We were delighted to hear that Siphiwe Langa has been permanently employed at Multotec after spending the last few years completing various learnership programmes with several different companies. Siphiwe’s hard work, achieving 4 learnership qualifications since 2016, finally paid off last month when she was appointed as a Sales Administrator in Multotec’s Procurement Department.
Siphiwe’s learnership record covers a range of qualifications including Business Administration, Financial Management and IT, which have allowed her to acquire a diversity of skills and valuable experience in different environments. Her journey included a stint as a hosted learner in Progression’s IT Department before she went on to join Multotec as a learner in their Procurement Department.
Lindiwe Tlali, Procurement Officer at Multotec, served as Siphiwe’s mentor over the course of the learnership and describes Siphiwe as a quick learner and a team player. “I believe she was offered a permanent role because of her willingness to learn, ability to be creative in solving challenges, dedication and passion towards her job,” Lindiwe explains.
However, it hasn’t been an easy journey for Siphiwe who faced many challenges, both personally and at work. She reveals, “As a person living with a disability, sometimes I felt inadequate when judged by my disability instead of my capabilities and performance. As a hearing aids user, my weakness is verbal communication and self-expression was my biggest challenge.” But she also discovered some advantages in this regard. She goes on to explain, “Because I am more of a doer than a talker. I was able to enhance my written communication and follow orders with ease.”
In spite of the difficulties, Siphiwe feels that the combined skills, knowledge and experience she gained from her learnerships over the last few years have provided immense growth and empowered her to recognise her own strengths, improve her self-confidence and believe in her abilities. “I have learnt that mistakes are what make you better, but only if you learn from them and grow,” she says.
When asked what motivated her to keep going and successfully complete her learnerships, she responds, “Honestly, my haters. The more they tried to bring me down and make me feel inferior and that I don’t belong, the stronger I became and the more determined I was to prove them wrong. The moment you discover your true potential is the moment you shine!”
After Siphiwe’s learnership contract at Multotec ended in August 2022, she started helping out at a small business in her neighbourhood while looking for other opportunities. She remained on a Multotec learner Whatsapp group and kept applying for vacancies that were advertised there and was eventually called in for an interview. She recounts that she was quite anxious about the interview when she learned that many other candidates were being interviewed for the same position, including people from other cities as well as internal staff. Despite her nervousness and the tough competition, Siphiwe came up tops and got the job.
Siphiwe’s advice to other learners who may be struggling to find success: “Never give up, keep thriving and use all the skills you obtain during each Learnership as those skills will come in handy and help to rewrite history for yourself.”
Well done to Siphiwe on her excellent achievement, we wish her everything of the best in her career. And a big thank you to Multotec for continuing to partner with us in Skills Development and embodying the true spirit of transformation.
