A few days ago, the dailies reported an incident in Limuru, Kiambu County where a couple of youth turned up for a recruitment drive drunk. They had attended the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) recruitment drive, and none of those who turned up made it through, owing to their drunkenness.  Just days before this, the Kenya University Students’ Union (KUSU) shocked many, proposing that the government puts jobless graduates on a payroll. The union suggested the government pays jobless diploma and degree graduates KES 5,000 and KES 10,000 respectively every month. In a country where we have insistently blamed the government for the state of joblessness, one wonders if perhaps we are cutting our youth too much slack.

 A recent Infotrak research puts the number of unemployed youth at 67%. This number increases annually as 750,000 of the young people join a market that can only absorb a few. While it is easy and perhaps befitting to always point fingers at the government, one wonders at what point the youth take responsibility for the state of joblessness in the country.

I cannot be the only one who has encountered young people who want to be spoon-fed. Once, I asked a friend what she was doing with her time now that she is out of school, “I have just been applying for jobs, sending letters, waiting for someone to call me in for an interview”, she said.

And while we wait for these jobs to come find us, we complain a little too much about job-hunting. Our friends at Diasporadical once wondered why we are always complaining, and when one posts job openings on social media, only two or three apply. In her case, they gave excuses for not applying for the lucrative position:  ‘My English isn’t good enough,’, ‘I’ll do it tomorrow.’ Perhaps, as the writer observes, complaining about jobs is our other occupation? I am in no way belittling the efforts by job hunters, or the agonizing state of unemployment in the country.

I just feel like most people want things to come to them, and it is not like they are offering any extra-ordinary skill in return. I have heard a HR officer in one of the leading banks in the country comment on how most applicants prefer administrative jobs. No one wants a job where they are actually going to work.

Instant Coffee

One of our readers describes the problem best- a generation of instant coffee, where most of our job seekers do not really want to struggle. They want success right now and right here. The enthusiasm is of course commendable, but many seem to have forgotten that this success does not just happen. Gina Din Kariuki once said that her years of hard work cannot be called overnight success. They are years of hard work.

 A while back, a discussion on twitter revealed that, behind the celebrated names, is a struggle story. A very well known CEO we choose not to name here revealed how he worked for years for no pay, just so he can gain the skills and network. Interestingly, on this very discussion were young people who had just graduated, and were appalled by the idea of KES 20,000 as the first salary.  At this point, one would only assume that there are young people idling at home simply because the money is not enough. Do not get me wrong. I believe that when it comes to work, satisfactory compensation is necessary. However, when it becomes the only driving force in the job market, then we do have a problem.

Thinking about all this, I am reminded of a conversation I had with a Kenyatta University student two weeks ago. “Most of us are not even looking forward to clearing school. We do not want the hustle that comes with looking for jobs”.

Perhaps, those working in companies’ human resource departments can tell us, are we really lacking jobs or people fit to fill?