Exploring the Challenges Facing Equal Employment Opportunities among Graduates in Tanzania:

Abstract

Despite the government’s efforts to promote equal employment opportunities (EEOs) within the public sector, the challenges still persist. This incompatibility between the government efforts and the existence of inequality in employment hastened the study aimed to explore the challenges facing EEOs among graduates within the public sector, with a specific focus on Dodoma City Council. The research utilized a qualitative approach guided by the saturation theory. Based on theory, 44 participants were obtained following sufficient and in-depth information which met the purposes of the research. Qualitative data were analyzed manually using content analysis. The policies and guidelines for the EEOs within the public sector were found to be partially executed. The study further reported that lack of experience, an increased number of unemployed graduates, skills mismatch, unfair judgement and corruption were the challenges for accessing EEOs. The study also reported that the implementation of fairness and inclusivity in the recruitment and selection processes was affected by the non-adherence and informal recruitment procedures, favoritism and bias in the whole process of recruitment and selection process. Considering the study findings, there should be a broad-based employment legislation that would harmonize the Public Act 2022 and Employment and Labour Relations 2004 to enhance transparency and accountability. This will lead to the implementation of required government practices. Additionally, the graduates should not be assessed for application based on their work experience. This is because, they do not have the required experience as they never worked before. The problem of skills mismatch should be addressed by graduates themselves by learning what is required in the market. Responsible authorities should strive for fair judgement and corruption to give chances of EEOs for all applicants. Lastly, strict adherence to the formal recruitment procedures by employers would lead to the implementation of fair and inclusive recruitment and selection processes.