For all those wanting to move back to Kenya and work....

I found the following on a Kenyan Jobs blog site. Very interesting and shockingly true. I know a couple of people who've come back and found it immensely difficult to adjust to a country that is heavy on certification.

http://kenyanjobs.blogspot.com/2009/09/job-search-experience-from-usa-with.html?showComment=1266799837386

Job Search Experience: From USA with Great Expectations of the Kenyan Job Market

So I decided to return to Kenya after ten years abroad. I figured that with over 8 years of experience working in the United States of America, it should be a breeze finding a job here in Kenya.

So every day I went to the cybercafé and sent out email after email with my resume attached. Funny enough after two weeks of sending out emails, there were absolutely no responses to my enquiries or even my submissions to advertised jobs. I thought that was very strange.

I have a Bachelor of Commerce degree and a Master of Business Administration degree. I am also very interested in software so most of the jobs I have held have required both Information System skills and business acumen. In every company I worked for in the USA, I got rave reviews and that’s saying something.

The last company I worked for in the USA tried hard to make me stay but I really had my heart set on returning home. I have experience managing large budget IT and process improvement projects all of which were completed on time and under budget. The projects all achieved their objectives. I really should have been flooded with email and phone requests for interviews! But not one company responded. It was time for a strategy change.

First I registered with the recruiting firms that I knew about. The first recruiting firm called me up because they thought I was a good match for a project management position they had. After looking through the job description, I thought, “Bingo, I found my job!’ The interview did not quite go as I expected.

As much as a tried to steer the conversation towards a discussion of the projects I had successfully managed, it somehow shifted towards a discussion of how well I knew a particular ERP software. I explained that my most fulfilling experience was actually managing the implementation of an ERP that I had never used before. I also explained that I am a really fast learner and enjoy a challenge. I don’t think she was convinced. I never heard from her again. No matter. I had to keep looking.

Things went much better with the next recruiting firm. They were very professional. They also had a job in mind for me but they needed to meet me first and have me pay a membership fee.

The vacancy was for a business analyst position. They wanted someone who could analyze business processes and determine if there was a software that could be written, purchased or modified to improve the process. I had done this is the USA and was very excited that this would be the job for me. They also need ed the applicant to be conversant with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. That was my speciality in the USA! Oh, this was it.

After our meeting, the recruiting agent was happy with me and submitted my resume to the hiring company. Just like me, the people at the recruiting agency thought that I would get the job. At the company, I was interviewed by two men. The interview was held on a little round table in the office of one of the men.

This was a very strange interview.

This was how part of the interview went:

THEM: Do you like sports?
ME: Yes.

THEM: Which sports do you participate in?
ME: Well, I have recently started to play golf. I also play squash, swim and cycle.

THEM: Do you like to party?
ME: Once in a while I will but I do not do it often.

THEM: Do you like house parties or would you rather go to club?
ME: I prefer house parties that do not have really loud music because I like to have conversations where I can hear what other people are saying and I don’t have to shout to be heard.

THEM: Do you like to have people over to your house?
ME: Yes, I do. I like to invite friends over to watch movies, play cards and games like Taboo.

THEM: What would you rather do: go out to play golf or invite your friends over for a game?
ME (quite puzzled by now): Well, I guess, I would prefer to have my friends over.

THEM: How old are you?
ME: (That is an illegal question in the USA, can they ask this in Kenya? I don’t know if it is illegal in Kenya so I’ll go ahead and answer it): 29

THEM: Where do you live?

That had to be the strangest interview. They did ask a few questions about my qualifications but for the most part, I felt like I was being interviewed for a date. I was quite confident about my skill match for the position and they both seemed like really nice people. I was looking forward to working with them and asking them why they asked such strange questions at the interview. After two weeks I hadn’t heard from them or the recruiting agency. I wrote one of the men an email asking what the progress was. He wrote back saying I did not qualify.

So emailing wasn’t working, recruiting firms seemed promising but I had had no luck so the next strategy was to call up people I knew. I called up all the people I knew to let then know that I was looking for a job and need their help.

Another thing I did was to cut off my dreadlocks. Maybe they were putting off some recruiters.

The strategy of using my network of friends and acquaintances was the most successful. I got an audience with people from several of the firms that I would like to work with.

After four months of searching, I did find a job.

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Posted by jobsinkenya at 5:41 AM

Labels: Job Search Tips, Job Search Incidences

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, I really can relate to your experience. Came back to Kenya after 10 years in the IT Management field in Canada - and you just wrote what I am experiencing. I am in my 3rd month now and possibly just maybe close to getting a job. But what a culture shock its been!

Thanks for posting your experience.
October 6, 2009 1:49 PM
Anonymous said...

I can imagine the experience... Jobs are so hard to find...you need connections and influences to land on a good job...It's so heart breaking!!!I have had a number of interviews.. where the interviewer would ask.. what does your father do?? what does your mother do?instead of concentrating on what you can do!!!!!!it's so unfortunate that the answers you give will determine whether ul earn a good pay or not............if the father is poor be sure to earn less than 15k for a graduate!!!!and if your father is rich........why are u seeking employment then???they would remark....go and join your father in doing business......that would be a farewell for you and your papers thrown away..Hope this mentality will change one day... it has been persistent for a long time now
October 19, 2009 6:24 AM
Anonymous said...

