As part of the government's Unemployed Graduate Initiative, a register of unemployed graduates was launched in December, aimed at linking up unemployed youngsters with prospective employers. The Jobs and Opportunities Seekers database already has 61 000 graduates on its list, as well as information on available jobs, learnerships, internships and business opportunities. The database is managed by the government Umsobomvu Youth Fund.
At the launch ceremony in Pretoria several companies pledged jobs for more than 4 000 graduates on the list in just 30 minutes in an auction-type campaign. These ranged from jobs as engineers, scientists and mining technicians, to researchers, brewers and project managers.
IBM was the first to pledge 500 jobs. Siemens offered 80 jobs in the engineering and technical fields and Old Mutual promised to train and employ 100 unemployed graduates in project management. The biggest pledge came from Eskom, which said it would recruit 70 graduates in the finance and procurement fields in January, in addition to the 100 graduates it employed prior to the lauch. It also promised to take in 200 youth listed on the database and offer 4 000 learnerships in 2006. Telkom offered to employ 310 graduates in 2006 and Vodacom said it would increase its learnership intake from 225 to 400 and employ another 10 graduates from the database. The South African Institute of Civil Engineers pledged to take as many engineers as they can find, and Master Builders of South Africa said it would take any graduate who has a construction qualification. South African Breweries said it would take as many science and brewing graduates as possible. Other companies involved were Nedbank, the Independent Development Trust, the Industrial Development Corporation, Sappi, Alstom, the Development Bank of Southern Africa which promised 28 jobs, Deloitte, TMC, and Gensec Properties.
