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Money? Fame? What Do Young Job Seekers Really Want?

In a survey conducted with our Fuzu users, we set out to find out where job seekers find their information on job searching and what they really want from their careers.

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In a survey conducted with our Fuzu users, we set out to find out where job seekers find their information on job searching and what they really want from their careers.

For the average Ugandan job seeker, finding a job can be met with numerous challenges. As the country’s unemployment rate continues to rise, fresh graduates and junior professionals (those with 2-7 years of experience) are finding it harder to access job opportunities. Fuzu ran a survey with its Ugandan user base to establish what their typical job searching journey looked like in a bid to identify the gaps on their end as well as on the employers’ side.

When asked where they get their career advice from, a majority of the respondents said the internet closely followed by family and friends. Technology has given job seekers more freedom when it comes to looking for jobs with opportunities available on their mobile devices but seeking out familiar channels is still a popular way to go. There are a few reasons for this. Uganda is not unique in the sense that knowing people in certain positions is still a handy thing to have. A lot of people rely on referrals and familial or friendly connections to find working opportunities. Another reason is that there are certain professions that have not made the move to recruiting online depending on a stream or fresh graduates with universities they have partnered with. Some professions are also so specific in terms of who they seek e.g. medicine that they do depend on internal or networked knowledge for hiring.

But this question is beyond just the act of job searching, it specifically speaks to where people seek advice from and there, the internet remains a top resource for young job seekers.

During the job search, there are several barriers to a job seekers’ success. They may not be able to easily find job advertisements, be exposed to cons trying to make quick cash off their desperation or have no knowledge of how to interview. 61% of the respondents however said their biggest challenge is not getting feedback from employers. This ranges from a simple acknowledgment of receipt of an application to employers going silent after and interview leaving the job seeker to surmise that they have been unsuccessful but never being 100% sure of this. Finding the jobs in the first place is also hard to do because job seekers don’t have a central place where they can see posts no matter what industry they are in. If they do, they have to do this with little guidance through the application process. This is why a platform such a Fuzu could do well to serve them as they list several, verified jobs on their platform.

Millennials might get a lot of grief as not being patient enough and only interested in making money but the survey showed that about half of the respondents are most interested in making a valuable contribution to society. This is something that has been highlighted by HR practitioners worldwide - the idea that millenials want to find meaning in the work that they do above everything else which may explain their hopping from one job to the next. After contributing to society, job seekers are interested in learning within their roles. Money comes in after these two points as a motivator for career choices.

So what’s the message from job seekers? They want to be able to find job opportunities easily and ultimately find meaning in the work that do. As they continue to pursue their dream careers, they need all the guidance they can get.

Written by

Linda Kimaru

Author did not provide description


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