CareerBox battles Kenya unemployment
“One of our early ambitions was
to expand our African footprint, and the growing demand for Business Process
Outsourcing (BPO) in Kenya from international clients has helped us do just
that. Despite this increased availability of various contact centre-related jobs,
there are many youth and women in the country who have academic qualifications,
but are not technically ready for the world of work,” Lizelle Strydom, MD, CareerBox,
said.
According to her, this
environment gave CareerBox the opportunity to showcase what they are best at by
providing their industry-leading training programmes that better equip
individuals to thrive in their roles and progress in their careers in the
industry.
The Kenya branch has been set up
in a way that reflects the environment that can be found in South Africa, not
just aesthetically, but in terms of treating applicants with dignity, giving them
hope and instilling confidence in them.
Signalling the demand in the
Kenyan market, CareerBox’s initial request for 50 candidates was well-received,
with the number of applicants for the work readiness programme outstripping the
requirement several fold, and it had to bring teams in South Africa onboard in
order to attend to all the applicants.
Strydom disclosed a key
difference in the Kenyan market. While there’s high unemployment similar to South
Africa, the applicants have tended to be highly educated and hold graduate
qualifications or even higher. This has been reflected in the evaluation of the
candidates, with much higher pass marks being observed.
While the youth and women in
Kenya might have superior qualifications partly because their education system
is well established, there are still barriers to entry.
CareerBox is therefore looking to
identify people with talent and potential, who if nurtured and given the
opportunity, can be very successful within their organisations.
Promoting the adoption of impact
sourcing
As part of its efforts, CareerBox
is also looking to promote impact sourcing - a business practice where
organisations look toward previously disadvantaged communities to identify and
develop high potential talent and then provide them job opportunities - in
Kenya and raising awareness about how it’s becoming a requirement to doing
business with a growing number of global companies and even governments.
This includes highlighting the
business benefits of impact sourcing, including a comparable or lower cost to
traditional recruitment methods, higher levels of employee motivation, lower
attrition rates and fewer employee disputes.
Beyond just having a positive
impact on the employee, there’s a multiplier effect with these employees
contributing to the socio-economic uplifting of their families and communities.
“These organisations can leverage
off the fact that we are developing workforces for the future, with a view to
expanding their businesses. CareerBox has experience in working with customers
from across multiple markets, including the USA, UK and Australia and can apply
them locally across multiple sectors, including tourism for example, and not
just in contact centres,” Strydom added.
She continued that CareerBox is
also recruiting for a Head of Kenya, with a locally-based individual being able
to better build relationship with other like-minded organisations in the
services industry - be it in the BPO, retail or even hospitality - and expand
the pool of organisations that have a requirement for demand-led training.
Concluding, she said, “CareerBox
has shown you don’t need a degree or prior experience in order to get started
in the contact centre industry. However, with many Kenyans having degrees, it
makes it even better as they can make use of their qualifications to advance
through their careers. The BPO sector not only removes these barriers to entry,
but also gives women and youth the opportunity to be in an environment that
encourages them to excel and proudly be themselves.”
To find out more about the
opportunities at CareerBox and to apply for work, email info@CareerBox.co.za or
contact +27 (0) 31 286 1601.
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