Public Administration News
Share
 |
South Africa:Gauteng Government assists Unemployed Youth |
| Source: |
www.sanews.gov.za |
| Source Date: |
Thursday, June 27, 2013 |
| Focus: |
ICT for MDGs
|
| Country: |
South Africa |
| Created: |
Jun 27, 2013 |
|
Through Godisang, which is in partnership with the Lulaway Job Centres, the department is set to assist in opening 20 job seeking centres. Currently, 16 centres are in existence and have been running since June last year in all the major municipalities across the province.
The state-of-the-art technology centres were opened to the tune of R6 million, funded by the department. Job seekers can now walk into a centre and download their CVs on the Lulaway portal, making their CVs available to potential employers.
Director: Sustainable Livelihoods at the department, July Maphosa, told SAnews the department felt it had an obligation to contribute to measures to quash joblessness by setting up these centres.
Through the centres, Maphosa said job seekers were linked with companies who wanted to employ a certain cohort of young people throughout many industries and income brackets.
Taking SAnews through the process when one comes to the centre, Maphosa explained that the job seeker gives their name and skills they have to the administrators working at the centre.
He emphasised that over and above the CV, the job seeker must take a tailor made test to check whether they understand the job requirements.
If there are gaps, Maphosa said the centre provides the applicants with life skills training to make sure that they understand how the job market operates and how to conduct themselves as an employee within the job market.
“By the time the employer calls, we are certain that you can ace the interview and secure the job,” said Maphosa.
He said some of the big franchise company were using the centres as a recruitment centre for potential candidates that they could replace in various companies.
More than 3 000 people visit the centres in a month around the province, including in rural areas.
Uplifting the youth
Maphosa said the department targeted to place 5 000 young people in the workplace this financial year, and to date, about 2 000 young people have been able to secure jobs in various centres.
“As we continue to forge partnerships with young people, we will ultimately be able to contribute in the reduction of youth unemployment within the province and ultimately in the country.
“We’ve worked out innovative ways for young people to know about the centres. They can SMS their name and suburb where they live to 45281 and they will receive a SMS directing them to the nearest job centres.”
One of the beneficiaries, who found a job through the centre, Ruth Mashabela, now works as a cashier at Dis-chem Pharmacy in Norwood. She is grateful for the assistance she received through the Lulaway Job Centres.
“What makes me happy about Lulaway is that even though you are working, they don't take anything from your salary,” said Mashabela.
Lulaway Managing Director, Errol Freeman, said when unemployed youth don’t have a platform to promote themselves correctly, their career ends straight after studying.
“The employers [through the centre] can access an untapped pool of potential employees at the touch of a button,” said Freeman.
Dis-chem Pharmacies CEO, Ivan Saltzman, whose company uses job seekers centres, said the company has hired many people who have gone from being cleaners to supervisors and even store managers.
“We will be matching the right people to the right job,” said Saltzman.
A Facebook page has also been created where job seekers can go to https://www.facebook.com/Lulaway or www.lulaway.co.za.
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Tag This |
South Africa:Gauteng Government assists Unemployed Youth Almost 40 of young people in Gauteng are unemployed A factor compounding this challenge is that the youth often don’t know how or where to go to find employment To counter this the provincial government has pledged to play an active role in assisting unemployed youth to find jobs and to act as a channel for companies looking for employees The Gauteng Social Development Department has come up with a strategy to respond to issues of youth unemployment by engaging with Godisang an organisation whose core mandate is to develop communities and alleviate unemployment among youth
 Tell A Friend |
 del.icio.us digg this Slashdot |
| Rate: |
0 ratings
|
Views: |
124 |
| Comments: |
0 |
Bookmarked: |
0 |
Tagged: |
0 |
|
|
|
|