A platform improving graduates’ employability

Annual reports on employment from the World Bank indicate that around 900,000 Tanzanian youth enter the job market every year, but only 50,000 are able to secure employment. This is partly because the majority lack skills to apply for jobs and work.

Due to such shortcomings in the employment field, a platform seeking to help youth secure employment, and also help companies get the right employees, Niajiri, was founded in 2018.

Niajiri is an online platform that links employers with ready-trained market graduates. It provides efficiency and transparent experience for employers looking for competent job-ready entry-level talent.

How it all started

In 2014, Lillian Madeje and her friend decided to register their own company called Ekihya limited, a boutique strategy and management consulting company, serving organisations in Tanzania with tailor made business solutions to promote efficiency and effectiveness in their daily operations. After her friend got a job elsewhere, Lillian had to run Ekihya alone. Today, Ekihya serves as the mother company of Niajiri.

Whereas Lillian’s journey into helping graduates find jobs started off as a normal business venture, it is through her first tender that she got to realise the provenance of some of the problems graduates face in the recruitment field.

“We got a tender from Coca Cola Company, there were more than 1000 CVs and they wanted only 10 people, we went through all their applications, we did interviews and we were able to get the best ten people,” Lillian says. “From that experience, I discovered that many graduates do not know or don’t have an idea on how to write their CV, they don’t know how to market themselves,” she adds.

Start of Niajiri

Lillian had to find a way to help graduates who want to get jobs but don’t have skills required by employers. She thought of a way that she could provide them with skills without actually meeting them in person.

Through research, she discovered that about 61 per cent of Tanzanian graduates do not have the job-ready market skills, so when she came up with Niajiri, she wanted to find a solution for both employers and graduates.

“The platform provides solutions to the employers and the market by using data and artificial intelligence to help identify and nurture skills,” Lillian says.

“Until now, we have registered more than 1500 CVs and at least 3000 youth who are undergoing different types of capacity building and 13 have already secured jobs in different places,” she says.

Though she pursued her higher education abroad, Lillian believes that education provided here in Tanzania is adequate enough to provide one with all necessary skills required to secure a job.

“One of the problems is that graduates don’t like exploring and learning extra skills either through the internet, or other platforms where they can access more information on different topics,” says Lillian.

She further notes that, most of the youth have access to smartphones phones which are connected to the internet but they don’t use them as tools to add valuable skills, instead they use them for social media to pass time.

Julius Kimaro, 25, graduated from National Institute of Transport (NIT). He is one of the beneficiaries of Niajiri platform. Before joining the program, he had failed to attain a job even after being called to four different interviews.

“This program gave me skills necessary for the job market, it helped me to understand how to answer interview questions properly and how I should dress for the interview,” says Julius.

Many graduates lack employability skills, it is not that they don’t know anything about that particular job or that the education system is bad, but rather they don’t know how to present what they have. And therefore the employer finds it difficult to hire them.

“At first I didn’t even know the right way to answer emails, but through Niajiri I’ve learnt all that,” he adds.

Julius advises graduates to enroll themselves to programs that will provide them with necessary employment skills so that they become ready whenever an opportunity arises.

Julius, however, adds that sometimes graduates don’t get jobs because they don’t have the skills that are needed by employers.

Gillian Mbaga, 23, is another beneficiary of the program. “Niajiri program teaches us how to write CVs, problem solving skills, interview tips, emotional intelligence and other employability skills,” she says.

“The platform shapes graduates, it gives you all skills on how to behave and answer interview questions correctly, it also teaches on how to build confidence and strengthen your points during and after the interview,” she adds.

Tanzanian graduates have a lot of knowledge but they don’t know how to apply such knowledge, “we don’t add value to what we have and what we have learnt from school,” Gillian says, adding, “Most of us think graduating with a high score is the only way to be competent in the job market, the truth is, what we learn in school is important but we also have to add value to our knowledge by going through different sources of knowledge like the internet and other platforms such as Niajiri.”

She also advises the youth to minimize time spent on unimportant things like gossiping on social media and invest more time on developing their knowledge out of school.

“Platforms like Niajiri are free, you only have to dedicate your time and you will benefit,” she states.

Nyangeta Robian, 25, a graduate of Bachelor of Art in Public Relations and Advertising, Udsm, says Niajiri helped her to discover herself and her personal potential.

She says she now knows the things to consider before and during the interview, how to brand herself in the job market and social media, because nowadays employers will go through social pages of interviewees to know their reputation.

“I have also learnt to analyse my points of weakness and how to turn my weakness into an opportunity, it has made me stronger and confident enough to compete in the job market,” she says.

Nyangeta has further learnt how to set smart goals and how to make them a reality. “We learn things in school but we don’t usually go an extra mile in order to improve our skills and be ready for the job market,” she says, adding, “I have also learnt how to bargain for a better salary and things to consider when signing a contract, this is another area where most of the fresh graduates fall short.”