By Bhekisisa Mncube
Durban - The eThekwini Metro Municipality has become one of the most innovative organs of state in South Africa following the launch of its online recruitment system, dubbed e-Careers.
The system went live at 8am this morning.
Speaking to SAnews, eThekwini Metro Municipality Speaker Logie Naidoo said the municipality has long regarded itself as “smart city”.
“Today, we are reaching another milestone in this regard – becoming the first organ of state to implement a paperless recruitment process,” Naidoo said.
The e-Careers recruitment system will ensure that the City of Durban will never have to deal with the stampedes and dangers associated with recruitment processes.
In 2004, a stampede broke out at the start of a mass recruitment day for the City of Durban’s entity, uShaka Marine World. Police had to intervene to prevent further commotion.
On several occasions, recruitment, especially for the Durban Metro Police vacancies, have often attracted record numbers, resulting in a stampede and in one case, a death was recorded.
In 2012, a hoax advert resulted in hundreds of desperate job seekers descending on Durban’s Curries Fountain Stadium for non-existent jobs. Police had to use teargas to disperse the angry crowd.
“All these incidents are now part of history for the City of Durban. We have opened a new innovative chapter in the recruitment process,” Naidoo said.
He said that the staff complement at eThekwini is what sets the municipality apart from other metros and the system is part of a succession plan to attract new and skilled people.
“This system is web-based, which means that people from all over the world can access it. It brings applicants with talent and skills to us and ensures that we get the best people for the job.”
Naidoo said the municipality has signed Memorandum of Understanding with certain tertiary institutions to ensure that students get practical experience at local government level.
“We need the engineers, town planners and technical skills. We need sufficient skills to provide services to the community.”
The e-Careers system has been modified to suit the municipality’s needs on the system called Resource Link, purchased a few years ago.
Head of Human Resources Dave Cloete said: “With the help of our IT team as well as the expertise of HR, we configured the system to develop e-Careers.”
Cloete explained the manual process. “We would get inundated with applications and candidates wouldn’t know if their applications reached us because we cannot send an acknowledgment to every applicant. With this system, every applicant that successfully submits their application receives an email to acknowledge receipt. The system will then produce a summarised version of the applications. We will start short listing and thereafter the interview process occurs. We are very excited to launch this system today.”
Deputy City Manager of the Corporate and Human Resources Cluster, Dumisile Nene, shared Cloete’s sentiments, saying: “We have made this fundamental shift to online recruitment. A great city deserves great talent.”
Advantages of the system include reduction of travel and printing costs, paperless applications, applying for multiple vacancies as well as peace of mind that the job application has been received. Job seekers can access the system via www.durban.gov.za, at their nearest Sizakala Centre or Municipal Library. They only need to register once, obtain a username and password and start applying. – SAnews.gov.za
