Jobless Graduates Resort To Paid Internships To Survive in Kenya,
Jobless Graduates Resort To Paid Internships To Survive in Kenya
After completing their education, many university graduates continue to have an extremely difficult time obtaining employment.
Many unemployed recent grads claim they are frequently pushed to accept internship jobs in the hopes that they will soon be able to land a real job.
Some of the grads admitted to Wananchi Reporting that, in order to live, they have been switching between internships. that most internships do not result in employment.
Many people constantly pursue paid internships in an effort to secure employment while they wait for luck to favor them.
Peter, who at the university majored in Project Planning and Management, claimed to have completed more than three internships.
According to Peter, who received his degree two years ago, “the reality is that most internships ultimately result in nothing tangible.”
Although many people are rushing to sign up for paid internships as a sort of temporary employment, there are many difficulties involved.
Interns in Kenya should be given complete protection under the Employment Act of 2007 and Article 41 of the Constitution, including employment stability, just compensation, and suitable working conditions.
They claim that reality is frequently different from what is said.
Just one year after I graduated, I recall getting a job as an intern at a hotel in Nairobi. I wore a suit when I showed up at the site intending to build the country,” he claims.
“I occasionally found myself clearing hundreds of dishes and towels as a waiter. According to him, the internship had nothing to do with project planning and management.
Despite his lack of on-the-job training, he was expected to perform at a level that is virtually equal to that of full-time employees as any other employee.
I was offered Sh7,000 a month from the hotel, along with food.
He claims the food was helpful because he usually always didn’t have enough money for bus ticket and needed the energy to walk home.
“Just to get to work, I would borrow friends’ bus ticket. Sometimes I would make up illnesses just to avoid having to leave the house at 4 am to make it to work at 8 am, he says.
On some days, he would trek from Nairobi City to the house they shared in Kayole. The internship came to an end after three months of labor and he was fired.
His second and third internships were each for three months, after which his employers fired him.
He claims that he is an intern at yet another company right now, and that his position has nothing to do with his academic studies.
“I’m being paid a stipend and meals of Sh10,000 here. Being unmarried and living alone makes it simple for me to get by, he told Wananchi Reporting.
In a shared WhatsApp group with a few of his close pals, all of whom are unemployed university grads, Peter claims they frequently post paid internship offers and check in on one another’s well-being.
He claims to know other university grads who depend on paid internships to make ends meet.
Maryann, who earned a Bachelor of Science degree a number of years ago, has spent the last five years scouring Nairobi’s streets for a reliable work.
All she keeps running into are paid internships, which provide little hope of developing into full-time employment.
“This place is challenging. Age is quickly catching up with us, and many graduates simply go from one internship to the next,” she says.
Many claim that they frequently receive assignments that nobody else wants to perform, such as making coffee runs or tidying up the conference room after meetings.
Peter claims that the way they are treated frequently causes tension or overwhelming feelings, which may prevent some people from reaching their full potential in their careers.
Many call for a uniform, controlled, state-run internship program that also involves the business sector to prevent graduates from being exploited and having their careers destroyed.
