Instead of battling the skills shortage to find people to fill roles within the business, organisations can offer learnerships that develop those skills. An example of just such a candidate is Michaela Solomon, who has been with Altron Managed Solutions as a Human Capital Consultant for four years, but initially joined the business on a learnership.
Solomon says: “I was trapped in this cycle of applying for any and every job, just to be employed. I realised that I needed to be more focused in my career path, so applied for a learnership. I already had some experience as an HR administrator and wanted to learn and grow further in that field. My learnership with Altron Managed Solutions lasted a year, after which I was offered a permanent position.”
A learnership is more than just an opportunity to attain a qualification, it can also open the door to a permanent position – and enable the business to acquire in-demand skills. Interestingly, today’s learnership candidates are additionally empowered with EQ skills that will help them in the workplace as much as role-specific skills.
As part of her learnership, Solomon had to assist all of the other human capital candidates, fulfilling administrative duties, doing invoicing, setting up consultations and performing background checks across various systems. By assisting the entire team, she acquired the requisite skills to become a human capital candidate herself. Solomon says: “There was also a formal training component where I received training from external sources and earned qualifications.”
Asked to share any key lessons learnt during her learnership, Solomon replied: “You need to be open to acquiring as much knowledge as possible and you need to be open to learning new things such as e-mail etiquette, how to address fellow employees, as well as how to deal with difficult colleagues, managers or clients. Conflict resolution is also a prerequisite skill before the individual can progress.”
She points out that the business also benefited from her formal training: “No matter what role you occupy, you can always have an impact on the business.”
Solomon has the following piece of advice for anyone wanting to embark on a learnership. “To get to the top, you have to start at the bottom. You can’t expect to start out with an elevated job title and commensurate salary.”
She says that she found it challenging as a newcomer trying to fit into an established team. “It was difficult to be new and inexperienced yet dealing with the team’s expectations. It’s hard to fit into a new team and culture as a very junior person who doesn’t have a lot of skills.”
Her advice to other learnership candidates faced with a similar situation would be to learn as much as possible from their team as part of their knowledge journey. “You’re there for a greater purpose; to fulfil a team, and everyone needs to play their part in a successful team.”
Being an intern wasn’t only limited to HR-related activities; Solomon says she had an opportunity to see what other departments had to offer and what their day-to-day jobs were like so that she could get an overview of what the entire business was like. "That enabled me to understand where what I do fit into the business and the implications down the line of HR-related activities.”
She highlights the need for learnerships to balance formal training with on-the-job training. “I did all of the formal training during office hours – at that time I didn’t have a key role on the team, so my being out of the office on formal training didn’t impact their activities.”
Tebogo Mohlampe, Senior Human Capital Business Partner at Altron Managed Solutions, says: “The business promotes a culture of learning because continuous learning is a requirement for the success of the business. We create an environment in which learning is encouraged and rewarded. Learning and assessment opportunities are provided and supported across the organisation; participation is voluntary and we have excellent uptake. Learning is clearly linked to organisational goals, and individual aspirations and learning and assessment are supported by quality policies and procedures.
“We upskill for business growth and development to address this country’s unemployment rate and to enable our learnership candidates to obtain a qualification so they can be marketable.”
Altron Managed Solutions offers between 20 and 40 learnerships to interns every year, and tries to retain and absorb the skills based on availability of positions within the business.
Mohlampe describes a learnership as a learning programme where the learner spends some time learning theory and some time learning practical skills in the workplace. “It consists of a structured learning component as well as practical work experience of a specified nature for a duration.”
A learnership leads to a qualification registered by the SAQA.
She goes on to explain the benefit to the business that’s offering the learnership: “First and foremost it creates a talent pool for the business to draw on, while also contributing to the company’s skills development strategy.”
The candidate benefits in multiple ways. Not only do learnerships develop the skills of South Africa’s workforce, they improve productivity in the workplace and the competitiveness of employers, while promoting self-employment. Candidates acquire on-the-job work experience as well as theoretical knowledge. “By using the workplace as an active learning environment, the business provides employees with opportunities to acquire new skills and also provide opportunities for new entrants to the labour market to gain work experience.”
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