There are career tips you should be armed with to help you get a job faster in Kenya. Currently, it takes fresh graduates up to 7 years to secure employment in Kenya. However, there is a group of graduates who get employed immediately they graduate, or even before graduation.
For you to get a job faster in Kenya, here is what to do:
- Pursue a marketable course
Make sure before you join any university in Kenya, you have done thorough research to determine which courses are marketable. By enrolling for a marketable course, you improve your chances of getting employed soon after graduation.
Never be swayed by anyone, take your time, do thorough research and come up with a list of courses you wish to pursue. Guided by passion and the knowledge of job market dynamics, you’ll finally pick the best course to pursue.
- Some of the marketable courses to study in Kenya are:
- Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery
- Bachelor of Architecture
- Bachelor of Software Engineering
- Bachelor of Law
- Bachelor of Pharmacy
- Bachelor of Quantity Surveying
- Bachelor of Statistics/Applied Statistics
- Piloting
- BCom +CFA
- Pursue a professional course
Almost each undergraduate course has an associated professional program. While in college, identify a good professional course and pursue it. It’s common knowledge that almost every field is flooded nowadays and only those with something extra special like professional qualification stand a better chance of succeeding.
Some of the best professional courses include:CFA,ACCA,CPA,CIFA,CIA and CFE.
A course like Bachelor of Commerce is flooded. The worst mistake you can make as a college student is to avoid supplementing it with a professional course. Even if your resources are limited, make sure you either register for CFA, ACCA or CPA.But the most marketable professional course is CFA.
- Develop networking
Networking is very important. It starts from the people you study with in college, to family members and anyone you know within your professional circle. Never shy away to tell them about your plight.
Some of the people you ignore, especially your college mates will be of great help. Always keep in touch with your network.
- Make blind job applications
Nearly 60% of Kenyans secure employment through blind job applications. Read newspapers about people who have moved from some institutions, know which companies are opening new branches, the number of new death cases in some organizations, where there are unrest and go slow. Even if those companies have not advertised for the vacancies, look for the HR emails and send blind applications.
- Take any job. Don’t be choosy
There are people who only take jobs that they studied for, that won’t happen in the modern world. Most people are doing what they did not study for.
I have always met people who claim that they won’t do a job that they didn’t study for, after two to 5 years, I find the same people desperately looking for a job.
A wise graduate will take up any job as they look for a bearing in the professional life.
- Volunteer/Internship
It’s not a must that you apply for employment opportunities, sometimes you can apply for volunteer position where you work without pay. Once you get the job, impress your bosses with good work. After internship, you might get an offer for employment. Sometimes it happens that during internship, there’s an employee who get fired or others resign, that’s when the interns get a chance to secure employment.
- Side hustle
The best way to avoid being idle is to look for a side hustle to do. Employment does not necessarily mean that you must be employed by someone and get a salary. There are many graduates who use their skills to start profitable side hustles and eventually become millionaires.
