Graduate Placement Program

The Esinam Graduate Placement Program (EGPP) is a professionally accredited training program, including work readiness training, seeking to assist TVET youth who require work experience in order to complete their qualification, essential and relevant job placement of qualified youth, unemployed youth, and young people living with disabilities. The program seeks to up skill graduates, through additional training, as well as to introduce these individuals to the South African Economy through job placements. Operating from Pinetown KwaZulu-Natal, Esinam has been able to train, and place hundreds of TVET graduates over the past years, recently reaching new heights by training and placing over 300 learners in 2021.

About the program

The EGPP focuses on these aspects:

Student/Youth Empowerment. Diversification has become the language of the corporate and working world. While the concept has focused mainly on product/service offerings, as well as broadening your investment portfolio, many have learnt that in the economic climate of South Africa, it is not wise to focus on just one skill. Therefore, entrants into our program are equipped with additional skills. One of the courses that the graduates were inducted into in previous years has been Project Management and Work Readiness. Our learner empowerment also seeks to help learners manage and master their mental health through our personal mastery and coaching initiatives.

The inclusion of courses such as project management, when paired with a vocation such as plumbing, allows the graduate to contribute and implement plans at various stages of the project. In addition, such a course would open opportunities in management, as well as in entrepreneurship, should the young person so choose.
Host Employer Empowerment. At Esinam we believe in sustainable placement and mutually beneficial relationships. This means that we don’t just place, so to tick a box and meet numbers, we also help manage learner-supervisor knowledge transfer and absorption through monthly updating and verification of knowledge transfer logs/logbooks. We also help manage, negotiate, and resolve all and any conflict between host employer and placed learner, for the entire six month placement period.
Placement. Work experience has become one of the barriers to entry into the South African job market. We partner with the host employer to help ensure that their normal business operations are not unnecessarily disturbed but rather, productivity is boosted by the extra pair of hands. We partner with the learner to ensure that they get as much exposure to skills and knowledge as possible in their field. We empower them to be multi-skilled so to be an asset to the organisation or any that may wish to absorb them as formal employees.

The selection criteria

Tvet graduates between the ages of 18-35

Unemployed youth between the ages of 18-40 must have post-matric qualification

Unemployed people with disabilities between the ages of 18-40 are also encouraged to apply.

The ideal candidate

The ideal candidate would be an individual with a passion to become active members of the South African Economy. We do our best, to give you the best, and all we ask, is for you to give your best.

Benefits of the program

Benefits to Host Employers

Resource Mobilization (Save Money)

Use SETA mandatory and discretionary grants application (through your WSP/ART) to pay for training and learner stipends
Or use CSI spend or any allocated spend for stipends and training
We also source stipend funds from other partner organisations for invested host employers who do not have sufficient levies to cover 6 months of stipends, terms and conditions apply.

20% of your levy can be claimed back in a Mandatory Grant
Tax rebates on registered learnership programmes

More money in your pockets (SARS Rebate)

We help you put a 6 month internship/placement agreement in place.
This is submissable to SARS for a Tax rebate.

SARS offers rebate amounts as follows:

R80,000 per learner for able bodied interns/learners (NQF 1- NQF 5)
R40,000 per learner for able bodied interns/learners (NQF 7 – NQF 10)
R120,000 per learner for youth/learners with disabilities (NQF 1 – NQF 6)
R100,000 per learner for youth/learners with disabilities (NQF 7 – NQF 10)

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In addition to sourcing and training graduates for workplace placement, Esinam, and the Placement team are also ready to assist companies to align their Workplace Skills Plan to their BEE and Employment Equity targets, ultimately, allowing the organisation to identify areas where skills are needed and plan interventions to answer the needs.

2. Program Benefits to Learners and Youth

Youth Empowerment – The EGPP seeks to empower the youth through coaching, skills development, connecting youth to employment opportunities, and ultimately changing the life of the learner for the better.
Work experience to complete qualification – Many vocational studies contain an element of Work Integrated Learning, which are practical’s that need to be completed at a workplace, in order to complete their qualification. This is often a daunting process, as learners are asked to go into the work world, with little to no knowledge when it comes to employment applications, interviews, or workplace readiness. We make things a little easier by providing workplace readiness training, by knocking on the doors that students may not have known even existed, and by providing mutual benefits to host companies through highlighting the benefits of partnering with Esinam.
Work experience required for desired positions – Work experience has become an employment barrier to some youth, as this has generally become a requirement when applying for a position. With the EGPP, the youth on our program are exposed to opportunities where they are able to get the desired work experience in their chosen field.
External Benefits – Workplace readiness, mental health coaching career coaching are some of the added benefits that youth enrolled in the program can expect to gain. We try to take a holistic approach to engaging with youth, thus creating future leaders in work and business, as well as community leaders.

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Roadmap

We prioritize the following steps in order to effectively implement the program:

Placement Agreements with Host Employers (Letters of intent) – We begin the process by approaching potential host companies, showing them the benefits of taking on one of the youth on the EGPP as mentioned above, and we then get letters of intent from the host companies, as to how many youth they are able to take on for the duration of the program.

Recruitment - Unemployed youth and qualifying candidates are then invited to apply for our program. Guided by the annual budget and sponsor requirements, applicants are shortlisted and then invited for an interview, through which the appropriate candidates are selected. Where possible, host companies are invited to be part of the interview process.

Coaching and Training - The chosen candidates are then taken through the selected training program, trained by a team of qualified in-house trainers, assessors, and moderators. All training provided is accredited by the relevant SETA, and is in line with the requirements of the South African Qualification Authority (SAQA)

Placement - Having completed their training, graduates are then placed at various companies, where they receive a stipend for the duration of their program.

Monitoring - Weekly and monthly evaluations are done to ensure that there are no developmental gaps that need to be addressed. Should such be identified, depending on the nature of the required development, contingencies are implemented to mitigate these areas of development.

Retention/Absorption - The primary goal of the program is to create a long-term, meaningful impact in the life of the graduate, and for the economy. Therefore, the ultimate goal is to see permanently employed graduates, and entrepreneurs. Absorption is one of the avenues to achieve this goal. While we do our best to ensure that graduates are equipped with the skills and knowledge required to fulfil their duties, we also encourage companies to permanently absorb the graduates into their workforce on completion of the program.