Weird, but I'm sort of happy that I'm not the only one going through that. I had begun thinking that there's something about me that really turns the prospective employers off. I have a degree from a university in the USA and even before graduation, I actually applied to so many jobs in Kenya in the hopes of being an intern. None responded. After graduating, I worked at a local airport in Houston, but still kept applying for aviation related jobs back home, because that's where I want to be. None ever responded, yet day in day out, they keep posting new jobs on their sites. It really is sad, especially when one is dealing with big companies that try to portray themselves as being equal opportunity employers, yet that's exactly what they're not.
November 10, 2009 12:13 PM
Baraza said...

that is the way to go,know some few people here and there,papers are not everything since if we ask for papers how many people will bring them,so many.job hunting is very hard especially if the HR are asking for strange things,recently i saw a job advert of a Logistics Manager who should have Degree in Law,and another one which was still Logistics Coordinator who should have Degree in IT,so what about those specialist in Procurement and Logistics,is this not there work.
November 26, 2009 2:33 AM
nelly said...

i know the feeling, i came from japan in 2008 Dec with what i thought was an impressive CV (i can speak and write japanese for heavens sake how many in the job market can do that!!) till now i havent found a job!! and am giving up on kenya, am planning how to go back and stay there, we need to start employing people for what they can do not for who they know!! its time we stopped running our country like the free mason where you have to know one to be one! you know what the saddest part is , no one in JKIA (airport) has a mastery of language like i do (did i say i speak french too and have an economics degree from ritsumeikan, and experience working in Tokyo!!) ive given up on kenya!the world is a village nowadays anyway, whoever said i have to be tied to where i was born?
January 4, 2010 2:40 AM
Anonymous said...

nelly and the rest, please stop complaining.To get a job in kenya you must be VERY SMART and not necessarily know somebody...its simple there are so many others you dont know who are smatter than you.I have a degree in Computer science-egerton university,certifications in sun solaris,certification in SPSS-statistical analysis, a diploma in banking and i am now taking Oracle certification.I have changed 5 jobs in the past 4 years and i never apply for two jobs without being called for an interview by one and i am only 28.i at one time got two jobs and kept one appointment letter for BBK in the house in 2007.so its simple...go back to school and get more and more certifications in as many fields as possible and ensure that you are a master in all.there are others who have better papers and will always get an upper hand in job hunting in kenya!
January 7, 2010 1:25 AM
Anonymous said...

Strange that they asked you such illegal and irrelevant questions. I think your downfall was actually answering those questions. They may have been testing you to see how far you'd go. Maybe do some research on the type of interview questions kenyan companies ask. Hope you find something soon!
January 9, 2010 6:05 AM
mercy said...

My simple advise to the people coming from abroad is - Keep yourself simple.Dont try to over-impress your interviewer by the fact that you were studying abroad coz it gives them a leeway to tease you.
Next,if someone asks some obnoxious qstns such as what your mother does, kindly remind them that the Q n A is about you.It doesn't hurt to show them that you know what you went for at the interview.Remember,most of them will not ask that unless they want to put you off.So again, don't intimidate these fellows with your foreign accent, or papers.Then again, I honestly wonder if recruitment firms ever help anyone.Be careful, they will only want to spend your money.
Sorry about your experiences.
January 11, 2010 4:47 AM
Anonymous said...

Its real shame that kenya will not progress.WHY?you have to know somebody ,who know somebody to get connected to work.They should encourage people from abroad to come back more so that our country could prosper from foreign experience we have gained.I am longing to come back home but my fear is to end up as a housewife and never getting a chance to put my experience and career in use.
They should learn from South Africa,china,India Record shows 40%of south african's always go back home because of jobs availability.
BY the way do kenya travel & hospitality companies realise utalii college is not the only qualification in the country!
January 11, 2010 3:47 PM
Anonymous said...

Kenyan employers are too cheap hiring overqualified people for peanuts. The qualifications they ask for are practically unattainable i.e if you had them all you would just be basically competent in either field and an expert in none. No wonder we are a 3rd world country! In developed countries they hire you for your abilities rather than papers.
February 21, 2010 4:50 PM

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Opening a Post Office Box in Nairobi

This was incredibly easy. I'm still reeling from how simple and quick the whole process was considering the institution is part of a bureaucracy. And also because I went to one of the smaller Post Offices! Forget GPO (00100) or City Square (00200). I shuddered at one of the employees suggestion of going to the Nyayo Stadium post office to try my luck as the first two are completely full and there's a waiting list the length of the ICC corruption charge sheet.

I remembered on many of my walkabouts to Biashara (Business) Street where you can find any and all kikoy fabric and touristy stuff at normal prices, that there was a new branch at the Jamia Mall which is right next to the very large and active Jamia Mosque. The Jamia Mall is what I would imagine upscale Mogadishu would offer. It's a three story building with a hotel at the top called the Jamiat Hotel. The post office is right next to it in the same building. There are no queues! At all! And the process of opening the account was painless and fast and I've now discovered a place to make my DSTV payments in addition to other utility bills.

The only problem I forsee is its location. A few weeks ago, there was a riot and most of the action took place around there so there are still some missing window panes all over the place. But other than that, a lovely spot and smack dab in the city.

Something nice about Kenya....finally.