• Not being on the Internet and not knowing how to use a computer can be disastrous
• An increasing number of employers prefer receiving job applications through email
He did not know he was sending prospective employers a cooperative society’s brochure instead of his curriculum vitae (CV). He found out after several months of wondering why his job applications were not eliciting a response.
Dennis Kubo, 37, a Coast-based salesman, discovered the mistake after asking a friend to help him out with another job application. “I used to depend on a cyber café attendant to log into my email account then forward the job applications,” Kubo says.
“That day, I sat next to my friend as I gave him the password to open my email address. I asked him to search for my CV but after several minutes, he said he hadn't found it among the previous emails. I all along knew that job applications had been sent out and we saw the emails in the sent folder. On further checking, we found out the guy had been attaching the wrong document,” he recounts.
The companies might have thought I was using the pretext of looking for employment to market the cooperative
Instead of a CV, the cyber cafe attendant was sending prospective employers a brochure of a co-operative society's loan services. “The companies might have thought I was using the pretext of looking for employment to market the cooperative,” Kubo says.
Kubo’s problem is that he neither has a computer nor a smartphone. Furthermore, he’s not very good with computers, and that’s why he depended on someone else to send emails on his behalf. Once the cyber cafe attendant attached the wrong document, he would forward it to various employers without checking.
Kubo is among 78 per cent of Kenyans who have no Internet access. This is according to the results of the 2019 national census. The census results showed, rather unsurprisingly, that Internet access in urban areas is three times higher than that in rural areas.
The Internet has grown beyond a mere luxury item. A lot of business is done online, including job applications, e-commerce and applications for official documents, such as police clearance certificates, travel visas, passports and driving licences. Kenyans such as Kubo thus face a lifetime of disadvantages for lacking Internet access and not knowing how to use it.
Lack of Internet access makes it harder to find jobs because an increasing number of employers prefer receiving job applications through electronic means.
On the flip side of Internet usage in Kenya, 26 per cent of the population are already actively trading on online platforms. Many entrepreneurs are increasing their sales largely through online advertising. Boutique owners, barbers, cooks, shoe makers, mechanics, hairdressers and restaurant owners are thriving mostly through social media advertising.
As Kubo is finding out, not being on the Internet and not knowing how to use a computer can be disastrous in terms of lost opportunities. Data bundles cost money as reports indicate Kenyans are paying the highest rates for mobile Internet in East Africa. However, anyone intending to participate in today’s economy has to include data costs in their household budget so as to remain competitive.