Youth Capital is a youth-led campaign with an Action Plan to shift gears on youth unemployment in South Africa. Youth Capital’s Action Plan comes from joining the dots between research and data with the lived experiences of young South Africans and data from research, with the goal of providing a shared agenda for Government, Private Sector and South Africans to get behind to finally shift the needle on youth unemployment. In our country, every young South African could have the skills, support, and opportunity to get their first decent job… if we work to #ShiftGears together.

Find out more about Youth Capital and get in touch at: https://youthcapital.co.za/

Fb: @youthcapitalza

Twitter: @YouthCapitalSA

Insta: @youth_capital_sa

LinkedIn: youth-capital

In a change to our normal format we are going to let @YouthCapitalSA ask the questions which will be answered by the Founder of #JobAdviceSA and regular host @TimJBarry as well as resident expert @EnnieChipembere and the #JobAdviceSA community of career, job search and recruitment professionals. Here are the questions that we will be answering:

Q1. Most jobs require 2 or 3 years’ work experience but we are just out of school – how can we get around that?

Q2. What should we include or not include on our CVs and are there any CV templates that you can recommend?

Q3. Often we apply for jobs but never receive a response and don’t know why we didn’t make the cut. What is a nice way to request feedback in our applications?

Q4. Social Capital is very important when job-seeking but as young people we don’t know many people. What are some good tips to help build our social capital?

Join us to get the answers to the above questions by following the hashtags #JobAdviceSA and #ShiftGears as well as our special guest host @YouthCapitalSA resident expert @EnnieChipembere and Founder @TimJBarry

You can answer any of the questions using A1, A2, A3, etc, or ask any other questions you might have, using the hashtags #JobAdviceSA and #ShiftGears.

We look forward to chatting with you at 4pm on Monday!

The post #ShiftGears on Youth Unemployment with @YouthCapitalSA #JobAdviceSA 15/06 appeared first on Job Advice SA.

The celebrations for Youth Day have since been expanded to include an entire month’s worth of events, programmes and talks which are aimed at educating, empowering and inspiring the youth of South Africa who are the future of our country. Therefore on the first day of Youth Month, which coincidentally is the first day of Level 3 of Lockdown, we will be answering the following questions to advise young South Africans on how to look for work as the economy is reopened:

Q1. What should young people be doing to prepare to look for work as the lockdown is lifted and companies begin hiring again?

Q2. Where should young people be looking for jobs whilst the coronavirus outbreak is still ongoing?

Q3. How can young people keep themselves safe when they go out to look for jobs or attend interviews?

Q4. How can young people keep themselves motivated and remain positive about finding work in the midst of an economic recession aggravated by the national lockdown?

Join us to get the answers to the above questions by following the hashtag #JobAdviceSA as well as the @JobAdviceSA Twitter account and our host @TimJBarry

You can answer any of the questions using A1, A2, A3, etc, or ask any other questions you might have, using the hashtag #JobAdviceSA.

We look forward to chatting with you at 4pm on Monday!

The post Looking for Work as the Lockdown is Lifted #JobAdviceSA 01/06 #YouthMonth appeared first on Job Advice SA.

Interviews are the part of the jobseeking process that terrifies young people the most, so @JobStarterSA are going to tackle some of the frequently asked questions in order to help them be confident when they are called to an interview.

Q1. What is the best way to prepare for interviews?

Q2. What are some of the key things that interviewers look for?

Q3. If you get asked a “curveball” question how do you answer skillfully?

Q4. How important is it to understand the job description in the advert?

BONUS Q5. How long must you wait to follow up after an interview?

Join us at 4pm on Monday 21st January to find out more about @JobStarterSA and their answers to the above questions by following the hashtag #JobAdviceSA as well as the @JobAdviceSA Twitter account and our co-host @TimJBarry

Feel free to answer any of the questions yourselves using A1, A2, A3, etc, or ask @JobStarterSA any other questions you might have, using the hashtag #JobAdviceSA.

We look forward to chatting with you on Monday!

The post Advice for Interviews from @JobStarterSA #JobAdviceSA 21/01 appeared first on Job Advice SA.

The Experience Factory is a social enterprise that has a focus on the empowerment of unemployed graduates from previously disadvantaged backgrounds through a rigorous empowerment and personal development programme in combination with internships. You can find out more about them here: http://experiencefactory.co.za/

Here are the questions they will be answering:

Q1. In which ways do the youth need to be educated on how to find jobs?

Q2. How do graduates become ‘job ready’ when even finding volunteering opportunities is difficult?

Q3. What advice would you give to an unemployed young person looking for a job during the festive season?

Q4. Why are soft skills and practical experience essential for one to succeed in the workplace?

