Pan-African ICT group, XON, has enjoyed considerable success from its learnership programme that kicked off in 2009.
To date all five graduates of the first round, which lasted until 2011, have been employed full-time by XON and the business is looking to employ the current group of eight learners once they too have graduated from the second round later this year.
“We don’t believe in training learners, providing them with a basic, minimum level of education and then sending them out to look for employment just so we can meet broad-based black economic empowerment goals,” says Jurgen Grosse-Heitmeyer, head of HR at XON.
“It is imperative for the success of both the learner and the MICT Learnership Programme that learners are provided with an education that makes them employable and immediately marketable so they become active contributors to the economy.”
The first group consisted of three women and two men and whilst the men were enrolled for the technical training programme the ladies decided to follow the Business Administration programme. The second learnership programme, XON participated in, began in 2012, again in conjunction with Media Information and Communication Technologies Sector Education and Training Authority (MICT SETA), and these learners will soon graduate.
The group of eight includes two men and six women, of whom one is disabled, and all passed their first year well above average.
“Their enthusiasm, positive attitude and willingness to learn resulted in them not only passing the subjects required for the learnership programme, but also other, additional courses they enrolled for,” says Grosse-Heitmeyer.
“Additional courses included Project Administration and Management, tender Administration and various Juniper Networks courses to obtain certification on technologies supplied and supported by XON. This makes them valuable members of our overall XON strategy.”
XON rotates the learners through its various divisions, including networking, infrastructure, alternative energy, retail and administration. The experience they gain delivers valuable insights into the industry generally, which gives learners a better idea of where they would like to focus, says Grosse-Heitmeyer.
They also work with their direct managers, supported by the HR department to receive mentoring and coaching on all aspects of building successful careers. Performance appraisals are conducted twice yearly, just as if they were full-time employees and feedback is delivered along with additional coaching, which ranges from communication skills to coping with pressure, time management and more.
