The Relationship between Skills Training and Retention of Graduate Interns in a South African Information, Communication and Technology Company

Abstract

Substantial costs are associated with attrition of key talent in South African organizations. As a result, organisations invest in graduate internship programmes to attract and retain high calibre graduate interns. The main objective of the research was to determine whether soft skills and technical skills training, as part of a graduate internship programme, contributed to the retention of graduate interns in a South African Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) company. An exploratory, ex post facto research design was followed. A soft skills, technical skills and retention survey were administered among a purposive selected sample of graduate interns (N=79) and mentors (N=39) in a South African ICT company. Both groups of participants indicated that the soft skills presented in the training are important. Combined, the respondents identified verbal communication, self-motivation, teamwork and goal directedness as the most important soft skills for graduate employability. Results further showed that the technical skills training contributed to a large extent to the employability of the graduate intern. Technical skills training were also significantly related to the graduate intern’s intention to quit the internship programme. In conclusion, the current graduate internship programme focuses on the majority of employability soft skills required for the acquisition and retention of a job. Practical training is therefore important for the application of knowledge and to enhance graduate employability.