Vodacom invests in graduate talent
Vodacom, South Africa’s leading cellular network welcomed 23 new graduate students to its premier skills development programme for young tertiary-qualified South Africans; Vodacom Discover on 1 March 2010. Vodacom’s investment of more than R26 million in its graduate programmes, over a period of five years illustrates its belief to develop and grow skills from within. Continuing its focus and investment in empowering women in the ICT industry, Vodacom ensured that 48% of the new graduates to join Discover are female.
The Vodacom Discover graduates will have the opportunity to expand their education and transform their skills set to match and excel within the challenges of a converged ICT working environment. Participants in the programme benefit from an enriching employment experience while receiving job-specific training, mentorship from senior Vodacom staff as well as the chance to build valuable relationships within Vodacom’s African operations and the greater Vodafone family. All graduates earn a competitive salary for the duration of the Discover programme and students who excel stand the chance of being offered permanent employment.
“At Vodacom it is our goal to become the most sought after employer,” says Lungi Ndlovu, Chief Officer Human Resources, Vodacom Group Limited. “For Vodacom, finding talented, hardworking individuals and moulding this raw material into employees with specialised skills and a holistic business acumen, is truly a precious commodity,” she says. The Vodacom Discover graduate programme seeks to encompass the totality of Vodacom’s core business offerings and include a multi-faceted approach to skills development. Graduates Engineering & Technology; Billing & IT; and Commercial & Vodacom Business, as well as the important addition of a Commercial & Business Analyst stream are separate features of this programme that align its commercial goals with its human resource imperatives. The ICT industry is evolving at an incredible rate and areas that were once separate have converged to offer converged and tailor made products and services.
It is with this in mind that the Vodacom Discover graduate programme has been introuced.
Breaching the deficit of qualified ICT practitioners in South Africa is something that is vital to Vodacom. “We understand that the shortage in ICT skills training in the country cannot be seen in isolation from our own business objectives,” says Lungi Ndlovu. “This is why we have made a conscious decision to offer students this exciting opportunity to fulfil their career ambitions with one of South Africa’s most dynamic companies,” she says.