Join us at 4pm on Monday 10th December to find out more about The Experience Factory and their answers to the above questions by following the hashtag #JobAdviceSA as well as the @JobAdviceSA Twitter account and our co-hosts @ElzetteFourie@TimJBarry @Van_Raath and @WeszMadz

Feel free to answer any of the questions yourselves using A1, A2, A3, etc. or ask The Experience Factory any other questions you might have.

We look forward to chatting with you on Monday!

The post How Can Young People Become ‘Job Ready’ – The Experience Factory #JobAdviceSA 10/12 appeared first on Job Advice SA.

Tshepo 1Million provides hope to young people in Gauteng who are unemployed and looking for a way to access the skills and learning that will prepare them for the world of work. If you are between the ages of 18-34 with at least Grade 10 and are a first-time work seeker with no more than 12 months work experience then you can register by going to www.tshepo.mobi using any mobile phone or device that can connect to the internet and following a simple five step registration process.

The questions that Tshepo 1Million are going to answer during the chat are about what young work seekers can do to make themselves more employable:

Q1. What is the first thing young people should do when they start looking for work?

Q2. How should they go about drafting their cover letter and/or CV?

Q3. How should they prepare for an interview?

Q4. Can you give young people some general tips on interview etiquette?

Join us at 4pm on Monday 19th November to find out more about Tshepo 1Million and their answers to the above questions by following the hashtag #JobAdviceSA as well as the @JobAdviceSA Twitter account and our co-hosts @ElzetteFourie @TimJBarry @Van_Raath and @WeszMadz

Feel free to answer any of the questions yourselves using A1, A2, A3, etc. or ask Tshepo 1Million any other questions you might have.

We look forward to chatting with you on Monday!

The post How to Phanda with Tshepo 1Million – #JobAdviceSA 19/11 appeared first on Job Advice SA.

One of the biggest announcements in President Ramaphosa’s speech was that a jobs summit will take place in the next few months, and one of the main things that will be discussed is youth unemployment which Mr Ramaphosa described as the “most grave and most pressing challenge” facing South Africa.

Another measure affecting the youth of the country was announced in Mr Gigaba’s Budget Speech. R57bn will be allocated over the course of three years, starting this year, to fund free tertiary education for first year students from households that earn less than R350 000 per annum. Most of the money required to finance the funding of free education will be raised by the increase in VAT from 14% to 15%

One of this year’s key developments for employers and workers will be the introduction of the National Minimum Wage Bill on 1st May, which will guarantee most workers a minimum salary of R20 per hour, and was described by President Ramaphosa in his speech as a means “to reduce wage inequality while maintaining economic growth and employment creation.”

Many South Africans are uncertain about what the actual consequences of these developments will be, so today on #JobAdviceSA we will discuss the implications for jobseekers and workers in the context of the high rate of unemployment and economic uncertainty.

Here are the questions that we will be answering:

Q1:         Who should be attending the proposed jobs summit and what should be discussed?

Q2:         What impact will free tertiary education have on unemployment?

Q3:         What will be the consequences of the tax hikes that are necessary to fund free education?

Q4:         How will the enactment of the Minimum Wage Bill affect employers and workers?

Our Hosts Tim Barry (@TimJBarry), Vanessa Raath (@Van_Raath), Elzette Fourie (@ElzetteFourie) and Wesley Madziva (@WeszMadz) will be on hand to give their advice and answer your other questions from 16h00 to 17h00, but you are welcome to tweet your questions to @JobAdviceSA at any time or day, or if you are not on Twitter you can like our Facebook page www.facebook.com/JobAdviceSA and post your questions there.

Remember to tweet your answers using the hashtag #JobAdviceSA or directly to @JobAdviceSA.

Structure – Four questions every 15min after the hour. We look forward to chatting with you!

The post What Will the #SONA and #BudgetSpeech2018 Mean For SA’s Jobseekers and Workers? #JobAdviceSA 26/02 appeared first on Job Advice SA.

After I left school in the summer of 1996 (just typing the year makes me feel old!) I had the luxury of being able to relax at home until I started university. Tuition fees had not yet been introduced in the UK (meaning that anyone could go to university for free, not only the financially disadvantaged) and my parents were able to afford to pay my accommodation and living costs when I moved to Bristol to study, so I didn’t need to earn any money before I went to university.

However rather than taking the easy option I decided to register with a recruitment agency that arranged temporary work, and my first job was in a nearby factory that made car doors and seats working from 2-10pm five days a week. Not only was this a far cry from my days playing cards and joking about with my friends in the Sixth Form common room during free periods at the school where I studied for my A-Levels (the equivalent of Matric in SA, though most students only take three subjects), but it was also a million miles from my future life as a law student at a ‘red-brick’ university.

