Students reap the benefits of the Absa ‘ready-to-work’ programme

An Inlook Development Company facilitator conducts a session during one of the workshops held at the ORBIT TVET College Rustenburg Campus

One hundred and twenty-eight students from ORBIT TVET College Brits, Mankwe and Rustenburg Campuses, North West Province, attended the ABSA Ready-To-Work Programme workshops in May, which were held at the Rustenburg Campus.

The initiative, spearheaded by the Student Support and Academic Programmes Unit, in conjunction with ABSA, aimed at providing students with insights that will prepare them for the world of work.

Participating students were trained on the following modules:

Work skills: Students received guidance and were taught how to find their dream jobs. The skills needed to prepare them for work and job applications included interview and CV writing skills.

Money skills: Students learnt how to manage their money and the importance of financial skills. They were taught how to deal effectively with credit, debt management and the management of their financial future.

Entrepreneurial skills: Students received an overview of how to start, setup and grow their own businesses.

People skills: The module focused on the skills students needed to know in order to work well with others in the workplace. This included stressing the need for understanding, and consistently applying and improving interpersonal skills.

The co-ordinators of the programme, ORBIT TVET College Vocational Programmes Manager, Ms M Maja and Academic Support Co-ordinator, Ms R Mampye; CEO of Inlook Company, Mr C Nkabinde and ABSA Public Sector Relationship Manager, Mr Brian Bogopa, went out of their way to ensure that the workshops held over two days were a great success.

The programme was concluded with each student receiving four certificates in entrepreneurial skills, people skills, money skills and work skills respectively.

The ABSA Ready-To-Work programme is an initiative started by ABSA in 2016. The partnership between ORBIT TVET College and ABSA dates back to July 2016. At that time, 50 Financial Economics and Accounting (FEA) students were placed at various ABSA branches for a week. This was to enable them to gain Work-Based Exposure (WBE).

By Reginah Mampye Academic Support Co-ordinator