Below is the transcript to our ETV interview on Youth Village & Youth Jobs (www.youthjobs.co.za)
ETV : What made you start your own business ?, was it scary being your own boss or is it something you knew you were made for?
Bruce: Being a young person I just wanted to be part of a number of innovations and having my own business facilitated for me to be in a space where i’m in control of the direction i want my life to take.
ETV : Was it an easy decision?
Bruce: It wasn’t easy I took a risk knowing that i didnt have capital and i also understood that there will be struggle but I told myself that I’d rather struggle to get where I want to be and that was the motivation.
ETV: The easiest point is starting with what you have. You have a background in web development and audio visual production and you created Youth Village and Youth Jobs , tell us about Youth Village.
Bruce: Youth Village is an online magazine that was created in 2011. Since its inception we have had over 800 000 hits. I established the platform because i realised that a lot of young people where struggling to get information that could be deemed developmental, information that could facilitate towards their progression. I also worked previously in an NGO that focused on youth development through media. Through my interaction with young people I saw a gap and i felt that something needed to be done to assist the youth.
ETV: Where do you get information from? Do you have people who give you information?
Bruce: We created the platform in such a way that we wanted it to be youth orientated, so the bulk of the content is developed by the youth, we also have a couple of organisations and institutions that send us information when we require expert advice on particular topics.
ETV: Youth Jobs is a couple of months old, how is that going?
Bruce: It has been going pretty well . In the first week alone we had over 4 500 visitors and we were not even indexed on google as yet, we were only using social media. We are also having very good feedback from our facebook page which is growing very well and a lot of young people send us emails requesting for help.
ETV: Young people are hungry to find jobs. You haven’t done any form of advertising?
Bruce: We haven’t done any form of advertising. We are currently using social networking only.
ETV: Is it easy for people to log on? do the youth and business people have their passwords to log onto Youth Jobs Portal? How does it work?
Bruce: It’s different to other portals. The core motivation behind the platform was to serve the youth so we made the information easily accessable to the youth. We didnt want to prolong the process by having young people create user accounts etc its an easy process for young people. All you need to do is to go on to the site and access jobs that are there. The navigation and listing is very simple.
ETV: People want to know where they can volunteer or get Internships do you offer that information?
Bruce: Youth Jobs is structured in a way that young people can access Bursaries, internships and jobs. We have employment tools like CV templates and tips on how to get job interviews. There’s a lot of information available on the portal. We have also came to the realization that as much as we have created a platform for young people to access jobs, we are also faced with a reality that not everyone will get a job so we are also using the platform to encourage young people to establish their own business. We have availed information on business funding, how to write business plans etc.
ETV: What else do you have on the portal?
Bruce: The one element that stands out on the portal is that the bulk of the jobs that are on the portal are jobs that do not require work experience or too much academic qualifications. A person with grade 12 can apply to most of the jobs on the portal because i personally felt that these two constraints are the main things young people struggle with when looking for a job.
ETV: Do you need volunteers or people to assist you?
Bruce: We definitely need people because there is a lot of work to be done. It would be great to have young people getting involved with what we’re doing.
ETV: How can people get hold of you?
Bruce: info@youthvillage.co.za for Youth Village and info@youthjobs.co.za for Youth Jobs
