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KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT CASE STUDY

• Option two: Centralised recruitment, decentralised Only South African citizens are eligible for admission into the
selection – establish a centralised graduate recruitment public service graduate recruitment scheme, unless otherwise
platform, similar to that identified in a number of best stated by relevant South African immigration laws.
practice countries covered by international research. The
platform would be a central application mechanism for all Objectives
graduate recruitment into the public service and would
be used by the various participating departments. The • To give effect to the recommendations of the National
platform would have the benefit of creating visibility and
improving the efficiency of the application process for the Development Plan for building a capable state by
introducing a formal graduate recruitment scheme for
applicants as well as the selection process for multiple the public service and promoting the public service as a
departments.
career of choice.
• Option three: Central graduate recruitment scheme – • To establish a well-defined, transparent and shared
expand on option two and build on the central graduate approach to recruiting dedicated young people that
recruitment application platform to create a central develops their skills, accompanied by career progression
graduate recruitment scheme that would operate to ensure that they are retained in the public service and,
alongside existing departmental schemes. At no stage importantly, in the specialised areas they are primarily
is the central graduate recruitment scheme intended qualified in.
to replace or even compromise the existing graduate
schemes but should work in collaboration with these • To enhance the competitiveness of public employment in
schemes. The clear advantage of this option is that the labour market and to improve professionalism in the
it creates a mechanism for departments that may not public service.
have established schemes to access graduate recruits, • To enhance and manage the central coordination of, and
but also creates the mechanism for the enrolment of a reporting on, the implementation of various graduate
regular annual cohort of graduates. These graduates recruitment schemes in the public service.
are then exposed across multiple departments in the
public service and are able to be deployed efficiently into • To foster collaboration and sharing of best practices
various departments based on needs and requirements. among departments already implementing graduate
recruitment schemes rather than to replace or
The final analysis of these delivery mechanisms revealed that compromise such schemes.
all of them would depend on the creation of a central executing
agency. However, this would be costly and not feasible • To foster effective and strategic cooperation with
considering the decentralised approach to human resource universities to predict and plan future trends in the public
4
management and limited resources. Therefore, we adopted service. This will enable and strengthen the skills supply
an approach using a common framework that provides for the to produce graduates with the competencies that are in
development and implementation of schemes for graduate demand.
recruitment in departments.
The approach
Purpose
The feasibility study found that to optimally deliver any of the
The purpose of this framework is to: three identified options would require a central executing
agency. However, the development of a centrally operated
• introduce a programme intended to recruit and train graduate recruitment scheme would run counter to the
graduates for specific roles, assigning them to these principle of the decentralised human resource management
specific roles on completion to respond to the demand for approach in the public service.
scarce skills in technical and specialist professionals in
the public service
Instead an approach that enhances coordination and reporting
• set out a broad framework for public service departments while maintaining the autonomy of departments in pursuing
to develop and implement graduate recruitment schemes their own schemes would be the most feasible.
• enhance planning, coordination, monitoring, evaluation The graduate recruitment scheme envisaged in this framework
and reporting on implementation by departments while is ideally one that is an integral part of the department’s
maintaining the autonomy of their schemes. recruitment strategy. It must provide access to a diverse pool
of high-quality candidates with a wide range of transferable
Scope skills, including technical and up-to-date specialist knowledge
gained from their studies. A graduate recruitment scheme has
The framework is applicable to all national and provincial the potential to help meet future public service staffing needs.
departments as contemplated in Schedule 2 of the Public
Service Act No. 104 of 1994 as amended.
Graduate recruitment must be focused on addressing the
capacity gaps in technical occupations and specialist
professions identified through the human resource planning
processes of the public service.

4 OECD: Kirsi Äijälä, 2001 public sector report
30 SERVICE DELIVERY REVIEW | Volume 12 No. 1 of 2018