Bafana Bafana?

I was saddened by the news that our very expensive and experienced coach Mr Carlos Parreira, from Brazil is leaving us. I must admit I was not excited initially by his appointment, but I guess I had gotten used to the fact that he was here and there was nothing I could do about it, so I was forced to accept him.
Fifteen months down the line, after we had made peace with his salary and the fact that our national soccer team was starting to make us proud, we heard the devastating news that he is leaving us. Well I must admit that if it is true that he is leaving us because he would like to spend time with his sick wife and the rest of his family, then that is a very noble thing to do. I don’t think there are lot of ‘men’ who would sacrifice their careers (soccer) just to be with their family. However, if that is not the real truth why he is leaving us, then all I can say is that the truth has a funny way of coming out, and it will come out.
The only that is frustrating me is that he has referred his Brazilian friend by the name of Joel Santana to take over, and to my surprise the ‘top dogs’ at SAFA are considering this man, despite his lack of experience as a coach. Even worse, they are prepared to pay him R1, 5 million a month. I find this to be pathetic. What about our local coaches? Are we so bad a nation that we can’t produce a possible replacement for this challenging job? Is it that bad, that we can’t find anyone to fill these shoes, is it so bad even in the whole African continent?
Surely, through enough research and collaboration, we could uncover someone with enough pedigree, experience and credibility to take our national team to the 2010 world cup. This has just reminded me of the seminar we had with Fiona McDonald when we spoke about leadership. It just made me question our traditional leadership style as ‘Africans’and wonder if we trust it. If we were confident enough with our abilities and leadership styles, then we would not be throwing our money around by hiring people who could not care about us as an African nation. I’m quite sure that finding a national coach would not be so expensive and would result in many advantages that would definitely bring back many returns to the whole nation, especially now when we are facing so many challenges as a country, such as the electricity crisis, food price hikes, politics and many more.
Come on SAFA, please remember that there is a lot at stake here and it is at times like these when we need to stand together as a nation and make wise decisions that will bring back our national pride. It is at times like these when we need to have one voice and make the right choices.

My graduation day!

Joh! Joh! What a beautiful day it was today the 22 April 2008. It was my graduation day, yes I finally or should I say I’m now justified to say that I have an Honours degree in Industrial Sociology and ‘boy’ does it feel good to say it!
Well my day started normally with me waking up at 05:00 in the morning and catching my 06:20 train. The train was on time but sadly and not surprising it stopped in the middle of the road for close to 50mins and this made me to cancel my plans of accessing the internet 30mins before the seminar. Fortunately, I was feeling calm and just accepted that things did not go my way and I could not change the train situation, so I just arrived on time and read the newspapers instead.
Unfortunately, I could not go to Brickfield for the Tuesday field trip in the afternoon as I was delayed while waiting on the long queue to hire my gown and the hood. Well after that I went to Amelia’s room to go and prepare for the ceremony. Unfortunately my parents could not attend due to an emergency at home and I know my little sister was very disappointed as she was really looking forward to it.
Thanks God my boyfriend as he managed to attend this year and I must say this made my day, as I had wanted him to attend my first graduation last year but unfortunately, he missed it. My friends were also there and it was wonderful seeing them as we had not seen each since March, so for me to see them on this day it meant a lot.
All I can say is that I’m grateful to God for giving me the strength to carry on and to provide the means for me to attain my two degrees. Secondly I thank my parents for their support and love through out this time, my mom was and still is the ‘wind beneath my wings’, and she was my motivator while I was still studying. I’m so grateful to God for the mother that I have, I could never ask for any other mother. She is one of the strongest women I know and I’m very privileged to be her child. There is a saying that says ‘you can’t choose your family, but you can choose you friends’, well I’m proud and very happy for my family. Last but not least, thanks to my wonderful boyfriend for all his help, support and love.
My graduation made me to reflect and to really count all my blessings as I have realized that at times I tend to concentrate on the negatives and this had a bad impact on. So once again, I say thank you to my family, loved ones and to God, I could not have done this without them in my life!
Thanks :}.

INTERVIEWS!

