Over 8,500 students are today expected to graduate during the University of Rwanda (UR)’s third graduation ceremony.

Crucially, the search for a job remains a hassle for many fresh graduates.

But for Aloys Niyonsaba, the Kigali Employment Service centre manager, fresh graduates looking for jobs should register with the centre.

The centre links job seekers with prospective employers.

It also offers various skills to job seekers, including internship information, among others.

Niyonsaba said, in most cases, employers seek employees with experience in a given field while others require specific training which presents a challenge to fresh graduates.

"We register fresh graduates and help them based on needs assessment,” he said.

"For those with practical skills, we train them on how to create own jobs and this has turned out to be fruitful for many. We have formed strategic partnerships with various institutions and we link candidates to potential employers,” he added.

Niyonsaba said all job seekers are welcome, regardless of their academic background.

"Those who did practical courses are often the luckiest but all candidates stand chances of employment no matter what they did,” he said.

Simon Muramira, a fresh graduate from UR’s College of Business and Economics (CBE), says he would seek support from the centre only when he thinks he can get a permanent job, paid internship or serious trainings.

"Most graduates are equipped with theoretical skills and yet they really need practical skills, but imagine a situation where one has completed university only to undergo further training immediately without any form of pay. I would prefer to go to the centre when I am sure of being linked to employers or for a paid internship.”

KESC is a public one-stop career facility run by the City of Kigali in partnership with the Ministry of Public Service and Labour, and Germany Development Cooperation.

According to a survey conducted by Kigali Employment Service Centre, 1511 jobs were offered by 150 companies since the establishment of the centre three years ago, while 380 jobseekers (38 per cent of the applicants) got or created own jobs, with 60 others (6 per cent) getting internship placements out of the 2022 registered jobseekers.

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