This article was coming and we promised to rely on surveys that have been done before to deliver the verdict, well it is out. There was an article some few days ago about the human resource market trends and where the shift is inclining towards. Most analysts think that commerce has been the big thing but now the profession has stabilised and a little bit saturated with everyone going for CPA, ACCA or B.Com. Once the supply goes high the demand reduces because basically the consumer numbers are stable (constant.). Right now the IT profession is not only growing but there is a boom and demand for IT professionals which has led to them being offered good salaries because you do not want to lose your people after mastering the systems. Basically for a start up job, I am looking at a salary of Kshs. 70,000 – 80,000. It is easy for an IT graduate to be given this amount and not an accounting employee well because of the availability of talent in these two pools.
I am not implying that accounting people are underpaid but compared to years ago, they have fallen down the perking order. If you play safe and get a job in a serious manufacturing company, you may land a good salary with accounting but a Bachelor of Arts (Economics) degree holder may join the Supply and Chain department in the same company and double your salary. I know most of you by now know that leading auditing companies like PricawaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte & Touche, KPMG and Ernst & Young goes for raw talent from university despite the degree course. They train the same graduates along the accountancy and auditing areas and end up absorbing them into their fold. This means the degree or diploma or course you took in University/ College does not matter. The whole idea about the salary you will earn depends on your job and negotiating skills. This will even give you an edge when negotiating for a position salary in a company you may be joining.
Now let us look at the best paying start up jobs in Kenya. We will arrange them in the order of superiority and thus the number one job pays well to the last. We will look at only ten jobs but you can email us to know where you job lies:
1. Actuarial Jobs: There are very few qualified actuaries in Kenya and if youcan do the professional papers from England then I promise you a home along State House road and holidays at the Bahamas.
2. Management: The work here is going into meeting and drafting policies. This is the easiest job in the economy with very high pay. Managers decide how much they want to spend in payroll costs and thus they overpay themselves. If you want to be a manager, gather enough experience from junior management supervision roles but be careful senior and junior management have revenue targets and thus this job will be more like sales and marketing.
3. Economics: These are jobs easily overlooked by many job seekers although employers in this area are few (the government and a few NGOs) and they require a lot of experience. Here aim to do a masters and have a lot of contacts
4. Supply and Chain Management: This job does not require any specific degree but you can get an advantage if you qualify with a diploma in supply and chain management. If you are a management trainee in EABL, Unilever, PZ Cussons and other leading manufacturers, I advise you to specialise in this field. It has few opportunities but very lucrative.
5. Sales and Marketing: This field is only good with moving products. Imagine a regional sales manager in a leading manufacturing company like Nestle Foods. It pays well and if you decide to specialise in this field please go for big companies and not selling insurance policies, that is not sales and marketing.
6. Insurance Executives: Unless you are in the wrong position in the insurance industry, believe me these guys take home quite an handsome amount of money. All you need is any degree or diploma but combine it with AIIK or AIIC qualifications from the College of Insurance in South B. You also need to develop patience when in this field.
7. Accounting and Finance: This is an overhyped area and it does not pay well as thought. I presume if you want to be an accountant you already know what you need (B.Com, ACCA or CPA) but one thing people forget is that they need charisma and if you want to be a good accountant you not only need to produce figures but also explain strategies and economic planning that goes into improving the figures.
8. Qualitative analysts: This is one field that involves chemical and biological studies and is common with drugs and food manufacturing companies like GSK and Nestle Foods. This is a technical field which requires a specific skill. If you are in it, be patient because jobs are a little bit limited but it pays well.
9. Information and Technology: If you position yourself very well in this area, you can be sure to be very highly regarded. There are good berks in this field and very immediate after university or college. We however will encourage innovation and entrepreneurship because it is a growing field.
10. Human Resource: This is where I belong and if you really want this field I can promise you that it is an internal service job where you are bound to lock horns with various employees concerning salaries and company policy. It also pays well but if you are in the senior management.
These are just according to this years’ survey and if your career field does not feature, then better still make the best out of it. In fact, politicians make more money than most of these professions and if you want to join politics then you are free. Some teaching jobs and other headmasters take home better money that some of these professions. It is all about how you make the best out of a situation. This survey just portrays where to start from and the best careers that can give you good early money.
You want to know the worst paying jobs in Kenya. Watch out for this space.
All the best from HCC in your job search.You can also visit www.kenyanvacancies.com for more jobs
