In this 21^st century, career placement is now increasingly being given priority by Universities. Like majority of Universities world over, the University of Nairobi is restructuring its career services through the Office of Career Services. The career services field is now undergoing a major paradigm shift to meet the current needs.

To effectively manage the students transition from University to the workplace, UoN has put in place strategies for students’ skills, personal and career development involving employer engagements. The office is promoting professional development among students by encouraging students to take up professional courses such as ACCA, Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) and Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) among others. This is achieved by partnerships with the different institutions offering the courses and encouraging students to take up the professional courses. CIPR for instance is being offered at UoN as a professional course open to UoN students, staff and outsiders.

The Career Office also promotes student interactions with employers and this helps students to be able to communicate with potential employers in a mature professional way. UoN taps on the strength of alumni in its employer engagement strategies. Alumni help share open opportunities in their institutions, share information on internship opportunities, offer career talks and participate in career development programs and mentor students.

The most on-campus UoN programs engaging employers include career talks, career clinics, career fairs, industrial visits and adjunct lectures from industry partners. Of importance to the Career Office is to offer a wide range of services to employers to give them options of participation and offer a match between employer needs and student interests.

Technical courses as well as technical jobs have in the past been male dominated. These are jobs that require hands on experience and most of the time they are physically and psychologically involving hence the misconstruction that only the male can cope with such courses and jobs. However, in the recent past, there has been a mass increase in the number of women taking up these courses and subsequently the jobs and the most amazing part of it is that they have excelled just as the male counterparts or even exceed and dwarfed them.

So what has brought about this change in the uptake of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) courses by females? It could be the realization that skills learnt have nothing to do with one’s gender but also the increased sensitization for the “girl child “to take up STEM courses. The Office of Career Services in partnership with Huawei Women in Technology hosted a career talk targeting female students enrolled for STEM courses at the University of Nairobi. The career talk’s theme was “Transforming Lives through Digitization” and was held on 13^th March 2020 at the UoN Towers, 4^th floor.

The Director of the Women in Technology program at Huawei, Maureen Mwaniki an alumnus of UON from the School of Engineering talked about the need to mentor the girl child to take up technical courses through providing resources and ICT equipment for girls. This is being promoted through Huawei’s mentorship program dubbed ‘Women in Technology Huawei (WITH). The purpose of the program is to attract more women into the Tech job market and encourage partner customers to recommend 8 women-owned suppliers to Huawei.

Laura Chite, the CEO at CIO East Africa in collaboration with HerNovation, a company deliberately budding women in technology is supporting women by offering them mentorship especially those pursuing technical courses in various institutions and levels as well as those in early careers to encourage them and to propel their careers to higher heights in the corporate and social world. The women are equipped with networking skills to enable them exploit all the available platforms of interaction with potential employers or clients. Equally, Laura laid emphasis on the women to acquire soft skills such as public speaking, people management, critical thinking and analytical skills to help them in developing their careers.

Esther Muchiri, the CEO eMentoring Africa (eMA) encouraged women to be their own mentors, make informed careers choices, set their goals and have a clear laid down plan on the ways to achieve their goals. Esther has a passion for providing guidance, counselling, empowerment and motivation to students and youth and through her passion, she is also reaching out to women in Tech to offer them mentorship.

Aprielle Moraa, the Managing Director, Infosphere narrated her career growth journey that has not been a walk in the park. She insisted on women especially the ones doing technical courses to never let other people look down on them and they should work hard despite the circumstances surrounding them.

Catherine Muraga, the Chief Information Officer (CIO) Sidian Bank said that one must be a brand in what he or she does. She also had a word of encouragement for the women in tech that dreams take time and that patience is a key factor in achieving one’s dream. She advised the ladies in tech to choose friends wisely since the power of friends has the ability to build or destroy one’s career. While noting that we all have areas of improvement, one must not seek validation from wrong places but rather be objective in looking for solutions to challenges they face. “Please take certifications after completing your studies. I remember being challenged by my male colleagues to take Microsoft Certifications. I did the certifications and immediately I completed them, my salary doubled,” said Catherine Muraga. Professional certification courses are now taken seriously by potential employers.

Barbra Okelo, a Data Scientist at the Strategy Department at Safaricom encouraged women to never settle for less since one gets what they negotiate for, she insisted on aiming higher in life.

