By Our Reporter
Online job portal BrighterMonday will on the 29th of January 2016 hold a career expo at Kyandondo Rugby Grounds from 8am to 6 pm. The event aims at creating a platform through which employers and job seekers can connect.
The rationale of the Expo will be in line with various reports that have been released indicating there is an unprecedented rise in unemployment in Uganda. An International Labor Organization (ILO) report released in 2013 for example indicates the population of youth (18 -30 years) in Uganda’s labor force has grown from 4.2 million 2005/06 to 5.5 million in 2009/2010. It is estimated that number will grow to 9.5 million by 2015.
This rise in the labor force is coupled by a graduate un-employability challenge affecting university graduates seeking jobs. A 2014 World Bank report for instance explains that even with the creation of job opportunities over 70% of an approximated 400,000 fresh graduates in Uganda are unemployable due to skills deficiency.
The Expo has therefore been designed as a collective effort to address the various challenges within the employment sector such as finding the right candidates and finding the right employer along with addressing graduate un-employability in Uganda.
“With unemployment, underemployment and an increasingly young population, our country requires all stakeholders to step up to the challenge of creating sustainable solutions for the youth. This Expo will become one of the many platforms through which collective effort in addressing these challenges begins,” explained Brian Ntambirweki, Marketing Manager BrighterMonday Uganda.
The event will be fully packaged with a number of activities including on-spot interviews, an entrepreneurship hub for young entrepreneurs to showcase their innovation, volunteering and internship opportunities, entertainment, food courts.
“Graduates will have the opportunity to interact with a diverse group of employers which will go a long way in exposing what is basically required of them in the employment world. In addition, there will be hourly career guidance training at the Expo that will ensure graduates gather as much information as possible on what is entailed in their career life,” he said.
BrighterMonday has partnered with different organizations for the Expo; including NTV, the Human Resource Managers Association of Uganda (HRMAU) and AIESEC; a non-profit organization that provides volunteering and internship opportunities for university students across the world.
