MORE THAN 10,000 GRADUATES TURN UP FOR SEVENTY JOB VACANCIES IN DAR ES SLAAM.

According to the list of names seen by The Guardian yesterday morning, the department listed 10,816 candidates to perform the interview that aimed at recruiting a few of them positions of Assistant Inspector of Immigration.

more than 10,000 graduates versus 70 chances

An appalling rate of unemployment in the country became vivid yesterday after over 10,000 job seekers turned up at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam to participate in a written interview that meant to recruit only seventy persons to fill the vacancies at Immigration Department.

The decision to take the candidates to the National Stadium was dangerous as the applicants were seen forcing their way into the stadium, igniting fears of a deadly stampede.

Taking job seekers to the stadium yesterday in Dar es Salaam came only three months after a tragic incident occurred in Abuja, Nigeria whereby six job seekers, including an expecting mother died in a stampede at Abuja Stadium.

The tragic incident occurred on March 15 after the Nigerian Immigration Service decided to conduct the interview in search for 3,000 qualified candidates for the vacant positions but over 80,000 job seekers turned at Abuja stadium.

According to the information gathered by The Guardian yesterday at the National Stadium, all candidates were university graduates. They performed the written interview involving multiple choice questions targeting English, Civics and Politics (General Knowledge) and Mathematics. They responded to thirty questions.

Some applicants interviewed by this reporter expressed their dissatisfaction and many doubted the fairness of selections for the posts.
Several applicants who attended the interview complained on the procedures of conducting the interview, saying they were not friendly.

One of the applicants (name withheld) said there was no close inspection like the usual interview tests they attended, and some of the candidates participated in the interview with documents to copy from.

He said inspection officers didn’t verify candidates’ identification at the entrance point, creating loopholes for non-candidates to perform the interview on behalf of their relatives.

“We are worried because some of the applicants may request their close relatives to pose for the interview without being noticed,” the aspirant asserted.

Another candidate (name withheld) said the department should have trimmed down the number of applicants based on qualifications set instead of letting all 10,816 candidates convene at the stadium.

Tanzania is facing a youth unemployment crisis rivaled by few other nations in the world. In 2012, Tanzania was home to more unemployed 15 to 24-year-olds per capita than 109 other countries. In a survey by the non-governmental organization Restless Development, last year out of over 1,000 young people across Tanzania, only 14 percent reported working a formal, wage-earning job.
Each year, 900,000 young Tanzanians enter a job market that is generating only 50,000 to 60,000 new jobs.

Researchers say the problem originates with the country’s lackluster educational system as graduates lack the skills and intellectual prowess employers are looking for.

Data show that at the moment the total student intake for first degree programmes in the country’s varsities stands at 78,000 and rising, as new programs are started and most districts or regions wish to have their own universities to complete the learning cycle.