At the end of February this year, Stats SA published South Africa’s latest unemployment rate which now sits at 32.7%, one of the highest in the world. And while this figure may have dropped slightly in recent months, there is still a high unemployment rate among the youth. According to Stats SA, 43.4% of people between the ages of 15 and 34 are unemployed – a concerning amount given that this age range makes up more than half of the country’s employable workforce.
The competition in today’s job market is tough and it’s through internship programmes that organisations can make a difference among South Africa’s youth. Rectron’s Internship and Learnership Programme is one example of how one company is doing its part in building competitive skills and sustainable careers.
“At Rectron, we pride ourselves on improving the lives of people,” says Lebogang Dire, Talent Acquisition Specialist at Rectron. “Our internship programme is one of the initiatives aimed at developing people from previously disadvantaged communities to offer them opportunities. Its purpose is to equip school leavers with the necessary skills to have a career and earn a living for themselves and provide for their families.”
“At Rectron we deliver business relevant professional people development by focusing on building capabilities across the organisation, delivering on the business and people strategy. All our development programmes are aimed at addressing ICT sector scarce skills and pipeline development,” says André Witbooi, Learning & Development Manager at Rectron.
For Mpho Molete, 26, becoming a Rectron intern as a graduate was the opportunity he needed to enter the formal employment space. He’d studied industrial psychology at the University of the Free State and found that it combined his interests in corporate business with people.
“Before joining the programme, I was actively in the job market, searching for learnerships, internships, any entry-level positions. I even took a chance and applied for some managerial positions,” says Mpho. “By the time I saw the Rectron Internship advertisement, I had applied to 60-something different roles and jobs.”
While on LinkedIn one day, Mpho saw Rectron was looking for a human resources (HR) graduate and sent off his CV. Two weeks later, he went through a couple screening questions on the phone before he was invited to two more rounds of interviews. Mpho was then offered a spot on Rectron’s 12-month internship programme with 11 other graduates and joined the HR department as an intern.
During his first year at Rectron, Mpho was exposed to the different job functions within HR including recruitment, learning and development, payroll, and health and safety.
“My experience as an intern was amazing,” says Mpho. “I was very inquisitive and despite asking a lot of questions, my team were very patient and supportive in answering them.”
It was, however, the transition from intern to permanent employee that was one of Mpho’s most challenging times at Rectron so far.
“It was quite overwhelming at first, because I went from someone who was helping and supporting my team, to someone who was now responsible for their own tasks. But I’ve gotten used to the change.”
Mpho believes the Rectron Internship Programme prepared him for this transition through not only being exposed to the different HR job functions, but through the soft skills he picked up such as time management, communication, and goal setting.
Lebogang says that the programme is intended to absorb all of the interns into Rectron’s business as full time employees at the end of the year-long internship. Since the initiative was started in 2022, Rectron has been able to offer permanent positions to all its interns across its different departments including IT and technical solutions, finance, HR, logistics and supply chain management.
Based on his experience as a graduate looking for a job to becoming a permanent employee, what’s Mpho’s advice to future interns?
“The biggest thing I learned was that your work is 50% of what you do and your relationship building in the workplace is the other half. You can’t be an island,” says Mpho. “You have to interact with your team, be approachable and communicate.”
And as Rectron’s Talent Acquisition Specialist, what is Lebogang’s advice?
“Do not underestimate the importance of appearance. Before we get to know the person in front of us, we are judging them by how they look. So it’s up to the applicant to take the initiative and be presentable. Be pleasant and open-minded to learning everything. It’s about you, what you want to do and what you want to achieve.”
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