Digital training firm Ajira has called on youths in the country to not only rely on one specific skill obtained from school for the rest of their career life.
Speaking on the sidelines of the 2023 East Africa Employability summit in Nairobi, Ajira Digital training and job resources manager Simon Murimi said the current job market is looking for problem solvers with more than one skill.
The current labor market seeks one to have at least one different skill, beside the basic school training. This why we as Ajira, conduct free training programS with possible job linkages to foster employability among the youths, who make the largest proportion of the country’s population yet the hardest hit with unemployment,” Murimi said.
Data by Youth Congress shows out of every 10 unemployed Kenyans, seven are young people aged 35 and below.
Ajira therefore calls on youths in schools and out of school to undertake extra upskilling program to gain an upper hand in the job market.
The training programmes offered by Ajira for example, are free running for a period as less as two days, with a minimum requirement of just a national ID.
This is as recent survey by the federation of Kenya Employee also listed soft skills are a major need that employers are looking for in their recruits.
“We have recently established in concurrence to the Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE’s) recent skills need report, that skills mismatch, lack of soft skills and lack of self driven motif among the youths, are among reasons rendering most youths jobless.”