Shortage of skilled manpower remains a concern for employers yet on the other hand, a number of graduates struggle to find employment. This can be termed as a ‘skills gap.’ It basically describes a fundamental mismatch between the skills that employers rely upon in their employees, and the skills that job seekers possess. This gap is attributed to a number of factors such as the ever changing face of technology, variations to the structure of the economy, among other factors. Due to this, it has been observed therefore, that it is not an easy task regarding the must-have skills that one will require to land a job on the job market. Henri Nyakarundi CEO and founder ARED group says what is required is more exposure for students’ incentives, where companies develop more internship programs so students can get practical experience and develop exchange programs. First of all, he notes it is very important for job seekers to pursue interests other than trends. “Do something that interests you, and within that field, you need to do research and get familiar with the skills that you need. It would be a wrong approach to do something just because it’s popular, young people should follow their passion rather than follow trends,” he says. Nyakarundi stresses the relevance of knowing what you want to do, researching the respective section and understanding what is on demand and work towards gaining the skills. Yussouf Ntwali the chief operations officer at BAG Innovation, a gamified digital platform that collaborates with universities and employers in East Africa to offer real-time access to experience-based learning for University students, says skills gap is a massive challenge in Rwanda. He points out that there is especially limits with the number of young talents to hire because most of the companies now days require entry level talent. Ntwali therefore believes learning institutions have a big role to play in closing the skills gap, through platforms such as career development in universities. For him, internships are good but not enough because not every student would get an internship platform, “BAG came up with digital internship which can be accessed by thousands of university students. Young people need practical exposure and experiences with soft skills such as critical thinking, communication and problem solving to begin with.” He advises learning institutions to work with non-government organisations and companies in identifying the market demands and introduce new programs that will equip students with the needed skills in different fields. Gilbert Nziza, a student notes that the competency based curriculum encourages students to be competitive and try to acquire more knowledge and skills by themselves, though he says, this can be a little bit complicated. For him, learning institutions should put in place platforms that would facilitate interactions with employers where they would understand the skills needed and then set a platform for students to acquire those skills.
