Finishing matric and looking for your first job is one of the toughest moments in any working life. Most adverts ask for experience you do not have, the application sites ask for things you have not yet built, and well-meaning advice often skips the practical first step. This guide is for the matriculant or recent school leaver who wants to know, simply, where to start.
Step 1: Get the basics in order
Before you apply for anything, make sure you have:
- A green-bar ID or smart ID card (apply through Home Affairs if you do not have one)
- Your matric certificate or statement of results
- A clean professional email address (use your name)
- A working cellphone number you check every day
- A South African bank account (most are free for under-25s)
These small things stop applications dead more often than candidates realise.
Step 2: Decide between a job, a learnership or further study
There are three main paths and they are not mutually exclusive:
- Entry-level job: you start earning immediately, learn on the job, and prove yourself. Best for retail, customer service, admin, hospitality and call centre roles
- Learnership: a structured programme combining classroom learning with workplace experience. You earn a stipend (usually R3 000 to R6 500 a month) and end with a recognised SETA qualification
- Internship: shorter than a learnership, often 6 to 12 months, with on-the-job experience and a stipend
Step 3: Know about the YES programme
The Youth Employment Service (YES) places unemployed South Africans aged 18 to 35 into 12-month paid work experiences with private-sector employers. It is not a job guarantee, but it is one of the largest pipelines into first jobs in the country and many YES participants are absorbed permanently afterwards. Apply through yes4youth.co.za and through the corporate websites of large YES partners.
Step 4: Build a one-page CV
With no formal experience, your CV is short — and that is fine. Include:
- Your name, city, phone, email
- A two-line summary: "Recent matriculant looking for an entry-level role in retail / admin / customer service. Strong with people, comfortable on a computer, and a quick learner."
- Education: your school, year of matric, and your strongest subjects
- Skills: two or three concrete ones (Microsoft Word and Excel basics, isiZulu and English, willingness to work shifts)
- Anything you have done outside school: tutoring, helping in a family business, volunteer work, sports leadership, side hustles
- References: a teacher and one adult who is not a family member
Step 5: Apply where the entry-level jobs actually are
- CareerJunctionZA — filter by experience level Entry / Junior
- Large retailers (Shoprite, Pick n Pay, Woolworths, Clicks) all run permanent entry-level intakes
- Call centres in Cape Town, Joburg and Durban — high-volume hiring all year
- Banks (Standard Bank, FNB, Nedbank, Absa, Capitec) run formal learnership intakes once or twice a year
- Government's Department of Employment and Labour for public-sector internships
Step 6: Prepare for the interview
First-time job interviews usually focus less on experience and more on attitude and reliability. Be ready to answer:
- Tell me about yourself (60 seconds, no school detail older than your matric year)
- Why do you want to work for us? (Show you have looked at the company)
- How would you handle a difficult customer?
- Are you available to work weekends or shifts?
- Do you have your own transport, or how would you get to work?
Step 7: Watch out for scams
Step 8: Build small wins while you wait
Job-hunting takes weeks or months. While you apply:
- Take a free online course on Coursera, Google Digital Skills for Africa, or Microsoft Learn — even one short certificate strengthens your CV
- Volunteer one or two days a week — it counts as experience and often turns into paid work
- Help in your community: tutoring, admin for a local NPO, helping a family business with stock or social media
Your first job is rarely your dream job — and that is fine. The goal is to get inside a workplace, prove that you show up, learn, and care. From there, every next step gets easier.
