Revelations that the Tuskys internship programme attracted 3,000 applications for the 800 internship positions available shows how desperate Kenyans are in the job market.
Of these applications, most were from masters and bachelors degree holders according to the retailer. There were diploma and certificate holder applicants also.
Dan Githua, Tuskys chief executive says, “The fact that even holders of master’s degrees are looking for internship is a pointer that we have a huge role to play in filling in the skills gap.”
The applications show that Kenyans are educated but the employment market is saturated.
In partnership with KCB Foundation, the internship programme which targets 1,600 will see the bank recruit another 800 interns who will then be seconded to Tuskys for the training.
Those who are shortlisted will be deployed across Tuskys’ 54 branches. They will mainly work as cashiers, back office operations, fresh department (bakery and deli), and shop assistants.
In a statement on Tuesday, Tuskys said the programme targets the youth, who have limited opportunities, are in marginalised areas or lack resources to seek out training and job opportunities offered by the programme.
The internship programme commenced in 2015 in a move aimed at addressing youth unemployment and moulding staff to suit the needs of the retail sector.
So far, about 700 interns have been trained and most of them absorbed by the supermarket.
Partnering with KCB will see 1,600 interns trained annually for the next five years.
The partnership between the two companies also targets 13,000 youths in 22 counties for contract farming opportunities in agribusiness.
In 2014, a blogger by the name Vera detailed how it was hard for her to get even an unpaid internship as she pursued her masters degree.
When she finally landed a job after six months of tarmacking, she says it was completely unrelated to anything she had ever wanted to do.
Vera shares her story to bring out the issue of over-education in Kenya because regardless of being highly educated, Kenyans still suffer unemployment.
The question now is, why has the education system failed so terribly that instead of producing creators, it is mass producing graduates who cannot innovate?
4 out of 10 Kenyans are unemployed because they cannot fill in positions as they have spent a lot of their time in school and have no job experience to show. Many opt to go back to school and get more education – which is not what they need.
The reality is Kenyans are over-educated and unemployable meaning the opportunities lie in self-employment.
To make it, the secret lies in acknowledging that you do not have to be employed to succeed in life. Sometimes self-employment is the answer.