Soweto Festival hosts groundbreaking Joburg Jobs City initiative

The campaign will focus on real-time, on-the-ground ways of assisting unemployed matriculated and non-matriculated youth and tertiary graduates, with the bedrock being a comprehensive WAP employment-database that will be built by the City and accessed via sms log-in. Prior to the festival, the City will secure publicity for the initiative in the form of radio ads and interviews on Jozi FM, Y-FM and Khaya FM, who will send out a call to action to local unemployed youth to sms their name, ID number and a keyword to a given number in order to register their interest. They will thereafter get an sms inviting them to visit the festival in order to participate in the Jobs City initiative, and upon their arrival they will receive a pack containing full details and requirements of the programme, including application forms for learnerships and internships and details of how to upload their summary CV onto the WAP database.

At the festival, Jobs City will comprise booths manned by officials from the City of Johannesburg, as well as those of its partnership organisations, including: Jhb City Parks, Jhb Roads Agency, Jhb Water, Jhb Tourism Company, Jhb Property Company, Jhb Development Agency, Jhb Civic Theatre, Jhb Fresh Produce Market, City Power, Pikitup, Social Housing Company, Metro Trading Company and Metro Bus Service.

These organisations will inform potential candidates of employment opportunities within their relevant sectors, including internships, learnerships, bursaries for further studies and exchange programmes. Once potential candidates have registered and uploaded their summary CVs onto the WAP database, the City and its partnership organisations will - after ensuring the qualification requirements have been met - shortlist the selected candidates, advise them via SMS and invite them to attend an on-the-spot screening interview within the relevant sector. The database of respondents will then also be utilized for possible future employment opportunities.

The Joburg Jobs City will be located within the Youth Zone, and will form part of the Career Zone, which will comprise daily talks and workshops on various career options led by professionals in their respective fields, as well as exhibitions showcasing a variety of tertiary education institutions, companies and potential employers, and five to six 30-minute career seminars offered daily from the seminar room.

Joburg City hopes that the festival will serve as a platform for social good in terms of motivating our youth to empower themselves through action. This first-of-its-kind concept reflects the commitment and dedication of the City of Johannesburg to the creation of community interest in order to highlight unemployment and offer our often disillusioned youth concrete tools for change, self-help and empowerment. In this way, Joburg City also hopes to prove to the public that its catchphrase for the Jobs City programme - “A City with a Conscience” - is indeed true.

The festival is organised by Adele Lucas Promotions and hosted by the City of Johannesburg, and will take place over the Heritage weekend, from 24-28 September, at the Soweto Campus of the University of Johannesburg. For more information on the festival go to http://www.sowetofestival.co.za.