There is an increasing trend by IT recruiters to favour diploma holders in Kenya. This is based on random job adverts by some of the leading IT firms in Kenya who require that candidates possess a diploma in IT.
During one of his interviews on local media, Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore revealed the difficulty of handling university graduates when they are hired, as they purportedly deliver wanting results.
“I don’t have a degree. I am running a pretty large company and it would be hypocritical of me to run this company while telling diploma holders that they can’t work in the call centre,”My Collymore told the Nation. “At the end of the day, we will only utilize 60 to 70 per cent of this person’s potential. They will obviously have ambitions to utilize their skills more effectively.”
Mr Collymore’s revelation points to the blatant truth of the insecurity that university IT graduates face in getting a job as compared to their diploma counterparts. He describes the latter‘s aspirations as too difficult to handle.
Here are reasons why IT Recruiters in Kenya would rather hire a diploma holder in IT and not degree holders.
1. Extensive Training
The worst experience for an IT recruiter is interviewing a candidate with admirable academic qualifications but can’t connect a power cable to a computer.
Universities in Kenya are producing graduates who do not have the problem solving expertise that recruiters are looking for, producing half baked IT graduates who have nothing to show aside from their papers. In our interview with a recent graduate at a top university in Kenya, the graduate admitted that universities are doing so little to make graduates useful to their prospective employers.
“For those just getting out of university, know that what institutions are now offering may not match what the job market requires of you. Derive your own tangible means to get skills- that is what recruiters are looking for,” George Mbithi, a recent Moi University said.
Diploma students in Kenyan institutions are however instilled with top notch skills to tackle problems come the actual job exposure. There have been cases of universities in Kenya where computer students are taken through a whole course without laying their eyes on a single computer in their class sessions.
2. IT diploma holders are flexible
On the other hand, their degree counterparts snub certain types of jobs.
Degree holders are unwilling to take jobs they tag as too humbling. Such include technical jobs that require physical input. If you visited a construction site for instance, you will hardly come across qualified architects and engineers, those with degree qualifications working there. You are more likely to only find of diploma holders.
The point here is, degree IT holders in Kenya are too selective they would rather spend a lot of time looking for a particular job than accept a job that ‘would humiliate’ them. If they accept such a job, they do not put in a lot of dedication, believing they are not cut for such. This prompts most recruiters to only trust diploma holders to work with dedication for them.
3. IT Degree holders have unrealistic expectations
They will walk into an interview room with their minds fixed on a 5 digit number as their starting salary and nothing less. When it comes to the delivering at the workplace, their output is always wanting. Recruiters in this case resort to keeping a diploma holder who can deliver good results and accept a salary that fits in their budget.
The way you tackle the interview question about salaries determines whether or not you walk away with the job offer.
Degree holders in Kenya, as established above are expensive, restless and always looking for other opportunities even when they are employed. They have been established to give little at their jobs as they seek other ventures. No recruiter is willing to offer a job to someone who will not give their work priority.
4. IT companies are investing in training their own staff
Many companies in Kenya have academies where they train their own staff especially those with IT related job description. Those with diploma qualifications are more trainable from scratch. For instance, Nakumatt accepts candidates with a post-secondary certificate as a minimum requirement so that they are trained. The company is investing up to Sh100 million in in-house training to turn these recruits into management staff.
Even though it has been established that IT recruiters in Kenya would rather hire a diploma holder where there is a degree holder option, a successful job search comes back to an individual’s personality and aggressiveness. With a degree in IT, there are many ways you can convince the recruiter you are the best candidate for the job.
