Despite the high rate of unemployment in the country, employers in Kenya are in dire need of workers in the fields of information technology (IT), finance and business management, engineering, transportation, distribution and logistics and law.
Also, most enterprises (43.8 per cent) prefer workers with undergraduate degree, followed by technical and vocational education and training (TVET) at 34.9 per cent, while those with secondary education follow at 23.4 per cent. Only 12.1 per cent and 3.3 per cent prefer workers with masters and doctoral degrees.
However, they find it difficult to get workers with the right fit of skills. This is according to a recent report dubbed “Skills Needs Survey” conducted jointly by the Federation of Kenya Employees (FKE), Nexford University and Africa Digital Media Institute.
Jobseekers holding a bachelor’s degree are in demand for careers in IT, finance and business management and legal professions.
A healthy 50.5 per cent of employers said they seek employees with tech-oriented courses in various career fields. This is followed by finance and management 48.4 and legal professions at 36.5 per cent.
For holders of a masters degree, the most desirable programme is law with 10.4 per cent of employers seeking their services, while those with doctorate degrees are marketable in education and training (3.1 per cent) then science and mathematics professions (2.3 per cent).
At TVET level, workers mostly demanded are those in the fields of transport, distribution and logistics at 26.5 per cent, social service and community development (13.2 per cent), and hospitality and tourism at 11.1 per cent.
“From the findings of the study, it can be deduced that most of the career fields require bachelor’s degree and technical vocational education,” the report stated.
Should one consider a career in engineering, the course most sought by enterprises is computer and software engineering at 30.7 per cent, followed by electrical and electronics engineering (27.4 per cent), then mechanical and production engineering at 25 per cent.
Other engineering fields in high demand include civil and construction engineering (15.3 per cent), chemical and process engineering (8.3 per cent), agricultural engineering (6.3 per cent), biomedical engineering at 3.1 per cent and petroleum engineering at 0.6 per cent.
In addition to having academic qualifications, employers are also keen on the social skills of their staff with the most desired skill listed by 49.1 per cent of enterprises being effective communication, both written and oral. This is followed by critical thinking (41.7), collaboration and teamwork (25.7), time management (23.4), creativity (22.1), problem solving (21.1) and conflict resolution (20.7).
Technical skills most desired include management and computer use frequency which 36 per cent of employers said is mostly lacking in job seekers. This is followed by mastery of a foreign language at 28 per cent.
Whereas these listed career fields are on demand, FKE Executive Director Jacqueline Mugo said the quality of learning programmes offered to students should be redesigned to link the theory bit and the reality of job demands.
On his part, Nexford University Founder and CEO, Fadi Al Tarzi said that whereas employers may only seek to hire the best candidates, they still have to identify the market’s demands and conduct upskilling of their workforce to get higher performance.
“We have analysed over 30 million job vacancies and we have established that employers who upskill have better performance and have 30 per cent higher rates of employee retention,” he said.
