4 ways to ensure you’re work ready

To effectively transition into the working world, students need to take responsibility for their own work readiness (Shutterstock.com)

Graduates complain that work readiness is not on the agenda when it comes to competing for work against experienced applicants. Samantha van Zyl explains how they can set up themselves up for success.

A degree is no longer enough to guarantee employment. University students continue to study towards prestigious qualifications, getting all the theoretical experience but face entering the working world challenged with a lack of practical experience.

Employee unions like Solidarity have dispelled the myth that graduate unemployment is rife in SA saying that only about a 100 000 graduates out of 2 million are unemployed at any given stage. A lack of work readiness bears the brunt for the remaining unemployed graduates, who are outshined by more qualified applicants, who have already gained some form of experience.

Furthermore, the SAGEA Employer Benchmark Survey of 2052 businesses, found that South African employers complained that even though they receive thousands of applications, there’s a shortage of candidates with the right employability skills.

Where Does This Cycle Stop?

In order to effectively transition into the working world, students need to take responsibility for their own work readiness. From learning basic soft skills like knowing how to speak and behave in the workplace, to working effectively with others and performing basic work tasks dependably and independently. Semi-technical skills like administration, attention to detail and efficiently meeting deadlines are also important to learn.

These skills that are often not the focal point of starting a career at grassroots form the basis of performing successfully in any role. The question is what opportunities are available for students and graduates to learn these work readiness skills and better their chances of finding employment?

Samantha van Zyl of Student Village identifies 4 opportunities for work readiness that employers should create and students should consider in creating the best start for their career.

1. Internships & Graduate Programmes

A very popular question often asked in interviews is what separates you from the rest? Being part of an internship or graduate programme could help students find the answer. Most businesses use interns across an organisation to ensure their experience is diversified and that students can truly find out what they’re great at, or what they need to work on. The pressures of managing the change between departments and being resilient throughout an internship and graduate programme is a great learning curve for any career starter. These programmes are designed to ensure students are equipped with the tools needed to secure a continued supply of talent in certain industries. The two-pronged benefit of this is that students receive great opportunities whilst helping businesses grow lucrative industries.

Internships also lead to permanent employment for promising candidates and could amount to meaningful work like shadowing the CEO. Well-structured internship programmes continue to grow in importance in SA and according to SAGEA Recruitment amongst South Africa’s leading graduate employers, is at an all-time high, making such opportunities more readily available.

2. In Service Training & Volunteer Work

Students who’ve been fortunate to find work either in their field, or not, can use opportunities in the workplace to expand their experience and learn critical work skills to apply to their dream job. Becoming hard working, diligent and learning to be a team player are all skills that can be taught in any work setting and are invaluable throughout professional careers. Students without a qualification shouldn’t lose hope for the future as many starter opportunities can lead to learning and further training, especially where an entry-level employee displays raw talent.

Read: What it's like job shadowing a media company in South Africa

Offering their services for free in exchange for the experience is another route to gaining in-service training. It’s a great way for graduates and unqualified learners to get out there, prove themselves and even open doors to their future.

3. Vacation Work

This is a great option for patching up on skills that can’t be taught in the classroom, whilst still allowing students the time to complete their studies. Students can move between different opportunities to diversify their experience. The benefits of gaining this critical exposure is that it helps bring the theory to life and gives students in-depth understanding of the pressures in the workplace. Having this type of work experience ahead of qualification can also guide students to get a better understanding of the industry they want to go into.

4. Job Shadowing

Job shadowing enables students to learn a specific job through the assistance of a competent worker. This is a very helpful option for students who know what they’d like to do post studying. Job shadowing increases career awareness and could also be used to inform students’ studies when they take what they’ve learnt back to class to apply to the theory. 

This opportunity is obligation free, temporary and unpaid but when a business professional recognises your ability to learn and implement what you’ve learnt, this opportunity could also lead to an enquiry on your availability post studies.

Let’s Be Practical

On the job training, skills transfer and a great reference can go a long way in helping graduates support their path to greatness. Prospective employers tend to show more interest in students that have taken the initiative to gain work readiness skills through practical experience. These candidates generally hit the ground running, being productive early in their employment and minimise the time spent on entry-level training.


Samantha van Zyl is Head of Public Relations at Student Village; a Youth Marketing and Graduate Specialist company. Samantha contributes regularly to Careers24’s career advice section, with a focus on the graduate section. She is passionate about all things youth especially talent development, upliftment and career guidance.

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