The Department of Somatology at Durban University of Technology (DUT) hosted a Student Work Readiness Workshop to equip students with industry insights and prepare them for the transition from academia to the workplace. The workshop was hosted at ML Sultan Campus, Gym B on Wednesday, 27 August 2025.
The workshop organised by Ms Nothile Buthelezi, Technical Assistant aimed to prepare students for the transition from academia to the workplace by providing practical industry insights. It focused on enhancing their understanding of workplace expectations while guiding them on creating their resumes, professional profiles, and personal branding to improve career opportunities.
Welcoming the guests, Acting Head of Department (HOD) Mr Dorinda Borg appreciated the guests for taking their time to share their knowledge with students. She also urged students to take advantage of this opportunity to better their careers.
Mr Bonga Khumalo from DUT Co-operative Education unit shared his expertise on how to manage time, stress and conflict in workplace. Including the importance of embracing diversity, ethics, and ethical considerations in workplace.
Mrs. Jayshika Manicran an entrepreneur who also owns a spar with over 24 staff, shared her industry experience and wisdom with students. Through her interactive session with students, she also shared profound advice on what is expected from them at workplace and how they should apply themselves when performing their practices.
Mr Siboniso Khulu, Assistant Learning Manager from Unilever shared information with students on how they can prepare for the work environment. Including how to prepare for interviews, build their CVs, brand themselves as individuals in terms of digital footprint or social media presence in a form of LinkedIn.
He emphasised that this masterclass is vital especially since he has interacted a lot with young graduates from a recruitment point of view and from a work readiness.
He also added that during the student’s integration process into the work environment there has been a lot of issues that they have picked up, which is why they saw the need to have this masterclass.
“For us the benefit in having these master classes helps us in our recruitment processes because we know what we will be dealing with better crafted CV, LinkedIn profiles and then when it comes to the actual interviews, we will be dealing with candidates that will know how to represent themselves, how to answer questions properly and how to articulate themselves as well during the interviews,’’ he said.
Reflecting on the benefits of this workshop, Olwethu Ndlovu, third year Somatology student shared that what she learned from this workshop is the importance of good attitude and being open minded to diversity at workplace. Also to always maintain the professional behavior including social media.
Photographer: S’bonelo Dlamini
Vukani Langa
