Business continuity is a critical part of corporate governance the world over, yet there is an acute shortage of skills in this field, especially in South Africa, among the previously disadvantaged.
As South Africa's leading business continuity (BC) enterprise, ContinuitySA decided to do something to alleviate this industry-wide problem.
In 2005, ContinuitySA launched a graduate learnership programme that is offered to final year students from South Africa's top universities. The interns are guided through a comprehensive BC skills transfer programme and, on successful completion, are then able to apply their theoretical skills in the real world with real customers.
"We decided to identify, attract and groom some of the brightest prospects from local universities into the field of BC consulting," says Victoria Mamabolo, HR officer at ContinuitySA. "And after two successful intakes, we are very bullish about the future prospects of our learnership programme and the transfer of much-needed skills in the BC arena."
Once selected for the internship, the students are put through a series of life-skills and business training programmes to ensure they are capable of interacting in a professional environment. In addition, they are also assigned a mentor within ContinuitySA, with whom they work and learn the ropes of BC consulting.
The highlight for the interns is the ability to apply all the theory they have learned in a real customer setting. "Getting out of an academic and an office setting and engaging with customers was definitely the highlight in my internship," says Onicca Kgoale, who was appointed as a BC consultant with ContinuitySA after completing her internship in 2006.
Maggie Khoale, one of the company's current interns, echoes Kgoale, noting that the availability of a mentor is also a great help in settling in and learning how to combine different disciplines in a business solution - and in learning to deal with different cultures.
In reality, Mamabolo notes that the mentorship works both ways, as the interns learn to deal with people in a business setting, while the more experienced people adapt to younger people, other cultures and new ideas. "In the end, the interns, the mentors, the company and our customers all win."
Mamabolo warns that, although many of the interns are offered jobs with ContinuitySA after their year is up, they know it is not guaranteed. "We monitor the interns closely over the year and if we offer them a permanent position, it will be on merit and ability alone. There are no second chances in the world of BC and our interns have to prove they are capable of handling the job and all the pressures associated with it."
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