A section of unemployed graduates in Eldoret, has cried foul over alleged discrimination by employers based on the institutions they attended.
The graduates say they have realised that a number of employers judge competency on the basis of the ranking and reputation of the learning institution instead of individual skills.
According to Festus Kiptoo, a university graduate, several employers determine how competent an applicant is in respect to how big, famous and facilitated the institution, making it difficult to access employment.
"It is unfortunate that I have been visiting various organisations for a year now seeking for a job opportunity to apply my skills and also gain more skills from the experience but it has been all in vain. Most employers reject our applications as soon as they check the learning institutions we graduated from," said Festus.
Jane Wairimu, another graduate from a local public university, noted that apart from the reputation of institutions, employers also deny graduates opportunities based on the performance of previous trainees, failing to consider individuals performance of other graduates from same institutions.
She said that if the habit continues, most graduates in various professions will be denied the opportunity to acquire gainful employment.
"This is failure to recognise individual competencies and also devaluing various small campuses which were upgraded and awarded charters by the former president, Mwai Kibaki in 2012," she says.