Wits Business School (WBS) recently hosted its first in-person Career Fair in almost three years, successfully connecting students and graduates with some of the top employers in South Africa and globally.

The fair boasted a diverse pool of companies with almost 20 top employers attending the event, including Discovery Limited, Vodacom, Partners in Performance, McKinsey & Company, Nedbank Private Wealth, L’Oréal South Africa, Investec, ABInBev, British International Investment (BII), Bank of China and Haute Performance.

WBS students and graduates embraced the opportunity to engage with potential employers, market themselves and gauge employer expectations in a post-Covid-19 environment.

According to WBS head of career management services Charisse Drobis, the fair represents the first step to aligning exceptional WBS talent with industry.

“Our Career Fair has for many years been a highlight on the calendar for our students, and today the energy in the room today is quite magical. It’s what our students and graduates dream about, to be able to have one-on-one conversations with some of the most sought-after employers in the country. It’s great to be back,” Drobis said.

A search for talent

For management and consulting firm Haute Performance, the event presents an opportunity to gauge new talent, as according to consultant Jakob Schleu, the industry is currently battling a “talent squeeze”.

“We are experiencing a real war for talent at the moment, especially in consultancy. So, if we find a graduate or a current student who can present themselves well and who has strong analytical and technical skills, then that’s a win for us,” Schleu says.

For banking giant Nedbank, represented by its insurance division, the WBS Career Fair allows it the opportunity to assess the calibre of students WBS has to offer. “Engagements like this are key in our search for well-rounded candidates with an edge. We want to know what students are studying, compared to what they will be exposed to in the work environment. It’s important to align the two,” Nedbank Insurance senior actuarial analyst Simba Takawira says.

In Pursuit of a good fit

Dressed in their best business attire students and graduates from various streams of the Postgraduate Diploma in Management (PDM), Postgraduate Diploma in Business Administration (PDBA) and the Master of Business Administration (MBA) programmes were in attendance.

PDM student Thato Tsela says she has her eyes set on cosmetic company L’Oréal South Africa while Megandren Govender, who has just completed his PDBA and will pursue his MBA at WBS in 2023, says he attended the fair in the hopes of engaging with banking groups on their sustainability plans. That, he says, will be a deciding factor for him when choosing the perfect employer.

“I am looking at the banks, specifically Investec and Nedbank, because they are obviously heavily focused on pushing the renewable sector and green hydrogen as well.”

Final year MBA student Sengiphile Simelane shares similar sentiments, adding that finding the correct culture fit with an employer is key for him.

“There are some companies that are very big on the type of culture they embrace in their businesses and if there is some alignment between what I see as a good culture and what they offer, I’ll take it, even if it's not in my sector of interest.”