Opposition members have welcomed the announcement that government would spend more on infrastructure development, but have urged the President to focus more on developing skills, implementing labour reforms and tackling corruption to ensure that the country overcomes unemployment and poverty.

In line with the South African Social Security Agency's (SASSA) bid to rid the system of corruption and ensure that the right people receive financial aid SASSA will re-register the more than 15 million social grant beneficiaries in the country.

There is a new breed of women in business today who have the tenacity to follow a career path of their own making. They are simply by-passing the big companies and creating entities of their own where the sky is the limit.

Today's fast-paced business environment requires a level of performance and far-sightedness that only a corporate coach can bring. Corporate coaching skills are now in high demand as businesses seek to become more efficient and reflective and Getsmarter’s coaching course aims to meet that demand.

Unfair discrimination in the recruitment and selection process is a delicate matter and HR professionals should be aware of the legislation surrounding this issue. The Employment Equity Act provides strict guidelines around medical testing, psychometric testing and other related practices.

Employee Self Service tools enable employees to manage their personal information on-line via a company’s Intranet. The impact is manifold, reducing paper usage, ensuring that the correct authority is given and freeing the HR practitioner to be more strategic.

In response to the lack of career guidance for high school learners across South Africa, Nedbank is investing more than R 5million towards its 2012 My Future My Career programme which will benefit more than 40 000 grade 9-12 learners from underprivileged communities across the country.

A total of 60 new Research Chairs will be awarded to various institutions of higher learning with the goal of attracting and retaining excellence in research and innovation in the South African science field.

Job seekers who are thinking about pursuing a career in the Human Resources sector can now review the latest salary offerings for 2011 through the Career Junction Index which provides salary trends based on the 25,000 job advertisements placed every month.

Rangers from the Kruger national Park, who have been on strike for two weeks demanding equal payment for employees tasked with the same responsibilities, have now been urged to return to their jobs.

Are you struggling to understand and implement the new BEE targets? Econobee provides a breakdown of the new targets touching on issues such as the 'measurement date' and other important elements of the amended legislation.

As a labour consultant - often called in to resolve issues that have already degenerated into a sticky mess - I am often amazed at the poor "conversational" skills exhibited by both junior (to be expected) and senior management. So many of the problems I encounter are the direct result of an inability to broach and deal with performance and misconduct related issues.

We all know that there are millions of unemployed youth in South Africa. But SA is not unique. A recent global review identifies that youth unemployment is far higher than the overall population unemployment in many countries.

Do you have Glossophobia? Sounds really serious? Are you gobsmacked that I should even ask? Before reaching for the dentists number let’s look at what Wikipedia has to say!

I had a rather sad lunch with a good friend who has struggled to find work for over two years. She is highly intelligent, educated, talented and on the right side of the affirmative action spectrum. However, she does not even get to first interview stage. You see, she carries a terrible burden - she has passed her sell-by date, having just turned 50.

My biggest aggravation is when a verifier arrives at my business to conduct a verification visit and decides to re-invent the wheel in terms of my training materials, or high-handedly dismisses the verification report from the previous verification visit (from a different verifier) and insists on working from HIS/HER previous verification report which could have been compiled a year or more ago.

The Expanded Public Works Programme, which has proven to be effective in the fight against poverty will form the foundation of governments plan to create over 1.5 million job opportunities in the next two years.

While there are some nay-sayers who bring up some negative effects of technology on education in the classrooms, mainly budgetary reasons, using new technologies is the future of the education system. "Teachers will not be replaced by technology, but teachers who don't use technology will be replaced by those who do.”

Effective communication with customers is critical to retaining your client base but finding the right balance between electronic communications and traditional methods can be challenging.Here's one way of reaching your target market.

South Africa will not be able to realise its development goals as long the majority of its children are excluded from accessing tertiary education said President Jacob Zuma, as he urged business leaders to pledge financial support to underprivileged children.

The image of former president Nelson Mandela is set to appear on the country's new banknotes. Reserve Bank Governor Gill Marcus hopes to have the new currency in circulation before the end of the year.

The Public Service Sector Education and Training Authority will run workshops for FET colleges, accredited and non-accredited training providers. The workshops are set to deliver assessor and moderator training amongst others.