When Momelezi Sifumba decided to stand on the side of the road not far from where he had graduated with an engineering degree, he did not know that his unorthodox way of looking for employment would land him a job at a big company.
Sifumba, 27, finished his BTech degree in electrical engineering at Tshwane University of Technology at the beginning of the year and immediately started looking for a job. But he was not successful. As he continued sending his CV to companies and making calls he realised he was not making any progress.
He then decided stand on a street not far from his university, hoping that someone would see his plight.
"I felt like the traditional way of looking for a job, which is sending emails and making calls to companies, never worked for me. It felt when I used those methods, my voice was never heard enough. I decided to stand there with my poster asking for a job.
"I never told my parents about going to the streets because they were starting to lose hope. Their expectations were that because I had a degree, things would just go smoothly. When I want to do something, I just do it. I do not tell other people because they will give their opinions. I prefer for things to be a surprise to other people," Sifumba said.
But one of his siblings saw Sifumba's picture on social media and informed his mother and "she cried hysterically"
He said his parents, who are both jobless, had thought that getting an engineering degree would make it easier for him to secure employment.
While on the streets for five days, Sifumba said people took pictures of him and posted them on social media to make more people aware of his plight. Others took pictures in which he had his contact details and posted it on their LinkedIn profiles.
Graham Abrahams, senior vice president of electrification at ABB, spotted him on LinkedIn and was moved.
Sifumba received a call from a secretary at the company and a meeting was arranged in which Sifumba met officials from the company who got to know more about him.
"I had just finishing posting on LinkedIn and then saw his picture. My honest feeling was …he has probably worked so hard to get his studies done and now he has to stand on a corner. "I knew we had a programme that could help," said Abrahams.
Sifumba, from Libode in Mthatha, Eastern Cape, started working at ABB in May in the test department.
He is expected to be moved to the engineering and tendering departments as the year progresses.
