The National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) has a free online database for job seekers between the ages of 18 and 35 that could help you land a job.

The free online database has helped with job placements since 2005 and continues to link up the youth with prospective employers in various organisations around the country.

Sibusiso Mahlaba (21) from Soweto in Gauteng is a Boston College graduate who has benefitted from being on the database.

Mahlaba completed his Bachelor of Commerce degree in Management Marketing in 2020, and also did a certificate in Digital Marketing and e-Commerce in 2021.

In November 2021, he created a profile on the NYDA portal and submitted his documents. He then visited the NYDA office in Johannesburg and was assisted with parts of the application he was struggling with.

“A few days after registering, an NYDA official phoned me and told me that there were different organisations with job opportunities and the NYDA needed me to consent to it applying for the jobs on my behalf,” he says.

Two weeks later, Mahlaba received another call from the NYDA, informing him about an opportunity at the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA).

“The NYDA official told me what documents SASSA needed from me. After submitting the documents, I was called in for an interview.”

A few weeks later, Mahlaba got the job.

He now works as a customer care agent at the SASSA Gauteng Regional office in Johannesburg.

Criteria for NYDA online database

To load documents onto the NYDA online database, graduates need to:

• Be an unemployed South African citizen between 18 and 35 years old; 
• Have graduated with a three-year qualification (national diploma or a university degree);
• Be in possession of a qualification from a Technical and Vocational Education and Training college.

Visit any of the NYDA branches to register your CV or contact the call centre at 087 158 4742.

-This article was originally published in the GCIS Vuk'uzenzele.