The graduate programme is one thrust of the company's overall training and development strategy which encompasses career development, succession planning and work-readiness.
Jenni Stephen, the automotive company's HR director, is particularly passionate about the graduate programme which was borne out of a realisation that the biggest challenge facing graduates leaving tertiary education is the barrier to employment through lack of work experience.
"The aim of our graduate programme is to offer this pool of young South Africans the opportunity to grow and develop in a real-life working environment so that they can be prepared to take positions within our organisation or elsewhere."
Underscoring the need for such a stepping stone, Stephen notes that she receives around 200 applications for intern positions advertised. Following a pre-screening process, the candidates - who must be under 28 years of age, either living in or able to move or commute to Johannesburg, and in possession of a national diploma or degree - are whittled down to a short-list of eight and then three finalists.
The company's current batch of interns occupy positions in a range of disciplines including marketing, communications, distribution, parts, HR, finance, sales and operations and a secretarial graduate position has been newly created.
"If a full-time position in a particular field becomes available at the end of the internship period, graduates are encouraged to apply," says Stephen, adding that over-and-above the 19 current graduates on the programme, of the 84 permanent employees at head office, 13 are from the graduate programme.
A measure of the success of the graduate programme is that it was given prominence at last year's merSETA (Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services Sector Education and Training Authority) conference where South Africa's 1.7 million unemployed was addressed.
"Although we can't make a difference on 1.7 million, we've made a difference each year on 18 youngsters and for an organisation as small as ours, that's a sizeable chunk," says Stephen.
