Specialist IT recruitment company, NeilsonYoung Consulting, has achieved an impressive AAA empowerment rating from rating agency, EmpowerDEX. Classified as a Level 2 contributor to broad based black economic empowerment, the company had to commit to all seven pillars of the BEE scorecard including ownership, management structures, employment equity, preferential procurement, skills development, social responsibility and economic empowerment in order to achieve this rating.
"As a small business, a significant commitment is required from the entire team in order to achieve this kind of rating," reports managing director, Dusten Young. "It was an extensive process which had a huge impact on certain aspects of our day to day operations."
However, Young admits that the value of the rating is huge. "The investment and commitment in aligning NeilsonYoung Consulting with the spirit of BEE will benefit our clients tremendously in the long term," he maintains.
According to Recruitment Director, Caroline Nkosi, the pressure to prove NeilsonYoung Consulting had a sound BEE strategy in place was immense. "Even though we knew we were doing the right things, prospective clients would put us through time consuming supplier information exercises. These would frequently include 20-30 pages of BEE related questions which would take a lot of time and resources to complete. The external rating means NeilsonYoung Consulting is able to provide prospective clients with a tangible verification of our BEE status," she says.
The company is committed to empowerment and to growing with the essence and spirit of empowerment in mind. To this end, it will continue to conduct at least two learnerships a year and will focus on providing employment opportunities to previously disadvantaged individuals. In addition, the company mentors IT students entering the job market and assists them in compiling their CVs.
"We place a priority on both BEE and corporate social investment initiatives because they are the right thing to do," insists Young.
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NeilsonYoung Consulting was established in 2002 on the premise that specialists with industry experience understand the human resource requirements of ICTe companies better than generalist recruitment companies.
Offering a specialised placement service, the company focused on recruiting high calibre IT, executive and solution sales skills. The company has subsequently undertaken assignments for many leading local and global organisations.
NeilsonYoung Consulting counts amongst its clients companies such as SAP, Cell C, SUN Microsystems, The SAS Institute, MTN NS, Dell, Wesbank and divisions of FirstRand, Faritec, Dimension Data, Bytes Technology Group, ContinuitySA, Cisco Systems and Pebbletree Consulting.
Although the company remains a relatively small organisation, it has grown into a strong team of professional consultants with a world class support infrastructure.
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