INSPIRATION TO ALL JOB SEEKERS

Jobs are not served on a silver platter. While
some individuals are lucky to easily get jobs,
most people have confessed going through
hustles and bustles before they landed a job. It
is not new to hear people exclaiming in
Swahili, “Ninafanya Kazi ya Kutafuta kazi!” (I have
a job of looking for a job!)
Due to education been prioritized, many
individuals in Kenya are advancing their
qualifications day in day out. In the Kenyan job
market, it’s saddening that the people you know
matter more than how qualified you are!
When most people graduate, they become
frustrated after failing to land a job of their
choice. Although they earlier on inhabited in a
place with free internet access, they opt for the
last minute to start job hunting.
Out of campus and short of the income they
earlier on used to receive from home, survival
becomes hard and they are forced to go back
home. Parents view that since one is neither in
school nor working, it is only fair that you go
back home in a bid to cut cost.
Looking for a job becomes hard and the
graduate has to make occasional trips to the
city to drop his CV’s and other credentials.
Sometimes others dwell in their relative’s
houses as they look for jobs. The relatives
might mistreat them as they do not have any
income and rely on them.
Despite how qualified you are there always
seems to be another person who attended a
prestigious institution or worse yet who has a
better relationship with the boss more than you
do!
Nowadays, companies have crafted a new
interviewing strategy. Having decided forehand
the people they are going to employ, it makes
the rest undergo a couple of interviews and
later on, they break the news that you did not
qualify! For many, this is normally heart
wrecking, as it revives their hopes then drops it
all down!
I read an interesting confession of a young man
looking for a job. His situation is pretty much
what a lot of people undergo. He narrates, “Hi,
I'm the manager, step into my office please." So
you walk in there gazing at the employees of
the month list hoping you'll be on there soon
too.
Then he asks you a few questions, "So what did
you do at your previous job?" and "What are
some of your hobbies?" Inside you wish you
could tell him, "Oh I was a pimp. Hobbies you
say? hmmm, well when I'm not at some NRA
rallies trying to pass an act that makes guns
legal for infants, I'm out with the boys getting
drunk off our asses and getting into bar fights."
But instead you lie to him and say, "Oh I was a
clerk and I helped out all the customers with
their needs. My hobbies are playing chess and
figuring out math formulas to further enhance
my education for when I go to Harvard
University..." or some insane lie like that.
Then there's a few moments of silence...his
eyebrows slant downward as he looks at your
application. You are sweating at this point and
hoping he doesn't notice. Everything seems to
be amplified 50 thousand times. You hear your
application crinkling in his hands. You also wish
you hadn't had that heavy Breakfast coz now
you have to let one rip. Then he stands up, and
of course you do to. "Ok thanks a lot. We'll
CALL YOU BACK sometime soon to let you know
if we've decided to hire you. Thanks."
He gives you the hand shake, then smiles”-
Familiar, Right?
Another job hunting experience that people go
through is being told the boss is not in. A friend
confided that he once dressed up to meet a big
shot in a certain company. The young lad had
earlier on contacted the company’s director and
arranged for a meeting with him at 9:00 a.m. On
the D-date, he arrived thirty minutes earlier to
ensure he was on time.
As time went by, he fidgeted around chewing on
his nails, wiping sweat from his hands and
forehead and clearing his throat as he
constructed a speech over and over in his head.
When 9.00 a.m o’clock tocked, he asked his
secretary if the ‘Big man’ had asked for him.
She replied that he had gone out through the
back door for a while but would be back. He
opted to wait for him for hours when the
secretary spit out that he had gone to attend a
meeting in Kampala and would be back after a
week!
He could not understand why she had not said
that at the first place. He strolled back home,
feeling like his life had reached an end
As you look for a job, one drops numerous
application letters hoping to be called later on.
However this does not happen! The malicious
secretaries who do not posses half of your
qualifications dump the papers even before you
leave the door. However, while at home you
ensure your phone is never mteja and jump
every time it rings all in the hope that it is your
prospective employer calling you. Poor you! The
papers were trashed a long time ago!
The reference section is one where many
people assume that their employees don’t pay
attention to. One drafts random names like their
mother’s best friends and some use their sisters
or brothers as referees. A recently graduated
young lady probed to find out why she did not
get the job she had applied for and was told
that she had given out wrong referees thus her
credibility was doubted.
As you look for a job, know that you aren’t
alone.
Have you had an experience you would
love to share? Feel free to share it with us by commenting below