Goodyear News

Goodyear’s Graduate-in-Training (GIT) Programme has been running successfully for the ninth consecutive year this year. This strategically placed recruitment tool does not only develop new talent for the company, but it also feeds the organisation’s high performance culture across all divisions where key skills are required.

With the latest addition of 13 graduates at the beginning of this year, the programme is growing. Carla McIntosh, recently appointed Group Human Resources Development Manager said that the graduates are recruited to be employed across the Goodyear group of companies.

“For us to reach our ultimate goal of becoming a high performance organisation, we focus on recruiting, developing, motivating and retaining high performance people. In an industry where it is critical to have on-time product delivery of the highest quality at the lowest possible cost, success lies in the quality of the people,” says Carla. “To have the best people in the industry, we need to invest in our employees and in new talent. The GIT Programme is one of our strategically placed recruitment tools and is a key to moulding new talent into our specialised industry. Our skill requirements are determined by our leadership on an annual basis, prior to our recruitment drive.

“Our two year programme offers valuable opportunities to match the theory with practical experience, guided by mentors and coaches who are experts in their fields. The graduates have accelerated exposure to every aspect of the business, which serves as an amplified learning curve and a feeder pool for our key positions. We also aim to fast track these graduates into management positions, which is why we have a relationship with local training providers to train our graduates on foundational management skills. This has provided much success for the personal and professional development of the individual, as well as for the organisation. Key to the success of such programmes, is the infrastructure that the programme co-ordinator, mentors and coaches provide.

Kyle Chetty, one of the graduates sums it up, “The programme is preparing us for the next level of management and the next level of leaders.”

“It is a wonderful programme that teaches us the reality of the corporate environment. The experience we gain is amazing,” Lunga Madonela concluded.

While addressing its own business requirements Goodyear is, at the same time, complying with the following three pieces of legislation – the Broad-based BEE Act, the Employment Equity Act and the Skills Development Act.