WINDHOEK – Bank Windhoek, in partnership with the Namibia University of Science and Technology (Nust) and B360 Education Partnerships, offered a leg up to unemployed university graduates by combining two Career Starter Week workshops to help graduates sharpen their employability skills. The workshops started on Monday, 8th and concluded on Friday, July 19 in Windhoek.
Sponsored by Bank Windhoek, the workshops attracted 37 participants, with Michel Aebsicher and Claudia Hovan, experts from B360 as the main facilitators. Namibian professionals from Bank Windhoek, Old Mutual, Capricorn Wealth, Cymot Namibia and Nust delivered presentations aimed at coaching graduates on how to prepare themselves for possible employment in a highly competitive job environment.
Aebischer and Hovan reflected on the involvement of local professionals, saying that the combination of their context-specific professional knowledge and experience proved to be a key value-add for the Career Starter Week.
The workshops exposed graduates to a range of topics, including curriculum vitae (CV) preparation and drafting of cover letters, interview training, organizational structure, entrepreneurship, project management and governance and ethics. “The workshops ended with participants divided into groups to work on a business case and deliver a presentation thereon to a panel of judges,” said Nust’s International Relations Officer Nico Smit.
“This was an excellent experience, I have learned so much and have gained a new appreciation for the way employers think when they are recruiting,” said Helen Kamenye, one of the participants. These sentiments were echoed by others, saying that their expectations were exceeded.
“Feedback such as the one received from the participants, makes us proud. Some participants said that they will try to create employment for others as entrepreneurs and not necessarily look for it. As a responsible corporate citizen, this is Bank Windhoek’s commitment of adding value in the communities in which we operate, especially the Namibian youth. We wish them the best,” said Bank Windhoek’s Human Resources Business Partner Manager, Retuura Ballotti.
In 2017, B360 Education Partnerships and Nust’s Cooperative Education Unit (CEU) first piloted the Career Starter Week, a five-day workshop aimed at equipping participants with the knowledge and skills to improve their marketability and employability.
“The workshop has since been hosted numerous times for Nust students and has made use of Swiss industry experts to deliver content,” said Smit.
Switzerland-based B360 Education Partnerships is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) comprising a pool of professionals in numerous disciplines such as Business Management, Civil Engineering, Communication, Economics, Finance and Accounting, Human Resources, Journalism, Marketing, Mechanical Engineering, Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Development and other career fields.
The Career Starter Week concluded with an announcement of four of the graduates, who have been selected for a three-month internship opportunity at Credit Suisse, a multinational investment bank and financial services company based in Switzerland.