The City of Kigali last week inaugurated an employment service centre expected to help connect job seekers with prospective employers. This is a commendable gesture considering that thousands of Rwandan youth join the labour market every year with hope of getting formal employment. The unemployment rate is said to stand at over 10 per cent in the city alone. With an online registration by the centre, around 100 jobseekers were registered on the first day. However, the job centre needs to be more practical and extend their role to be able to coach the users about the realities of job searching. It won’t be an automatic process that when jobseekers walk to the centre, they will walk out happy. Jobseekers, especially the youth, need to know that looking for jobs needs some humility and realistic expectations. The problem which the youth face is that sometimes they have a sense of unrealistic expectations even when it is clear that it is difficult to match one’s education with their job expectations. Patience is also paramount in job searching and once one gets a job, it won’t solve their needs and aspirations overnight. For example, dreaming of owning a posh house and a big car after leaving school and working for a few months or even years, is not being realistic. The youth should be encouraged to take up the available jobs while they wait for their dream jobs. There are several initiatives to create jobs, like Hanga Umurimo, which ideally means youth should not look at white-collar jobs alone. The road to success does not lie in white collar jobs that some scholars have referred to as corporate slavery. With financing and skills, proper roads and electricity supply in place, the youth should be able to create own jobs. Also, the youth should look to acquire useful skills for them to be competitive both on local and regional labour market while looking at self employment. The newly launched employment service centre should not in any way undermine the need for continuous creativity and innovation.
