"Our goal was to play a significant role in preparing these graduates to get workplace training and help launch their careers with valuable work experience," said Deon Crafford, managing director of Barnstone Corporate Services. The Academy programme consisted of classroom teaching, group work and mentoring with extensive on-the-job experience. The curriculum included training in Barnstone's focus technology areas in the mining, energy and financial services sectors as well as the company's basic consulting methodologies.
"Now that our first academy is complete we are working on placing all 12 participants into full time employment. Barnstone itself will take five of these individuals to join our current workforce of 35 professionals with another three being offered medium term contracts. Meanwhile we are actively working with our clients to secure positions for the remaining three young men while one has already been head hunted by a financial services firm," Crafford said.
"Recruiting for the second Barnstone Academy will commence shortly. This time we will redress the gender imbalance from the last programme as we had recruited male graduates from a mining project we had been working on," he concluded.
