Employers seem to not know what they want...

Once I finished my thesis around this time last year, I began that most dreaded journey: the job hunt. Optimistic, full of energy, I trawled the internet, revived old networks and subscribed to various job advertising websites. The journey looked promising! I’m sad to say that more than 200 application letters later, I have only had 2 interviews and no job offers!

I’m often reminded of a song we used to sing when we were young: ‘someni vijana, kisha utapata kazi nzuri sana’ – in English it means, “Study young man, after which you will get a good job.”  It was sung to encourage people to go to school and get jobs – mostly white-collar jobs. Well, times have changed, and completing your university education is no longer a gateway to a job anymore. Scores of university students continue with their education after their bachelor studies, in pursuit of that evasive white-collar job.

One reason for this is that the job market dictates that having a bachelor is not enough anymore. The competition has gone a notch higher! I cannot remember a time in my life when I was not attending school.  I learned French at the Alliance Francaise during and after my bachelor. I also took German classes, despite having learned the language in my university.  I am still learning German at the Goethe Institute as I look for options for a PhD. A master’s is now a basic matter of course right after the bachelor studies. My brother, my mother and I have all done our master’s right after the four-year bachelor’s.

I keep wondering to myself how many qualification papers a person has to have? For example, my older brother named Fred studied law for four years, after which he went on to the Kenya School of Law for one year. This is mandatory for anyone who would like to practice law in Kenya. During that time, he also studied Human Resource Management for two years at a local college. And it didn’t stop there: He was also studying for his certified public secretary (CPS) exams at another college, which he completed after two years. But even that wasn’t enough. He just recently completed a master’s in business administration (MBA) at a university in the city. 

The question is: won’t we be old by the time we have all of these qualifications? When do we apply all of these skills that we have worked so hard to achieve? It seems the current job environment is a merciless, brutal and dissatisfied animal, always asking for more.  And just when I thought that Fred had put a cap on his education, he informed me that he plans to start school again – soon! 

Ironically, sometimes employers turn a person down for being over-qualified! I often get angry with the system here, which places such great demands on an individual yet hardly rewards the efforts made. It seems to me that the employers cannot seem to decide what they want! This is partly what leads to brain drain!

More investments are needed to make sure rural schools keep up

Another reason for the surge in people’s interest in more education is that there are now numerous opportunities for studying – especially at the higher education level. There are now more universities and colleges that offer degrees at fairly affordable prices. In addition, most of these universities now have campuses outside of Nairobi – closer to the people. For example, my mother did not have to leave her work and family to study for her degree because the university came to her. Only when she had to do exams or follow up on something did she have to come to the city.

The only challenge is how quality is assured such that those attending the universities outside of the main cities have the same resources and amenities as the ones in the main universities in the cities. This remains to be worked out!

Gender equality - a lot has changed, but more needs to be done

I wanted to write about women in Iraq this weekend, so I decided to meet with some from different walks of life. That way I could have a better sense of what females are feeling and thinking about in life and how much freedom they feel like they have. Now I want to describe some of the highlights.

First, I met a friend who teaches at a primary school. She’s married and has a kid. She is quite pleased with the freedom women have in this century.

“This freedom is still not enough – though much better than what we had in past decades,” she said.

“I think it’s better for girls to get married to someone whose occupation is the same as hers or at least similar – that way they understand each other better. I have a child, though, so working can be a problem because I have to send him to a nursery, and I’m not sure whether he will be as well behaved as I want. But I have no choice,” my friend added.

Me, conducting interviews

Next I talked with an unemployed young woman who graduated from a media college three years ago. She got a government job at one point but is very upset with what happened.

“The work depended sometimes on whether they were in the mood to employ you. Other times it just depended on what they thought about your specialty and whether it was popular,” she said angrily.

The third one was an old woman who never got to go to school when she was young. She had tears in her eyes when she talked to me.

“Son,” she started to say very sweetly, “When I was young, I lived in a village with my family. We had no school in the village – we didn’t even know exactly what school was. It was just the mosques that would teach our men and boys how to learn to write and read. Sometimes they had to leave their villages to do so. Back then, very few women were allowed to study, and that was only in the big cities,” she said.

A brighter future for the next generation?

“I feel very sad that I can’t enjoy this life because I feel like a blind person: I can’t read or write or join in modern life. But, fortunately, I can see my kids and future generations living full lives now. I remember sometimes that a letter would come for someone in the village, and there was no one to read it. Instead, we had to wait until the men came back. In those days, that was very normal, but when I compare it with now, I feel like it was such a disaster,” she continued with a heavy heart.

I think these three examples showcase the status of women in general in my country. They also show that change has been made over time. I hope we can have a better life among these changes, but we still have to try to do more. As the young generation, we should work on changing how the people in government think.

Me going through Argentina's graduation ritual

In December 2008, I graduated with a bachelor’s in communication with an emphasis in journalism. I wanted to work in audiovisual production back then, but later on I came to know that my aspirations didn’t matter much. What was important (and still is) was that I made something of my degree, and that somehow that came close to my original wishes. That means re-thinking your original plans when you realize where you are standing.

By the end of 2008, I was unemployed and continued to be so for most of 2009. Luckily, I had my parents’ place to live. Even more luckily, I managed to get accepted at the European College of Liberal Arts in Berlin with a very important financial aid package. I sat for my remaining final exams (that would make my title official) and departed for Germany by the end of September 2009. It was the best thing that ever happened to me.

By July 2010, I had finished my academic year and was starting to head back. I was offered a job at the college, but turned it down. My plan: go back to Argentina and find a job in audiovisual production.

So I was back home with my (non) job situation and a German friend who came to visit. I was unemployed for four full months. By then, I had sent CVs and emails for every job offer that had something to do with communications, posted the search on every possible social network, and developed some really cool multimedia CVs. The glorious helping hand came from a former college friend, Jessica, who was quitting her job to become a proper journalist. I was to become her replacement: a creative writer at a start-up online marketing enterprise.

I made good money. I could start thinking of independence. I became best friends with my co-workers. However, with time, I started to feel unhappy. I remember having a conversation with my boss one day outside of the office. I told her that we were trying to sell all of these things that people don’t need.

She then said, “But why do YOU care?”

“I don’t know. It just doesn’t feel right,” I said.

Celebrating graduation with friends in Berlin

Some time after that, the job hunt started again.

It took me a few months and quite a few interviews to get where I wanted to be. I was smart enough to send an email to Carolina, an old friend from the literary workshop I attend. I knew she worked in an NGO and thought I could give it a try. The timing couldn’t have been better. She was looking for a junior to start working on a new program. I changed jobs in three weeks time from our first email exchange.

When my new co-worker Celina asked me why I changed jobs, even though I make less money here, and I have a limited contract, I told her that marketing wasn’t my thing. Truth is, at the NGO, I encounter different realities than my own, I can work in programs that aim at social inclusion and better quality education – actions that imply a commitment to society from the perspective of the fellow other.

This is where my professional commitment truly lies. And I think it is worth blogging about these programs and actions because it generates a bit of a knowledge community. Getting to know what other people do can only broaden our perceptions and multiply the efforts, making it all better.