During the third week of the WOW program, I was fortunate enough to be called to two interviews in one week. Before joining this program my boyfriend (who is a qualified IT Technician) and I would meet every Wednesdays at our local internet café to go and apply to the relevant posts advertised in the Star newspaper of that week.
So it happened that one week I was not able to meet him at the café due to other reasons, and it so happened that on that same week in January there was an advertised post from TCTA (Trans Caledon, Tunnel Authority), which is a company based in Pretoria and its main product is to supply raw bulk water infrastructure. This company was looking for an HR & OD Intern, and because my boyfriend knows my qualifications and my career objectives he sent through my CV. He forgot to tell me about this application until I got a phone call from TCTA’s HR assistant in the last week of February, informing me to check my email as they had sent me a couple of instructions.
I was nervous at first to receive a call from a company that I did not remember applying to, but because I was desperate at that time and trusted my boyfriend, I went to the internet café alone to go and read my mails. They had instructed me to write them a motivational letter, explaining why I wanted TCTA to employ me; secondly they wanted me to tell them what my expectations were for the 24month- contract that they were offering. Lastly, they instructed me this motivational letter should only be a one page letter with 1.5 line spacing and the font size had to be 12, Times New Roman.
Well this was simple enough, I first did my research about the company before writing my letter and I also made sure that I complied with the instructions. Lastly, I took my complete letter to my boyfriend so he could edit it for me. After spending some time on the letter I went and faxed it to their office. The following day they asked me to send my ID copy, and copies of all my qualifications. Two weeks after that they asked me for my academic record for my degrees.
However, I did not have the academic record, so I went to campus to apply for my transcript which I discovered will take two working days to have, so I immediately phoned TCTA and explained that I would fax the academic record as soon as I had received it. Well indeed after two days I got the record and I faxed it. It was during this time when I was applying for the academic record that I heard about the WOW Internship program and so I decided to apply as I thought it sounded nice and was curious about what the program would result in.
That was the last time I heard from TCTA until in the second week of the WOW program when they called me on Thursday asking me to come for an interview the following Monday at 2:00pm. I must admit I was nervous and excited about this as I had forgotten about TCTA and honestly I thought they also had forgotten about me.
Anyway I eventually went to the interview on that Monday, which was a panel interview. I can say that the interview was fair until they asked me about the core functions of HR. This was a bit uncomfortable for me as I had never worked before even though I had done my research, I had no clue of what these functions were. So yes I must admit that at this point I was feeling uncomfortable and incompetent, so I had to think on my toes. I could say this was the ‘low’ of my interview with TCTA. Well the interviewers were skilled as they did not show their emotions and I can say up until now I’m not sure where I stand with TCTA. Well all I was told was that if I’m successful they will call me for a psychometrics assessment and should I pass that they would call me for the last interview with the head of the HR department.
Luckily for me I was invited for another interview at DeBeers and I must say when I told my parents about this invite, they immediately forgot about TCTA. The interview at DeBeers was beautiful and very relaxed. I was not fully prepared as this was a short notice arranged interview, so I just visited their website to find out their purpose and their vision. Likewise when I got to DeBeers I read the pamphlets that were at their front desk and I must say this helped a lot.
The interview was informal and I was very relaxed and I’m sure I answered the questions to the best of my abilities. The gentlemen seemed impressed and told me they would get back to me the following week about their outcome.
I guess the whole point of me writing my experiences of these two interviews is to help someone who is maybe in the process of going for an interview, I hope by reading this they will have an idea of what it feels like to go for an interview. I’m hoping that someone will read this and learn one or two things from my experiences.
Furthermore, I’ve learned that we have to change our approaches and perceptions of interviews, interviews need to be taken as they come and we need to give ourselves a chance to learn from each interview. One important thing is to research and research before going to the interview, if possible find out about the core functions of the position you are applying for. Secondly, it helps to know something about the company you are going to. My personal advice, always speak slow and clearly and very important try to be calm, force it, fake it whatever but the point is when you are calm you are aware of your self in the interview session. Last but not least, try to enjoy each interview!

WOW! The third week of the WOW programme has passed by!

