Skip to main content

Expectations Mismatched

As we all know by now, at SKY TRUST we are all about youth empowerment. After my inspirational moment in my last post (your welcome), my attention was drawn to the evaluation of the Kenyan job market and its limits towards young people. Thanks to the restrictive requirements from employers and lack of application feedback, young people are being limited in the job market, they are not being provided with the support (at least none that I know of) they need to transition from education to work. 

Lack of transparency in recruitment processes and a failure to tailor interviews for people who have no prior experience of work limits young people from accessing employment. Young people are caught up in a 'vicious cycle' as individuals without access to work opportunities as they are turned away from roles requiring experience. This factor prevents business from benefiting from a diverse pool of talent.

So could it be a case of mismatched expectation? Its seems to me  that too many young people are struggling to find their first job, whereas many employers are finding it difficult to get the skills they need. This mismatch needs to be addressed, not only to reduce youth unemployment and the long-term impact it can have on young people, but also to ensure Kenyan businesses are equipped with the right talent for the future.

Policy makers need to do more to ensure that careers advice and guidance are embedded into the national curriculum with more support for young people during the transition phase between education and employment. 


                                                  Creating Economic Possibilities

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Last Crumb

The year was 2014, July to be precise. I had just concluded chairing the organizing committee of the first and only Toastmasters Speech Fair and Annual Dinner event, a precursor to TEACON. This event had been a bold experiment, expanding on the traditional Toastmasters Annual Dinner by incorporating speech contests into an afternoon and evening affair. It broke many norms and conventions and succeeded thanks to a number of Toastmasters who were ready to support change. One of those Toastmasters, SEMA Toastmasters President Anthony Wang'ondu, DTM soon afterwards sent me an intriguing email. Caren Wakoli, a member of his club, sought to introduce her Ethiopian friend who was seeking connections with Toastmasters across East Africa to form a district. Now, I have a friend in Ethiopia called Yosef Fantu, a member of the Toastmasters Club in Ethiopia. He wrote to me asking to be connected to Toastmasters Kenya so that the clubs in Kenya, Uganda, and Ethiopia can come together to establi...

A Young Entrepreneur Who Refused to Look for a Job

A read I thought would be of interest: LITTLE might be known about Imran Khosla, but not so for those who frequent courts or those in the information and communication technology industry. His is a story of a young entrepreneur who has refused to sit and just wait for jobs to come but has decided with the little cash he has to start off his own business that is now giving birth to new ventures beyond what he had imagined. Now in his late twenties, Imran set up his first electronic shop which also sold computer accessories in 2008. “After hearing lots of stories about graduates who have had tormenting search for jobs to no avail, obviously that was not the route I wished to take. I wanted to create my own job, and be my own boss, this was the inspiration that threw me into the world of entrepreneurship, and four years on, I tell you all is well and you cannot believe it I have over ten employees, and whose turnover is running into fortunes now,” Imran says with a cheer. His journ...

Sine qua non

Reader’s discretion: Strong Language and Violence Paxa  Rainne slams her open palm on the car horn frustrated. Another matatu has overlapped and cut her off just as she was to join the highway. Driving into town from Ngara is still a nightmare, despite a spanking new superhighway. Rainne wonders if her naivety in being polite to other road users is a magnet for this menace. Rainne has been in traffic now for over an hour and has hardly moved ten metres, giving way to dozens of other vehicles but not getting any reciprocation. She wriggles her bare toes, driving shoeless in these conditions is more comfortable.  She takes comfort in that small luxury. The lotion she applied on her feet earlier is keeping them nice and cool. The conductor of the matatu swings wildly from the door as it narrowly misses Rainne’s front bumper. “Siste, huku ni Nairobi, jikakamue”! She glares at him and he returns a lewd look, seemingly excited at the fact that he’s unnerved ...