Kenyans Rank Top In Readiness To Upskill For New Global Jobs

Kenyans have ranked top in their readiness to learn new skills and move to other countries in their search for greener pastures.

The report carried out on perceptions of megatrends’ impact on global jobs has noted that 75 percent of Kenyans will work tooth and nail to get the required skills to get a job of which 84 percent would eagerly change careers and get fresh skills to get a new job abroad.

The study, done by BCG and The Network, has revealed that an estimated 77 percent of Kenyans rely training on the job to learn their way around while 47 percent use self-learning with another rare 45 percent learning through seminars and conferences.

The Kenyan job market is currently pushing employees to a desperate reskill as most of the posts are being overtaken by technology development making them redundant.

“More than 75 percent of Kenyans spend significant time each year refining their skills and 84 percent are willing to reskill for a different job role,” the study states adding that the trends are above global results of 65 percent and 67 percent respectively.

The report also covered resources used for learning taking time to compare the traditional and online modes used to upskill with traditional learning institutions taking up 35 percent online educational institutions 34 percent, mobile apps 18 percent and government programs six percent.

READ: Deep Look Into Kenya’s Best And Worst Paying Jobs

“As Kenya continues to become a hotbed of fast-paced innovation and disruption, we believe that organizations need to foster a culture of upskilling and reskilling within their workforce,” said Mills Schenck, the BCG Nairobi office Partner, and Managing Director.

Out of all those that participated in the study, 61 percent of them are convinced that their current jobs will be affected by megatrends such as technological changes such as artificial intelligence, automation and robotics, and globalization.

“This is critical for avoiding skills gaps in the future and could provide them with a powerful competitive edge,” the report states.

“Several large corporations and multinational companies are already reaping benefits from optimizing their training opportunities, and at BCG, we place a huge emphasis on career development through internal and external training so that our employees can continually build their skills,” Schenck said.

Kenya followed by China, Nigeria and Egypt are the most affected by the megatrends according to the report as they lead in regards to the time they dedicate to studying compared to Western Europe and North America where much time is not invested in developing skills.

Other countries that are likely to be outsourcing employees from countries such as Kenya in the future due to their slow approach to reskilling to embrace diversity are Germany, France, UK, Canada, and the US.