60 per cent of Ort SA Career Hub attendees classified themselves as unemployed

An audience of job seekers were given the opportunity to take charge of their future and live their passion.

This was achieved through the launch of Ort SA’s Career Hub on 24 February. According to Dane Summers, content writer at Syte, the Career Hub is a series of webinars that will be running through 2021, with the intention of equipping attendees with the skills and knowledge they need to find their dream job.

In line with Ort’s mission of empowering people through education, the Career Hub talks follow three themes – explore, expose and experience. Explore talks are aimed at exploring skills, attributes and strengths to find the career attendees are best suited for. Expose talks are designed to show attendees the exciting possibilities the world of work has. Lastly, experience talks are designed to equip attendees with practical skills, useful in any industry.

Ort SA CEO Ariellah Rosenberg kicked off the Career Hub with an opening address about her career journey, the importance of finding your passion and how to find your dream job.

Rosenberg shared some interesting statistics that emphasised the importance of programmes like the Career Hub. In a quick survey of the 100 people who signed up for the programme thus far, they found: 60 per cent of attendees described themselves as unemployed, 29 per cent employed, seven per cent self-employed and four per cent retired.

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Despite this, 84 per cent of the people surveyed said they are looking for a career change. This means that even amongst the 29 per cent of people who are currently employed, there is an incredibly high rate of discontentment with their current jobs or working conditions.

Rosenberg stressed that when Ort was founded in 1880, the average life expectancy was only around 39 years old. Today, that number is closer to 79, meaning the average person can expect to spend around 90 000 hours at work in their lifetime. “Taking that into account, it’s almost inconceivable that we could expect people to spend that much time in a job, or a career, that they are miserable in. Through educating people about potential career opportunities, helping them identify their purpose and equipping them with the skills they need to get their foot in the door, the Career Hub by Ort SA aims to empower people to take control of their career journey,” said Summers.

To watch CEO Ariellah Rosenberg’s full opening address, visit the JET FLIX by Ort Jet YouTube channel. Details: Ort SA Career Hub,  ora@ortsa.org.za

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