Unemployment has been a crisis in Kenya. Universities are churning out over 10,000 graduates yearly to compete for just a handful of the labor market. Laced with corruption, tribalism and nepotism, very few make it into the job market and the once revered degree qualification becomes good for nothing. Truth be told it’s not easy to get a job all by yourself. If your application is not sabotaged by someone from the inside, then the requirements put up by the recruitment team are too demanding financially.
Employers struggle to make the recruitment process as fair as humanly possible to give everyone who has the right qualification a shot at the job. Very few people make it through, some take a while before their endless applications go through, while others fail terribly at the very beginning. The grass on the other side is nothing close to green and for that reason, as a job seeker has to keep trying.
The whole process of job seeking is equally involving. There are a number of documents and fees to be paid for that matter to meet the stringent requirements set by Human resource managers. They include.
1.Cover Letter
This document tells the employer why a candidate is the right fit for the job. It introduces one in a job application. A well-crafted cover letter goes over information on a resume and expands this information through a guided journey of some of your greatest career and life achievements.
2.Curriculum Vitae (CV)
It is a detailed document highlighting your professional and academic history. It should be a marketing tool for your skills and expertise and should be tailored to fit the job you are applying for.
3. Academic certificates
They are supporting documents that serve as evidence that one is a student or has already graduated. It should be attached when one is sending their job applications specified by an employer.
4. Recommendation Letter
This letter is written by your former employer (s) detailing one’s conduct and work during the period they worked there. For entry-level job seekers and recent graduates, they can get a recommendation letter from their university or college showing that you were a student and now looking for employment.
5. Clearance certificates
Job applicants in the public sector must get clearance certificates from;
- Credit Reference Bureau (CRB)
A CRB Certificate fetched Ksh 2000. However, Central Bank of Kenya has proposed making it compulsory for CRBs to issue the certificates free of charge to first-time public sector jobseekers
- EACC Clearance certificate
One has to fill duplicates of the self-declaration form and attach a copy of either your national identity card or Kenyan passport. The completed form is submitted in person to EACC offices at Integrity Center. One will not be issued with a certificate, but the commission will submit a confidential report to their prospective employer.
- Kenya Revenue Authority
With KRA, one is required to provide, A KRA Pin certificate, and a certificate of Tax Compliance, both of which are issued free of charge and can be easily accessed from the KRA website.
- Higher Education Loans Board
The employer will want to know whether one has been repaying their HELB loan. A compliance certificate is issued to beneficiaries who are repaying their loans and to non-beneficiaries who need HELB clearance. Clearance certificates can be obtained at the HELB offices upon completion of loan repayment.
Acquiring all these documents could amount to Ksh 6000.