MAKING A DIFFERENCEBRINGING HOPE TO UNIVERSITY GRADUATESAN INTERVIEW WITH MR. ROBERT FOULSER
Mr. Foulser, would you mind telling us a little bit about yourself? Like, what brought you to Kenya? Ten years ago I came to Kenya from England for one month to participate in management training for Hawkins and Associates. Following that, for one year I moved back and forth between England and Kenya. Then I changed my watch to Kenya time and never changed it back. After that I decided that I wanted to live here in Kenya and this is what I did. What was your reason for wishing to live in Kenya? There really was no reason, it was more of a feeling: I felt attracted to the country and now I want to stay here until I die. How did you get the idea of helping university graduates? It was as result of my connection with the Rotary Club. I met a gentleman called Tayeeb Jeevanjee, the grandson of the person who donated the Jeevanjee Gardens to Nairobi. He also had children (in Canada) who were graduates and were looking for employment. Mr. Jeevanjee wanted to start a new Rotary Club and invited me to become a member. Because the club was new, we had to decide on a project. Since my background is in training I was made the Director of the Vocational Committee. Debating on what kind of project to do for this committee, I thought of the many graduates in Kenya who are “tarmacking” after their graduation and looked for ways of helping them. In England I used to do some confidence building work with younger students. I would help prepare them for facing the working environment by getting them to do mock interviews in small groups. Then when they felt ready for it, they would “perform” for a much larger group. This helped in giving them confidence when they went for actual job interviews. In Kenya, I felt that there was a great need to do something for graduates since many of them, after spending years of time and effort in being educated, end up unable to find jobs. It is soul-destroying and makes them feel like failures. So I tried to assist them in helping them write and improve their cv's and getting them in touch with potential employers. I do not find jobs for them personally, I just facilitate the possibility of their finding employment by “opening doors.” Since the problem is so acute, together with the Rotary members we organised a three-day conference at the Hilton Hotel. (The Hilton actually provided the space for this free of charge.) We wrote letters to 300 companies and 150 of them accepted to come to the hotel to do interviews. There were about 1500 students and each day some 50 companies would be interviewing. Not all of the students got jobs of course but for some of them it was the first time they even got to do an interview. Where do you get information about available jobs and how do graduates find out about you? I have access to information about potential employers through my company, Consultants for Effective Training (CET). Graduates got to know about me through two interviews I did on KTN and through articles I wrote in the newspapers. What is the connection between your company and your voluntary work; do you work part-time on both? I actually work full-time for the company and part-time on the voluntary work. When graduates wish to see me I ask them to come at a time convenient to me, usually after 4.30 p.m. Even my staff members help the graduates after their working hours and we do this free of charge. On an average about ten graduates come to our office every day and we now have cv's for 6000 graduates. In three years we have assisted 700 graduates to find jobs. I should emphasize that ethnic origin plays no role in the selection of graduates for interviews. We know that this can be a problem in Kenya but we select students strictly on qualifications and experience. How do you see this project developing? I have realised that this task is too big for me personally and even for the Rotary Club. So I went to seek help from the Government. I saw a number of Permanent Secretaries in various ministries. I did not have much success until I met Dr. Kang'ethe Gitu, the PS in the Ministry of Labour and Human Resource Development. He could not help financially but has arranged for us, through the Minister of Labour, and the Head of the civil Service, Dr. Leakey, to have free offices in the NSSF building. This is a great step forward! The Rotary Club will provide the Manager and other staff members for this office. Eventually we would wish to have offices in other towns in Kenya, like Mombasa and Kisumu. For the time being, the initiative is restricted to unemployed graduates but it would be great if later on we would be able to accommodate other jobless people. There is another initiative to make the project viable: we hope to have a major fundraising next year which the President has promised to attend. This should enable us to run the office in the NSSF building for at least the initial three years. That will make it possible to provide the services to the graduates free of charge during that period. Do some of the students stay in touch after they have found a job? Do you have any feedback? Oh yes, people will call me up and say: “Is this Mr. Robert? I found a job! Remember you helped me with the CV?” Or, “You provided me with a contact.” Often I do not remember the person but I am grateful for the feedback. Sometimes they say they are going for an interview and ask me for advice on what to say. Since you meet many graduates in connection with this work, you may have formed some opinion about the quality of university education in this country. Could you comment? I have not been in the country long enough to make a comparison but I am told that the quality is not as good as in the previous system. I do come across graduates who cannot spell well or write a proper letter. However, I take the position that here we have people with a certain amount of learning and they should be given the chance to prove themselves. And I do meet real gems, people who excel. For instance, I met one lady post-graduate whom I would have liked to employ myself. But she refused, saying the salary I was offering was not enough. She managed a get a job at Kshs 70,000/- a month with an NGO. So, well done for her! You are doing this work free of charge. What is the reward you get? It is like this: I put myself in the position of the graduate. I myself would have like to have had some help along these lines when I finished my studies. And for the rest, perhaps if I am destitute myself one day, someone I have assisted may help me in return. Or they may help my children: “I knew your father, you know; he assisted me to get my first job.” However, one does not really do this kind of work to get rewards; the reward is in the work itself. But of course I appreciate it if even one person comes back to say “Thank you.” N. B. Many graduates would be happy to work for a nominal fee, even for voluntary organisations, just to get experience. If you can use someone and are able to pay them for transport and lunch, please send the profile of your organisation to the following address: Mr. Robert L. Foulser, Consultants for Effective Training, P.O. Box 55002, Nairobi. Tel. 747010, 748371.
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