Candid Confession: 9 Lessons I’ve Learnt About Kenyan Job Market After Graduating

By Jane Gakaria,
So next month it will officially be one year since I graduated from university. Two internships later and now I am at my first actual paying job. Life hasn’t been that great but I am still soldering on and can’t really complain.

That said the following are 10 things I wish I knew about the job market fresh from university.

One, the job market is quite competitive. The difference between you and someone else getting the job could be as little as a month’s difference in experience. Also, you think you’re the best until you meet a lot of people who can do what you do and do it better.

Two, the very big contrasts between school life and work life. At university, you could choose not to attend classes, sleep in, do things at your own pleasure basically with no one to follow after you. In your work life on the contrary, you’re always accountable to someone else. There’s no randomly deciding not to show up to work (unless of course you’ve quit your job), there’s a schedule to follow and you definitely can’t leave whenever you please.

Three, jobs aren’t automatic. I always thought getting a job would never be an issue, more so because I was from a very reputable university that’s considered amongst the best in media (what I studied for). And yet I found myself trekking with the thousand others who were also jobless until I landed my current job.

Four, just because people are older and more experienced than you doesn’t mean they are mature. I once interned at a place where I had a minor disagreement with my supervisor (a woman in her late forties), who proceeded to lock herself the whole day in her office so that she could avoid me.

She completely blew the whole thing out of proportion and went ahead to paint me as an ‘evil demon child’ just because I didn’t agree with her method of doing things.

Five, Masters and other postgraduate degrees aren’t as useful as you’d think. Most people rush to do them thinking it will give them an advantage in the job market, but really what it did for them was waste their money and leave them ‘unhirable’.

Six. Don’t dismiss the little guys, and by little I mean small companies. I’ve seen a lot of my colleagues clamor for the jobs in well known big companies yet smaller ones tend to have better working conditions and even better pay.

Seven, there are a lot of ‘meanies’ in the workplace. These are people with advanced knowledge and skills who just won’t help you out. Some because they’re just naturally mean while others won’t help you out for silly reasons like not liking you.

Eight, not all opportunities are missed opportunities. I was once offered an internship which would require me to work long hours (9-7pm, 6 days a week) and occasionally travel to Lodwar and Wajir. Mind you the internship wasn’t a paid one, and didn’t have any benefits other than the experience. It didn’t help that at that particular time Wajir was experiencing inter tribal skirmishes. I did turn down the opportunity as to me it didn’t seem worthy and seemed to ask too much of me. Anyway, a week later I got a better internship and literally jumped on it.

Nine, having a job definitely takes you out of your comfort zone. Even if you have the required skills, no amount of school prepares you to get over the hurdle of fitting in, working with people with different personalities, experiencing new difficulties or unforeseen situations and learning how to handle them.

In conclusion, this is just my first full year in the job market, and yet I’ve learned so much and I’m still looking forward to more lessons life has to offer.

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