De Beers opens up job market for young ones

De Beers recently reached out to 80 unemployed young people from communities near the mining giant’s Venetia mine and trained them on how to successfully enter the job market.
The youths, 40 from Musina and 40 from Blouberg, received free coaching at Venetia Mine designed to equip them to showcase their skills and qualifications as well as navigate the application and interview process.
The training follows requests from the communities to learn more about the company’s job application process and how to do well in an interview. Recruitment statistics show that local candidates can lose out on job opportunities because of a lack of basic job entry skills.
“That is why we have brought on board experts from the Anglo America Recruitment Team, who bring expertise from the likes of Career Junction, South Africa’s largest job portal, to transfer these skills to our communities,” said Venetia’s Human Resources Manager for Ore Extraction, Patrick Govender.
Benford Mokoatle, General Manager of the Venetia mine, told the trainees that each one of them was special. “God has made you unique. You are his perfect creation. Don’t let peer pressure get you down and don’t follow someone else’s dreams. Follow your own aspirations,” he said.
Venetia, South Africa’s largest diamond-producing mine, is undergoing a US$2 billion extension, which is scheduled to begin production in 2022, climbing to full production in 2025, when it will treat about 132 million tons of ore containing an estimated 94 million carats. The development will lead to about 2,000 new jobs.

Story: MARKI FRANKEN
>>marki.observer@gmail.com