Recruitment and learnerships are taking a front seat at SACO CFR, which has launched a collaboration with Mankwali Business Solutions as part of an enterprise development initiative.According to Beverly Kirstein, SACO CFR’s chief human resources officer, the eagerness and enthusiasm for developing skilled individuals for the industry is what drew the company’s attention to Mankwali, an up-and-coming recruitment business solely focused on the placement of candidates for learnerships.“We believe in empowering people with the tools to become trained, educated and successful assets. With the expertise of Mankwali’s recruitment skills, we intend to support, mentor and develop the candidates they assist.”Kirstein says learnerships are of critical importance in the current workplace.“Without detracting from the significance of the recruitment industry, digital technology has taken away from the importance of face-to-face interviews,” she says. “Search engines are becoming heavily relied upon to save time and money, and although this certainly has its place, we are finding that soft skills are not being explored to the fullest.”Too often, she says, candidates are not accurately examined to be a cultural fit for an organisation, and vice versa. “This isn’t true of all providers though, and that’s why we place importance on dealing with agencies that understand our organisation's requirements, values, behaviours and culture. We have a handful of agencies that we have been working with for many years and partner with them because they understand our needs. However, this gap is narrowing, and we as an industry need to be mindful that we are partnering with the right agencies for the right reasons.”
