As part of our holistic education approach, Fontes organizes an annual Career Day event for the students of our youth centre and other community youth. The Career Day acts as a platform to connect Kampala businesses with talented out of school youth. For the students, the day presents a first chance to network and discover the opportunities available to them. For businesses it is a chance to discover young talent, provide mentorship, and promote their job openings.

The preparation for the event was incorporated into the students curriculum; the English course students learnt to prepare cover letters and CVs, the ICT course shared information about the event through social media, while the catering students prepared the food for the event. A capacity building session was held for Fontes students on how to optimize their CV when job searching. Additionally, the Career Day adds to the personal development of the students as they are forced to overcome shyness through approaching the companies directly and practicing their networking skills.

The Career Day took place at the Fontes Youth Centre. This allowed us to showcase the centre to the organisations in attendance while also being accessible to our students and the wider community. The day began with a breakfast prepared and served by the Fontes Catering Course students. For many of the catering students, this was their first experience of catering in a professional capacity for a large amount of people, allowing them to gain valuable practical food production experience as well as learning about the theoretical aspects such as calculating the cost of catering such an event. Needless to say the students impressed the attendees with their cookery and customer service skills.

The programme was kicked off with a speech from former Fontes student Cleophas Tumuhimbise. Cleophas talked about how he has successfully applied the knowledge and skills he gained at FYC to run his business. He was followed by Jonathan Ebuk, from KCCA, and Nicter Kaweesi, from the HR company People’s Performance Group, who gave advice on the job search, how to present and prepare oneself in interviews. With the conclusion of the speeches, the career fair began as students networked with the company representatives. The students walked around the company stalls, inquiring about the organisations and their job opportunities. To cap off the day, the Fontes Cultural Troupe held a splendid performance with dances from Western Uganda.

Overall, the 2018 Fontes Career Day was a success. A special thank you to all of the organisations who took part in this years event:

KCCA, Trade Lance, Prime Linkages, Refuge and Hope International, Mercy Corps Uganda, Pacino’s Restaurant, Staffable, Paramour Cosmetics, Roke Telkom, Goldway Ltd, and People’s Performance Group.