The North-West University (NWU) Career Centre hosted its annual Entrepreneurship and Work Readiness seminars in virtual format from 23 to 27 August 2021. 

Using informal and interactive presentations, these annual seminars aim to equip NWU students with practical and useful information for a smooth transition from student life to work life. To ensure the Career Centre consistently deliver this offering even during the prolonged pandemic, these seminars were hosted virtually to keep NWU students up to date and relevant.

During the week 20 presenters, representing 12 companies from different industries delivered 25 presentations on topics in six broad themes. These were: entrepreneurship, graduate development organisations, industrial psychology, professional development consultancy; leading a healthy lifestyle and financial literacy.

The College of Chartered Accountants presented a complete entrepreneurship skills development programme which covered various topics such as why South Africa needs entrepreneurs, understanding an organisation’s environment, managing your business operations, the impact of the fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), and business intelligence with big data analytics.

GradStar and Harambee, two graduate development organisations, shared information on the support they offer to graduates fresh out of university.

The South African Board of People Practices shared industrial psychology and human resource management perspectives, and focused on work readiness, behavioral styles, the power of intention and initiative, and the concept of futures threading - how we are framing the future.

Furthermore, a group of collaborating professional development consultants, Citi Changers Institute, The Foundery and ShadowMatch, discussed the future of work from a 4IR perspective. This also included a panel discussion on workplace reality versus expectations.

Finally, students were reminded to tend to their physical and mental health, after which the Professional Provident Society provided financial literacy training, covering topics such as financial freedom, my financial portfolio, and how to avoid financial pitfalls.

Because not all students could attend the live presentations in real time, recordings of all the presentations will be added as resources in the Career Centre’s Symplicity CareerZone. Information on how to access these will be on the Career Centre's web page.