Its so amazing how ‘time flies when you are having fun’. I now fully understand what this phrase means. The third week has gone by and I can gladly say, my knowledge box is almost full.
I have learned so much in this programme as I have discovered some revelations about myself that I did not know about. We had a seminar on ‘emotional intelligence’ and I must admit, it has challenged me to introspect and evaluate my abilities. We have been advised to start keeping a journal and try to write on it at least three times a week. I have always known or have learned about the importance of having a journal, but I guess I never took it seriously. Well I now realise the value of this exercise, especially now that I’m in a journey of discovering myself.
My life is changing for the better I believe. I’m one person who believes change is good, change is essential and it is part of growth. So as I’m embracing this change, I feel the need to document every aspect of this change in my life. I must admit that it is not simple and practical to write on my journal three times in a week, but because I want to do this I will commit myself to this new hobby that I have just chosen. We have learned of setting goals the ‘SMART’ way in this program and ‘smart’ stands for: S- specific, M stands for measureable, A for attainable, R means realistic and T means time based. So I intend to attain this simple goal of writing in my journal, by using the ‘smart’ way.
This week has been amazing. I have been inspired, to become ‘technological competent’ if there is such a term, and to move with the times. I have been challenged to embrace globalisation and its features as it is one phenomenon that is here to stay. Both Kuseni Dlamini and Josie spoke to us on Monday about the ‘inter connected’ world that we are living in. This has challenged me to start reading as much as I can and to start embracing ‘globalisation’. Secondly, Kuseni asked us if South Africa or the whole of Africa has ever invented something that we can be proud of. I can say I have never thought of this before, even though we know that the Western and East countries have invented almost everything cars, spaghetti, computers, software and the list is endless. I have never taken the time to think about my continent, but after Monday I was more aware of our shortcomings as a continent. What have we invented as Africans? This is a ‘low/ disadvantage/ weakness’ however you see it, especially when you start thinking about all the problems that face Africa: HIV/AIDS, education, politics and the list goes on.
Furthermore, Josie touched on similar issues and presented statistics about our economic level in comparison to 131 countries. It was sad but not surprising to see where we are ranked as an economy and with the current electricity crisis we can only imagine where we will be ranked by the end of the year.
On the other hand, Josie managed to make us see ‘light at the end of this tunnel’ that we are in. She reminded us that in spite of all these challenges that we are facing, we still have things to be proud of as Africans. Our cultural diversity is one of them and the traditional values such as ‘ubuntu’ which are unique to Africa only are positive aspects to be proud of.
In a nutshell, I can honestly say that acknowledging our development areas as individuals or as a continent is the right and necessary step for growth for us. In this way we are able to identify exactly what it is that is missing and then through unity and knowledge we will be able to also identify the solution needed.

My second week!

What a fantastic week it was for me. I must congratulate Metrorail for getting me to ‘work’ on time. The trains where going on schedule and I was arriving early enough to have 30mins of internet access as planned.
As usual we had wonderful guest speakers who came prepared and facilitated our workshops with so much commitment and zeal. Oh! I must mention Roy Blumenthal for causing so much uneasiness with regards to the task he gave us a week before meeting us. He is the reason I had to wake up 05:00 in the morning to catch the train at 06:00 so I could have some time on the internet to set up my blog. Furthermore on Saturdays I had to go to the internet cafe to open other accounts such as facebook and twitter. This was a prerequisite before attending his seminar. I must admit initially I did not understand exactly what the significance was until I saw one of the blogs from the WOWers of 2007!
I now know the significance of his tasks; I see it as part of networking. This is just another way of getting connected and sharing views with people out there. I realise the importance of networking as a skill especially for someone who still has to climb the corporate ladder and still has become a somebody in the world of work. I must admit that staying in touch as I would like is going to be a challenge for me since I don’t have easy access to the internet.
On a lighter note, we also had Aki who came and spoke to us about customers and the importance of valuing them in any business He just reminded us that at the heart of every business, lies people and those people are the customers. One other speaker who inspired me was Andrew Hofmeyer. He encouraged us to view the world in a different light. To focus on what value we can add to the world of work. He basically reminded us that we all have unique ‘elements ‘,that can range from skills, talents and strengths that we can offer to our chosen organisations.
In conclusion, I can say that I am inspired to go into the weekend and do some introspection. This has motivated me to focus on my strengths and my abilities to really question my abilities and skills.

Reflections so far!

My reflections on the first week of the World of Work Internship Programme 2008!
Firstly, I’m very grateful and honoured to be part of this ‘WOW’ group for 2008. So far this experience has turned out to be very informative and fruitful. I have gained valuable insight about the world of work and I strongly believe that there is still more to come from this program.
We have had several guests coming in to have seminars that equip us with the necessary skills for our journey. We have had a range of topics covered in just one week. These ranged from the importance of using mindmapps for almost any task at hand to the appropriate dress code at work. Likewise, Elspeth reminded us about the need to use unconventional ways of writing such as using coloured pens and using paper in landscape format. These are useful tips that will come handy when one is stuck with a certain task like writing a report at the workplace.
On the other hand, Fiona McDonald came and showed us ways of developing our networking skills. Fiona provided 4 simple steps such as: purpose, identify, introduce and exit. These steps are meant to direct and to make networking easier for anyone. I particularly enjoyed this more as I have been looking for ways to develop or to improve my networking skills as I have realised the importance of networking in the world of work and in today’s global world.
We were also given ideas about how to create sustainable business by Abey from VWV. I enjoyed this presentation because Abey mentioned a few elements that have worked for them, which according to me are very crucial to the success and sustainability of any business.
Lastly, the first week has turned out to be highly informative and challenging as we also received some instructions from one of the guest coming in the second week. The instructions are very explicit, however the only reason why it’s challenging is that we are instructed to develop blogs, which to some of us it’s a new concept and we are still trying to figure it out as we have never heard about blogging before. So far this notion of blogging is giving me sleepless nights but I have learned that it is an innovative and essential way to communicate with people.