For thousands of Kenyan graduates, one of the biggest barriers to employment is not the lack of qualifications, but time.
Years lost to repeated university strikes have pushed many students beyond age limits set by entry-level jobs, disqualifying them before they even enter the workforce.
In bid to address the challenge, Bridge Talent has unveiled Strike Age, a first-of-its-kind platform that recalculates a graduate’s age based on time lost to academic disruptions, giving them a fairer chance at employment.
“Strike Age reframes employability in a way the system never has,” said the firm.
Analysis on university strikes shows that between 2022 and 2025 alone, learning was disrupted across the country with a 49-day nationwide shutdown in 2025 halting education in all public universities.
However, while classrooms paused, careers did not and age restrictions continued to apply. Using documented strike data across 42 public universities, the system calculates the cumulative time lost to disruptions and adjusts a graduate’s age accordingly revealing their true “employability age.”
According to Bridge Talent, the platform allows graduates to simply upload their CV to receive a “Strike Age Verified” badge, which they can use when applying for jobs.
“We urge Human Resources Managers to include Strike Age in their hiring processes, allowing candidates who would have previously been ineligible to be considered fair,” the firm added.
The lost time due to persistent strikes has also resulted to many graduates being locked out of majority of entry-level roles in Kenya particularly in banking, audit firms, and multinational corporations impose strict age limits.
Graduate trainee programs often cap eligibility at 27 or 28 years while public sector internships and disciplined services frequently set similar thresholds, criteria which assume a “clean” academic record with no interruptions.
For the thousands of students whose degrees were stalled by funding disputes or KSh 7.9 billion in unpaid salary arrears for lecturers, Bridge Talent says these age caps act as barriers.
By transforming how age is understood in hiring, Strike Age targets to challenge a system that has long penalized students for circumstances beyond their control.