Red-brick universities are the oldest and most respected tertiary educational institutions in the UK in terms of the quality of teaching and standing amongst potential employers, and the University of Bristol was second only to Oxford and Cambridge for students like myself who were going to study for a bachelor’s degree in law. That being the case it was a strange decision for me to take a job as a machine worker in a factory where the conditions were hot and sweaty and I would come home every night exhausted and covered in dirt and grease.

At the time I tolerated the unsocial hours and poor working conditions as the job enabled me to earn more money to spend at the weekends, but in hindsight the experience helped me to recognise the importance of getting a good result in my degree in order to secure a better job and stood me in good stead for my future career in terms of instilling a solid work ethic.

You might ask what the story of a privileged British ex-pat has to do with the prospects for South Africa’s youth following this announcement of the 2017 Matric results, especially in the light of the country’s alarming unemployment rate, but I feel that there were several lessons that I learned during that period in my life that could help South African matriculants and graduates to find work.

Get a job, any job

One of the biggest reasons why school leavers and graduates struggle to find work is that they have little or no work experience. Most employers seek experienced candidates when they are looking to fill open positions and many young South Africans lack vocational skills even if they get good results at varsity.

If matric and varsity students start looking for temporary work or vacation placements before the end of their final year they will greatly enhance their chances of securing a permanent job in the future. At the very least the experience of applying for jobs and going to interviews will be extremely useful when they are looking for permanent work, and at best they could find a long-term employer.

Don’t be afraid of hard work

Every successful entrepreneur, from Bill Gates to Elon Musk, will tell you that they could not have got to where they are without hard work. As famous film producer Samuel Goldwyn (from Metro Goldwyn Mayer fame) said: “the harder I work, the luckier I get.” The same is true if you are looking to be hired by a leading company – a willingness to work hard is an extremely desirable trait for employers when they are assessing potential candidates.

Many young South Africans, especially varsity students and graduates, shy away from applying for jobs which entail working long hours or include manual labour or repetitive tasks. As unattractive or irrelevant as these roles may appear to learners who have their eyes set on high-salary professional positions, they build character and demonstrate a willingness to get your hands dirty (literally or metaphorically) which will impress potential employers, not to mention providing valuable work experience and skills that can help them get the job they want in the future.

Be prepared to start at the bottom and work your way to the top

Despite graduating with an upper second class honours degree in law I found it hard to find work after I left university in the summer of the year 2000 (also makes me feel old to write this even if it was at least in the current millennium) due to fierce competition for jobs in the legal profession. After being unemployed and claiming jobseeker’s allowance for six months I realised that I could no longer hold out for a high profile job in the City of London, so I went to my local job centre and applied for the first job that I found pinned to the noticeboard.

I was asked to attend an interview the very next day and, not surprisingly given my qualifications and the fact that it was an entry-level role, was offered the job on the spot. Whilst the role (telephone debt collection) was probably most people’s idea of the worst possible office job, other than cleaning the toilets, it gave me a leg-up on to the career ladder and enabled me to gain skills that I still use even to this day, especially when clients don’t pay their invoices!

Similarly many South Africans graduates have unrealistic expectations about the type of job or salary that they will get when they graduate. In the current job market, where the rate of unemployment is at an all-time high and companies are cautious about hiring staff due to the economic climate, graduates cannot afford to pass up jobs which they consider to be beneath them or where they will not earn as much as they think they are worth. The longer you are out of work (unless you are studying or volunteering) the less employable you become, and taking an entry-level or junior position will at the very least give you experience which will enable you to apply for a better job.

To sum up, my experience of getting a summer job in a factory taught me that no job was beneath me and the only way to get where I wanted to be in my career was to work hard.

Experience and qualifications can be earned, and skills can be taught, but there is no substitute for hard work.

The post 3 Career Lessons I Learned By Taking a Summer Job appeared first on Job Advice SA.

With more than two thirds of young people aged between 15 and 34 being unemployed it is very important for educators, employers, government departments and also workers to seek to address this problem which could have severe implications for the South African economy and the welfare of it’s citizens.

The questions that we will be answering will seek to help young, unemployed South Africans learn how they can get training and assistance, as well as to acquire skills and experience, and in doing so find jobs.

To take part in the discussion you can either follow the hashtag #JobAdviceSA or @JobAdviceSA and tweet your answers using A1, A2, etc., or any other questions you may have, using the hashtag.

Q1. How can school leavers gain the skills and experience they need to help them find work?

Q2. What must varsity students be doing to ensure that they get a job when they graduate?

Q3. Where can unemployed youth get training and assistance to help them find work?

Q4. What can employers, the government and other organisations do to address youth unemployment?

Myself, Tim Barry (@TimJBarry), Vanessa Raath (@Van_Raath) and Wesley Madziva (@WeszMadz) look forward to discussing this burning issue with you, and hopefully coming up with some answers to address this huge problem.

The post Addressing Youth Unemployment in South Africa #JobAdviceSA 05/06/17 appeared first on Job Advice SA.