Learnerships as a Core Youth Employment Strategy

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When we talk about youth unemployment in South Africa, I think one of the biggest things we need to talk about is opportunity.

It is easy to tell young people to study, get a qualification and find a job. But the reality is that getting your first opportunity can be one of the hardest parts. Many organisations want someone with experience, but as a young person, where are you supposed to get that experience if nobody is willing to give you a chance?

I understand this because I have experienced different stages of entering and growing in the workplace myself.

My first experiences of work taught me things that I don't think I could have learned from studying alone. I started out in customer service, working as a barista at a popular food chain, and eventually I was promoted to supervisor. That journey taught me much more than just how to do my job. I learnt how to communicate with different people, deal with customers, work under pressure, take responsibility, and eventually lead other people.

At the time, I didn’t necessarily realise how important those experiences would become. Looking back now, I can see that every role helped prepare me for the next one.

That is what I think makes workplace exposure so important for young people.

A qualification can give you knowledge, but the workplace teaches you how to apply that knowledge. You learn how to communicate professionally, how to manage your time, how to work with a team, how to solve problems and how to take accountability when something is your responsibility.

These are things that are difficult to fully understand until you are actually in the workplace.

This is why I don’t think we should look at learnerships as simply a way for young people to get a qualification. A learnership can be someone’s first real opportunity to understand what it means to be part of a professional environment.

For many young people, that first opportunity can change everything.

It can be the moment where someone who has always questioned whether they are capable of working in a professional environment starts to realise, “Actually, I can do this.”

But I also think the responsibility cannot only sit with the learner.

Organisations have a big role to play in what a learner gets out of the experience.

From where I am now, working in operations at Sange SA and being involved in the administration and coordination of learnership programmes, I have been able to see the other side of the process. I understand why organisations need structured programmes, proper administration, training and accountability. But I also think we need to remember the person behind the learner.

That person may be entering the workplace for the first time.

They may not know how everything works yet. They may be nervous about asking questions. They may make mistakes because they are still learning. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have potential.

Sometimes potential needs to be given a chance before it can be seen.

That is one of the reasons I believe organisations should look at learners as potential employees, rather than simply temporary participants who will leave once the programme ends.

An organisation has the opportunity to develop someone from the beginning. You get to see their growth, their work ethic, how they communicate, how they respond to feedback and how they handle responsibility.

And sometimes, the person who doesn’t have the strongest CV can turn out to be someone who brings a lot of value to the organisation.

My own journey has shown me that careers don’t always happen in a straight line. You can start in one position and learn skills that eventually help you move into something completely different. The important thing is having opportunities to learn, grow and prove yourself.

That is why I believe learnerships can play an important role in addressing youth unemployment in South Africa.

But I don’t think learnerships alone are enough.

Completing a learnership does not automatically mean that a young person will have a job waiting for them afterwards. If we want learnerships to have a bigger impact on employment, organisations need to think about what happens after the programme.

The focus should not only be on whether a learner completed their assessments or received their qualification. We should also be asking: Did they gain real workplace experience? Did they develop confidence? Did they develop skills that employers need? And did the organisation create an opportunity for that learner to potentially grow within the business?

For me, that is where the conversation around learnerships needs to go.

We need to move from simply asking, “How many learners did we train?” to asking, “How many young people did we actually prepare for the workplace?”

Because the ultimate goal should be bigger than completing a programme.

It should be about giving young people a real starting point.

A starting point where they can gain experience, discover what they are capable of, build professional relationships and understand what direction they want their careers to take.

And for organisations, investing in young people should not only be seen as giving back. It can also be an investment in the organisation itself. When you develop your own talent, you have the opportunity to build people who understand your organisation, your culture and your way of working.

My journey is a reminder to me that people can grow when they are given the opportunity to do so.

I started by learning the basics of customer service and working as a barista. I grew into a supervisory role, gained experience in different areas and eventually found myself building a career in administration and operations. Every step taught me something that I still carry with me today.

That is the opportunity I believe learnerships can give to young people.

Not just a certificate.

Not just a temporary position.

But a chance to start somewhere, learn something, prove themselves and grow.

If we are serious about tackling youth unemployment in South Africa, then we need to create more pathways from learning to experience, and from experience to employment.

Because sometimes, all a young person needs to change the direction of their life is someone willing to give them that first opportunity.