Su Shuqi, the Head of the ICT Academy at Huawei Technologies, shared her personal success story on how she had to defy all odds to be where she is today. She further advised women not to let anything hinder their success but rather to be determined and focused.

The students were told to gear up for the 4^th industrial revolution that will create millions of jobs. Such technologies like artificial intelligence, internet of things, robotics, machine learning, and data science will create millions of jobs in future. Students were challenged to position and prepare themselves for the future jobs  by mastering new skills online.

This mentorship session and career talk was appreciated by the students in attendance. The female speakers who are soaring heights in the respective companies where they work inspired the students and gave them hope to realise their dreams. The Director of the UoN Office of Career Services, Mr. Johnson Kinyua gave a vote of thanks to the great women who came to mentor and empower young women in STEM. The office plans to hold more career talks and mentorship sessions for the students in a bid to empower them as they lay foundations for their careers.

The outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic disrupted so many functions and operations across all sectors in all countries in the world.

Following the announcement of the first COVID-19 case in Kenya, the government directed all learning institutions to be shut down as one of the measures to stop the spread of the disease.

In response to the directive and to ensure that learning continuous, the University of Nairobi (UoN) embarked on a programme to train its staff and students to enable them conduct teaching and learning online.

The staff were trained on all available online teaching and learning tools and classes have already been rolled out.

Dr. Diana Marangu, a lecturer in the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health at the School of Medicine has started teaching using these tools and says they are effective during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I have been able to use these tools to share materials and interact with students through lectures and discussion sessions and chats. I have found classroom best for posting content before the lecture. This makes the students aware of what is going to be taught,” Dr. Marangu says.

She says the online teaching and learning tools are quite intuitive to use, and she keeps learning new functionalities every day. The reception by her students has been so good.

“The feedback from the students has been great! They are equally excited and very interactive during the sessions as they share presentations, generate discussions, ask questions in real time during the sessions, and also use the chat function,” the lecturer says.

Dr. Marangu’s sentiments were echoed by one of her students Bryan Mwendwa, who attended the lecture online.

“I am honestly impressed by the online lectures. Even without COVID-19 it has been more impactful that the physical classes. I think the comfort at home, no hustle of traffic and early morning rush makes all of us clear at mind and easier to digest and interact.

I felt like a postgraduate student again. This is an opportunity for the University to come up with a similar platform and encourage distant learning we can impact many more doctors in the counties,”Mwendwa said.

Dr. Marangu says these platforms are extremely useful during this Covid-19 pandemic when there is need to exercise physical distancing to help flatten the COVID-19 curve.

She looks forward to using both Zoom and the Google Classroom for teaching purposes even after the COVID-19 crisis is over.

“I think we can also leverage these online applications to conduct some practical sessions for instance by making or sharing videos to demonstrate and have the students demonstrate back the specific skill they have learned,” she says.

At the Department of Surgery, Prof. Nimrod Mwangómbe also held an online lecture to postgraduate students in neurosurgery. The lecture was attended by about 20 students. Also in attendance were Dr. Julius Kiboi, the Chair of the Department, Dr. Chris Musau and Dr. Vincent Wekesa.

Dr. Kiboi said lecturers in his department have found online teaching to be effective during this time of COVID-19 pandemic.

In a communication to teaching staff on 4^th April, 2020, UoN Vice Chancellor Prof. Stephen Kiama said no one should be left behind and lectures should be recorded and shared with all students.

“For the sake of students who may have challenges to connect for some reasons, including timing of the lecture, it would be appropriate to record the sessions and share with them via email or WhatsApp,” the VC said.

He also urged them to hold tutorials and small group discussions with students. For post graduate students the VC asked lecturers to schedule seminar presentations and Journal clubs where the students may present and even lead in the discussions.

The Arava International Center for Agriculture Training (AICAT) was established in Sapir Israel,in 1994 with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Agriculture.In early 2016, President Uhuru Kenyatta and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed an agreement dubbed “The Jerusalem Declaration” or the “Declaration on Collaboration in Water and Irrigation” that would see fresh graduates from institutions of higher learning attend an 11-month practical training course in Israel.

