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08 June 2023 | Story Danelle Fisher | Photo Lunga Luthuli
Career Services
Pictured are student representatives from House Vergeet-My-Nie, winners of the 2023 Inter-residence Work Readiness Challenge. With them is Nobesuthu Sonti, Senior Officer, Career Services (holding a mic), and on the right is Petunia Rooibaaidjie, Career Ambassador.
The Career Services division within the Department of Student Affairs recently (May 2023) held their first-ever Inter-residence Work Readiness Challenge. The challenge, targeted at students in residences, called on students to submit their CVs and cover letters to the UFS Careers Office. 

Students from the Bloemfontein Campus residences were challenged to submit as many CVs, cover letters, and LinkedIn profiles as possible, with the most submissions winning the challenge. “Having the Inter-residence Work Readiness Challenge was to increase the employability of the University of the Free State students through a healthy competition among students on the Bloemfontein Campus,” states Nobesuthu Sonti, Senior Officer in the Career Services office. 

Nineteen out of 28 residences competed, with students submitting their documents on Blackboard; Career Services recorded 486 submissions in one month. “The response from students is an indication that they were not aware of the support that Career Services can offer regarding their CVs and cover letters,” explains Sonti. 

The initiative also revealed the challenges students have in compiling CVs and writing cover letters, and how to articulate themselves during mock interviews. 

Sonti said: "Most students were not aware of what to include in their document, which affected the quality of content submitted. Through the mock interviews, we found that students struggle to articulate themselves and are not able to sell themselves,” said Sonti. 

House Vergeet-My-Nie came out as victors in the end, having submitted more CVs and cover letters than the other residences. Sonti encourages students to seek career guidance and contact the office to assess their career paths and be offered private career coaching.

  • The Career Services office offers students workshops on how to write CVs and cover letters, networking, and job-hunting skills to improve their employability. It further offers career guidance and mock interviews, together with a career closet where students can pick out interview-appropriate outfits for their interviews.
You can contact the Career Service office at the following email address: career@ufs.ac.za

News Archive

UFS in forefront with ASGI-SA initiative
2006-05-10

At the conceptualisation colloquium and stakeholder dialogue were from the left Dr Aldo Stroebel (senior researcher at the UFS Research Development Directorate), Dr Edith Vries (acting Chief Executive Officer of the Independent Development Trust) and Prof Frans Swanepoel (Director: UFS Research Development Directorate).

UFS in forefront with ASGI-SA initiative

Two staff members of the University of the Free State (UFS) have been appointed as members of the advisory board of the national programme for the creation of small enterprises and jobs in the second economy.  This programme forms part of government’s Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (ASGI-SA).

Prof Frans Swanepoel, Director of the UFS Research Development Directorate and Dr Aldo Stroebel, senior researcher at the UFS Research Development Directorate, are working with a team of experts from the UFS on a draft implementation strategy for the national programme.  Both Prof Swanepoel and Dr Stroebel are also associated to the UFS Centre for Sustainable Agriculture.
 
“The strategy is being developed in collaboration with institutions like the Independent Development Trust, the Department of Agriculture, the National Development Agency and the Department of Trade and Industry,” says Prof  Swanepoel.  

The other team members of the UFS are Prof Basie Wessels, Director of the  Mangaung-University Community Partnership Programme (MUCPP) and Mr  Benedict Mokoena, project manager at the MUCPP.

Dr Stroebel was also member of the organising committee of a conceptualisation colloquium and stakeholder dialogue that was recently presented in Johannesburg.  The conference was attended by more than 400 delegates from government departments, higher-education institutions and civil society, including Dr Kobus Laubscher, member of the UFS Council.

The conference was facilitated by Ms Vuyo Mahlati, previously from the WK Kellogg Foundation’s Africa programme and opened by Ms Thoko Didiza, Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs.   

“The colloquium formed the basis of an induction workshop during which a group of 150 individuals (50 teams of three) from all nine provinces, identified to initiate the implementation of the national programme, was trained and orientated towards an induction manual in collaboration with Hand-in-Hand, an Indian counterpart,” says Prof Swanepoel.

Dr Stroebel and Mr Benedict Mokoena formed part of the team to conceptualise and finalise this training manual.  The induction training includes a case study of a successful community self-help partnership model, namely the MUCPP at the UFS. Prof Wessels and Mr Mokoena are both playing a leading role in the further development of subsequent training initiatives throughout South Africa, in partnership with the relevant provincial departments.

“The involvement of the UFS in the programme is a compliment to us.  It reflects the value government sees in the use of academics and experts in the management of the ASGI-SA initiative.  It is also an indication of one of the aims of the UFS to play a role in South Africa and Africa and in the transformation and change that is taking place in our country,” says Prof Swanepoel.  

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel:   (051) 401-2584
Cell:  083 645 2454
E-mail:  loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
10 May 2006

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