For many Ugandan students and graduates, finding an internship or getting a job placement is an all too familiar struggle. Having a ‘connection’ in an organization often determines how fast one will get hired or if they will fail altogether to be taken on by a company.
According to the UBOS (Uganda Bureau of Statistics), the rate of unemployment in Uganda increased from 1.80 percent in 2019, to 2.44 percent in 2020. This is a measure of the number of people that are actively searching for a job, as a percentage of the total labour force.
ProInterns, a local startup, runs a web-based service that helps young people start their careers by linking them to leading organizations looking to hire new workers or take on interns.
Candidates looking for a job can sign up for a free account which allows them to enter a biography along with their qualifications and skills information. This information is stored in a database. On applying for a job with the ProInterns platform, employers can review the interested job seeker’s details and call them in for an interview.
“ProInterns was a great help in getting me a position with Jumia Markets as a Marketing Intern. It was efficient in providing background information about the position advertised and the company as well. I am now a full-time social media associate, ” says Samantha Abaho.
The firm was started by Vanessa Atim, who believes that everyone deserves to unlock their potential by finding gainful employment after years of hard work at university.
“We want to provide graduates who are readily qualified but lack skills and work experience with internship opportunities in order to successfully kick start their careers and give students the chance to engage in on-the-job training to ease the school-to-work transition, boost employability skills, and become career-ready,” she said in a previous interview.
The firm also organizes workshops where students and young professionals learn how to leverage their skills for better employability chances. The ProInterns web platform has a wealth of information on getting an internship/job that is aimed at preparing candidates for getting a ‘Yes, you are hired,’ response after an interview. “I learned a lot in terms of what to do during an interview, presentation, CV writing and finally getting internships and job placements. I secured an internship using the knowledge I got from ProInterns, ” says Johnson Turyamusha, who attended one of the workshops.
