEA) Edith Okoki, who feels that a lot of deliberations and persuasions would come in handy if some of them are to be realised.

“This (paid internships) is a delicate matter because it then means that the government will have to offer tax rebates in order for the companies to take in more students under their internship programmes, but conversations regarding this matter is underway,” she said.

Policies on internship programmes are said to be on course for a review by the government, according to Ms. Okoki and could be ready at the end of the first quarter of 2019. It is at the cabinet stage and when ready could compel companies admitting graduates for internships offer negotiated monthly stipend to their interns.

“On average, the survey estimates that 68 per cent of entry level recruits take up to 3 months to settle and perform on their job. This is attributed to the time taken in the training and induction of the recruit,” the report says.

Further recommendations from the survey include, adopting new policy guidelines which will lead the sector in the right direction, engage the training institution and share their labour requirements of graduates, as well for learning institutions to offer more technical skills to their learners.