SA Youth – Leveraging Technology to Transform the Employment Landscape
SA Youth, which is part of the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention (PYEI), is South Africa’s largest platform for connecting young work-seekers to opportunities.
Operated and managed by Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator, the platform is designed to remove barriers for young people who struggle to access traditional recruitment systems.
With 4.5 million work-seekers supported, 1.4 million opportunities created, SA Youth is transforming the employment landscape.
Harambee’s Chief Information Officer, Hanlie de Bod-Leaf, said the platform was intentionally built as a mobile-first solution because mobile phones are the primary way most young South Africans access the internet.
“From the beginning, the system was designed to be light on data usage and easy to navigate,” said de Bod-Leaf. “It is now zero-rated, meaning young work seekers can browse and apply for jobs without incurring data costs.”
On the employer side, SA Youth delivers a world-class recruitment experience, helping organisations reach candidates who might have otherwise been overlooked.
Young South Africans have access to more employment opportunities across different sectors, and companies can recruit from a larger pool of potential hires nationwide.
This is the ultimate win-win scenario that can play a critical role in addressing South Africa’s unemployment challenges.
Innovative technologies
SA Youth prides itself on embracing technological innovation to streamline its platform for both work seekers and employers.
This is particularly evident in the platform’s recommendation engine. Using intelligent algorithms and geo-mapping capabilities, it recommends relevant jobs to each user based on their skills, location, and suitability for the advertised role.
Another exciting innovation is the built-in CV creator, which automatically generates a professional CV using the information provided.
Unlike traditional CVs, the SA Youth Inclusive CV, it provides additional signals to employers beyond standard CV information, including results from our Learning Potential Screener and Behavioural Screener that are crucial for workplace success, even if they may lack extensive formal experience.
Robust infrastructure
De Bod-Leaf explained that the platform’s infrastructure, hosted on Google Cloud with Kubernetes engines, allows it to scale dynamically depending on traffic and recruitment cycles.
Furthermore, security and privacy are built into every layer of SA Youth’s design.
The architecture was developed with strict data protection principles, even before South Africa’s POPIA legislation came into effect in July 2020.
The organisation is continuously focused on ensuring world-class data protection is in place and regularly tests its systems internally and externally, supported by cybersecurity experts to maintain the highest levels of protection.
Thanks to this excellent core infrastructure, SA Youth can continue to scale its offering and embrace innovation. User feedback is a key driver of improvement, as both work-seekers and employers provide ongoing input through contact centres and digital channels.
The in-house product and development teams uses this to refine the experience continuously.
Exciting future
Looking ahead, De Bod-Leaf sees an opportunity to expand how the platform connects young South Africans with employers.
“Ultimately, we want SA Youth to be more than a recruitment platform,” said De Bod-Leaf. “We want it to be a guide for young people, helping them navigate the journey towards sustainable work and self-employment.”
Recruit on SA Youth to find entry-level talent and help shape South Africa’s future workforce.
Loading ...