The AICAT center trains over 1,000 students annually from Academic Institutes under 3 different programs: Diploma program, MSc program in Plant Science in cooperation with Tel-Aviv Univeristy and short term courses in Advanced Agricultural Studies.

The Center’s diploma program is based on the principle of Learning by Doing. The winning combination of practical training on an advanced and modern farm, theoretical studies, professional guided tours of the area and community life provides the students a unique and rich experience in Agriculture.

The Careers Service Office carried out interviews for this annual internship program on 11th and 12 March 2020 at the UON towers 4th floor. The applications for the same had attracted a large number of applicants both those undertaking Agricultural and Veterinary studies and all of them were invited for the interview. There was a 99% turn out for the interviews with 75 of the 78 attending.

Compilation of the results is ongoing with those who shall be successful are set to be invited for a second interview. Successful candidates from the second interview that will be carried out by a team from AICAT will be admitted to the program. This will be the fourth cohort of students being sent to Israel for this agricultural diploma program based on ‘learning by doing’.

Join the UoN Public Forum on COVID-19 on Thursday March 12, 2020 at the Chandaria Auditorium, UoN Towers, 6th Floor

The Office of Career Services organised an industrial visit to Unilever for 30 department of Chemistry students on March 3, 2020.

The core mandate of the UoN Career Office is to produce holistic graduates prepared for entry into the workforce and ready to become entrepreneurs. To achieve this vision, the Career Office regularly plans for students’ industrial site visits to potential employers and industry partners and this includes government institutions and bodies. The aim of the industrial visits is to provide an insight regarding the internal working processes of institutions and companies and offer an opportunity for students to interact with industries to know more about the real work environment and how businesses are transacted in the respective companies or institutions.

Charles Irungu Kimiti, the Head of Engineering and Projects at Unilever led the Unilever team to welcome the UoN team for the industrial visit. Charles, an alumnus of UoN from the School of Engineering who studied BSc. In Manufacturing Engineering indicated that he welcomed the industrial visit to give back to his Alma Matter and help mentor UoN students as they identify the career paths they would like to follow. Charles encouraged the students to be open-minded, agile, problem solvers, with a positive attitude and ability and willingness to learn.

Brian Amani, the Employer Brand Executive who started off as an intern at Unilever and an alumnus of UoN (BSC. Civil engineering) welcomed the students and made a brief presentation on Unilever’s core business and the opportunity students have to join Unilever to kick off their career paths. Unilever was founded in 18185 and has been a leadership factory for over 100 years.

Kevin Kevin Oywa, the Production Manager in the Personal Care Factory at Unilever East Africa and also an alumnus of UoN (Bsc. Industrial Chemistry) took lead in taking the students round the personal care factory for them to learn the process of production. Kevin encouraged the students to embrace the culture of seeking discomfort and to expand their minds to achieve much more in their careers. “For you to grow in your career, avoiding the comfort zone and seeking discomfort is inevitable”, said Kevin.

The industrial visit opportunity exposed students to the opportunities Unilever has to offer and students were encouraged to apply for the opportunities; the Unilever Leadership Internship Program (ULIP) which is open for students (3&4^th year) to apply every quarter and the Unilever Future Leaders Program (UFLP) that runs for 3 years and is a Management Trainee Program. The UFLP program targets final year students not over than 26 years of age with at least an upper second in their degree.

The students were accompanied by Mr. Johnson Kinyua, Director Carerr Services, Dr. Solomon Derese, Lecturer, Department of Chemistry and Naomi Nyaboga, Career Chief Information Officer in the Office of Career Services.

The Career Office applauds Unilever for this continued partnership in exposing students to industry processes and looks forward to more students gaining from this exposure and landing themselves opportunities with Unilever.

The Office of Career Services will hold interviews for students applicants interested in enrolling for the Arava International Centre for Agricultural Training (AICAT) 11-months agricultural diploma training on March 11^th and 12^th, 2020 at the UoN Towers, 4^th floor. The 2020/2021 cohort will be the 4^th group of students to be admitted to the program.

The University of Nairobi through the Career Office has been partnering with AICAT to offer hands on agricultural training to the College of Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences students since 2017. This is in line with the Big 4 agenda on agriculture and food security.

Based on the five year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Government of Kenya and the State of Israel, UoN is expected to send two more cohorts of students to Israel in 2020 and 2021. The 2020 selection will be the fourth cohort of students to be sent to Israel in July 2020.

