Can learnerships solve South Africa’s youth “work experience” gap?

Work experience: two words creating an insurmountable obstacle and barrier to entry for many of South Africa’s youth. With our youth unemployment rate increasing to 64.4% in the second quarter of 2021 (up from 63.3% in the first quarter), the greatest tragedy of these statistics is that they largely comprise young people who do want to work and contribute – and give back in some way. All too often, the “work experience” requirement is where they remain stubbornly excluded; desperately needing the chance that everyone requires, but no-one is willing to give. Mala Suriah, the CMO of Fundi, maintains that this systemic “failure” has to be constructively addressed. Can properly managed learnerships prove the answer?

While a “youthful population” is considered critical for an economy’s sustained growth and success, an unemployed youthful population can arguably have the opposite impact. “We are given glimpses of this reality each year, often in the context of #FeesMustFall – which acts as a telescope into the world of many of South Africa’s young adults,” notes Suriah. “Willing, able, and desperate to step into destinies where they realise the ‘promise’ of their education, too many often discover that education alone is not enough. Without ‘professional work experience’ they are very simply blocked from accessing the formal economy. Most also don’t have the life exposure required to necessarily start their own business, even if they are entrepreneurially minded.”

Enter learnerships… Designed as “bridges” to formal employment, learnerships essentially fill this gap, exposing young people to the industry, whilst giving them the opportunity to work in their chosen field and gain the critical “work experience” they need. Supported and enabled by levies and corporate benefits, learnerships should be delivering a significant pipeline of next generation employees, and launching their careers. The reality however, is that finding and ultimately investing in young talent is often more expensive than it seems. “It takes the average company between six to eight weeks to recruit a learnership candidate having typically spent over R80 000 “finding” them using a combination of marketing and promotions,” explains Suriah. “Staff and selection costs must also be factored into this equation.”

She adds that many companies offering learnerships have also learnt the hard way that the best qualified candidates often aren’t necessarily the best organisational fit. “Of the average 2 500 applications received for a standard learnership only 5% meet the selection criteria, with just 1% usually being invited to an interview. The process is expensive and time consuming and, as a result, companies may choose to forfeit the SDL levies and abandon it completely.” Covid-19 has added a new layer of complexity too, with HR departments and teams among the worst affected by staff cuts during this period. This means that under-resourced teams could be faced with the daunting task of managing the entire learnership process from end to end: a big ask if one is already stretched and working at full capacity.

Suriah says that despite the challenges in this space, this ask is too critical to ignore: “If we get it ‘right’ as a collective, we can start tackling the current unemployment rate among the youth very practically. This is why we’ve invested so much in developing our own learnership offering. It’s an online recruitment system that blends technology and people, helping organisations to find and recruit suitable learners – whilst providing opportunities for students.” She notes that the use of tools and processes for matching means that efficiency and effectiveness are built in, with the Fundi Admin ensuring personal connection isn’t lost, and that active support is provided to candidates throughout their journey.

With learnerships a workable solution for missing middle students, offerings that can place them more effectively, faster and with real potential for long-term success are critically needed. “It’s our hope that this solution will impact the space in a very positive way – bringing real change for both companies looking to recruit the best of young talent and the young people wanting to and willing to step-up and into the formal economy,” Suriah concludes.