MORE than 3,000 unemployed graduates in information and communication technology will have a chance to find permanent work in South Africa’s booming technology sector, thanks to a partnership between global technology giant Microsoft and the government’s Job Fund, the two organisations said on Thursday.
Launching the initiative in Newtown, Microsoft International president Jean-Philippe Courtois said the company had long invested in South Africa and understood the need to continue to develop solutions to the country’s problems.
"We remain committed to helping address the issue of youth unemployment, as we cannot let an entire generation of young people become long-term unemployed. Students coming out of university need practical experience and through internships and learnerships provided by our Student2Business (S2B) programme, they can get that — and now we can extend the number of people we can reach thanks to this partnership," Mr Courtois said.
Microsoft SA MD Mteto Nyati said the initiative would seek to triple the training outreach programmes undertaken by the company in the past.
"S2B trained more than 6,500 unemployed graduates and placed more than 75% of them in permanent positions. We plan to have the students who are set to sign 12-month internship contracts under the Jobs Fund find full-time jobs by the end of their training. Training will focus on areas of need within the IT industry," he said.
S2B places young people in 12-month internships or learnerships, with one of Microsoft SA’s 38 partner companies. They include Alexander Forbes, Barloworld, Absa, Vodacom and the revenue service.
To be eligible, students must be unemployed citizens under the age of 35 and have an IT or business-related degree or diploma.
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