As a part of their mandate to ensure the smooth transition of students into the job market and empower with the technical knowhow required, the University of Nairobi’s Office of Career Services in partnership with the University of Nairobi’s Confucius Institute and Industry partners hosted a three day career fair from 17 – 19, May 2023. The career fair themed,  ‘Leveraging on Technology and Innovation in the evolving job market ‘ brought together industry partners, students from Universities and Colleges and high schools as an attempt to share knowledge on how best students can take advantage of the evolving job market from as early as high school.

The career fair was characterized by various break away sessions, career talks for high schools students and vital panel discussions comprised of students and industry partners. The Career Fair emphasized on the need for students to understand digital skills and the primary position they have began to take up in the once traditional job market. The industry partners gathered shared insights on how technology and innovation have revolutionized traditional jobs and the traditional job market. They emphasized on the need for students to pair up their courses with extra courses in digital skills such as Digital Marketing, Web Design, Graphic design, Software Development just to mention a few.

Both industry partners and representatives from the University of Nairobi continued to emphasize on the need for students to take advantage of technology and social media to create and maintain a digital profile. This allows students to showcase their skills and professionalism to potential employers giving them a chance to understand them better. This calls for students to be very careful with the kind of content they share on their social media pages with emphasis that, ‘the internet never forgets.’

It goes without saying that the Career Fair was a tremendous success, as university students reported having better understanding of the job market they were about to go into and how to prepare for it better to make sure that they were not only prepared for the transition bur also well equipped for it.

“Digital skills are the future,”

Joyce Wangeci, Moonsun Pictures

By Mary Oloo