A team from PricewaterhouseCoopers on Friday February 21, 2020 visited the University of Nairobi’s School of Business at Lower Kabete for a graduate recruitment drive. The students in attendance were from the School of Business, School of Mathematics and School of Economics. The team from PwC comprised of officers from different lines of service at PwC including Assurance, Tax, Advisory and the Internal Firms Services.

Dr. Githii Wainaina, an Associate Dean at the School of Business welcomed the team from PwC and encouraged the students to take advantage of the opportunity to apply for the graduate trainee program with the PwC, a top multinational company.

Mr. Benson Okundi a Partner and Director at PricewaterhouseCoopers welcomed students to the session and highlighted that the main purpose of PwC is to build trust in society and solve important problems. Mr. Okundi further noted that the firm currently has over 250,000 employees across 158 countries and this therefore provides a global network and exposure especially for young graduates to learn, grow and develop into the accomplished professionals that they aspire to be.

The 2020 PwC graduate recruitment program tagged ‘Be part of something special’ offers students a great global working experience to make a difference, build lasting relationships, for personal growth and to be recognized for outstanding contributions. PwC is therefore the right place for fresh graduates with different degree disciplines, backgrounds and life experiences to kick off their careers.

This sensitization session was also attended by the Director of Careers Services, Mr. Johnson Kinyua who encouraged the students to not only apply for the graduate trainee program but to also grasp the advice from the employer and make a difference in their life both academically and professionally. Mr. Kinyua took note of the shrinking job opportunities in the country and encouraged students to think out of the box in order to be relevant in this fast growing, dynamic yet hard economic times.

The team from PwC welcomed graduates from any discipline to apply for the program. The selected students will go through tailored training, learning and development programmes that are aimed at building strong foundational skills in the different lines of service that PwC offers.

UoN Alumni at PwC shared their working experiences. Paul Mwiti, a 2019 Bachelor of Economics graduate from UoN now working with PwC indicated that the firm offers highly streamlined services and is very supportive to its employees on personal matters. Other Alumni from UoN that shared their experiences include Rosemary Mundia (B.Com, Finance), Victoria Kibugi (B.Com Finance), Edwin Kago (Bachelors of Economics & Statistics), Eliud Ian (B.Com, Finance) and Joshua Kaunda (B.Com, Finance). Overall, the UoN alumni at PwC shared their great experiences ranging from skills development, personal growth, diversity and global professional experience among others.

PwC targets 2019 graduates and those who will have completed their course work awaiting graduation by September 2020. Applications for the graduate recruitment program were open from February 14, 2020 and will close on the 31st March 2020.Applications should be done online on the PWC website under the careers section where one is supposed to fill a form and submit the same for review. Successful candidates shall be notified through email.

The Office of Career Services values the partnership with PwC and encourages UoN students to apply for the graduate recruitment program.  We also appreciate the support being accorded to the Career Office by the Dean, School of Business Prof. Jackson Maalu.

The Office of Career Services in a bid to decentralize its services to all UoN colleges and campuses on Thursday February 20, 2020 held a consultative meeting with the College Management Board of the College of Biological and Physical Sciences.

The aim of the meeting was to understand the career needs of the College and how the students’ life in campus can be improved to enable the Career Office tailor its services to the College needs. The CBPS Principal, Prof. Bernard Aduda welcomed the Career Office and commended the team for reaching out to the College to consult on how the two entities can work together.

Mr. Johnson Kinyua and Ms. Naomi Nyaboga from the Career Office attended the meeting and top on the agenda were discussions on the academic calendar for the college, MoUs signed with industry partners and international universities, college-based career fairs and exhibitions, college-based career talks and mentorship, skills development programs and student talent shows. The Career Office will now receive feedback from the college based on the key areas of discussion in the form of a survey.

Feedback from the College Management Board included the need to improve on the workspace and equipment at the College level, consider career opportunities for post-graduate students, secure job and internship opportunities from both the private and public sectors including research institutions and the County Governments, conduct soft skills trainings for the students, build the skills of students to make them competitive for the job market and obtain more internship opportunities for students going on long holiday.

The Career Office will strive to get a solution for the college needs in a bid to improve the study environment for students and secure job and internship opportunities for the students.