FAQ's - Employer

Hire a graduate or intern through RecruitAGraduate.

We take the hassle out of the recruiting process by offering employers a full agency service or a low-touch CV service. Talk to us about your needs.

We offer the following: 

• Graduate recruiting
• Internship recruiting 
• Contracting for graduates and interns
• Low touch CV service
• Retainer based recruiting for companies seeking regular graduate hiring

View our fees here >>

• A dedicated recruitment professional that manages the recruitment process for you.
• A call from a friendly expert to discuss the problem you are trying to solve through graduate recruitment. 
• Assistance from a real person that understands the local context.
• A job listing on our site with an optional company logo feature.
• A qualified short-list of the top CV’s from the recruitment manager.
• Assistance to obtain various background checks you may require.
• Pay only upon making a successful placement.
• A 3-month warranty included for permanent positions (see T&C's)
• Support from your recruitment manager when you need it.

RecruitAGraduate is based in South Africa. We operate nationwide in the main metropolises, Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban, as well as the rest of the country. Furthermore, we assist companies in recruiting South African graduates globally.

The employer needs to be registered for the Skills Levy contribution and be registered at the relevant Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA). SARS will be able to identify which SETA is relevant to the business. This will allow the company to offer apprenticeships or internships on an outlined programme. Funding may be provided for apprenticeships and internships from the Skills Development Levy.

Employment Tax Incentive explained

Why is there an ETI? 

Millions of young South Africans are excluded from participating in economic activity, and as a result suffer disproportionately from unemployment, discouragement and economic marginalisation. High youth unemployment means young people are not gaining the skills or experience needed to drive the economy forward. This lack of skills can have long-term adverse effects on the economy.
 

In South Africa the current lack of skills and experience as well as perceptions regarding the restrictiveness of labour regulations make some prospective employers reluctant to hire the youth.

As a South African employer, you now have a great opportunity to boost the employment of young work seekers.

What is ETI?

The ETI is an incentive aimed at encouraging employers to hire young work seekers. It was implemented with effect from 1 January 2014.  

What are the benefits for employers?

The benefits of the ETI are:

• It will reduce the employers cost of hiring young people through a cost-sharing mechanism with government, by allowing you to reduce the amount of  Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) you pay while leaving the wage received by the employee unaffected.

  • For example, employers who are registered for PAYE, and who employ a person for the full month of February 2014 and earns R2000, will get R1 000 off their monthly PAYE liability (provided that the employee is a qualifying employee based on all the other remaining requirements). For more information on how the ETI works, click here.
• Employers will be able to claim the incentive for a 24 month period for all employees who qualify. Click here for more information.
• The incentive amount differs based on the salary paid to each qualifying employee and whether the qualifying employee was employed after the inception of the ETI programme on 1 October 2013. ETI may only be claimed for a total of 24 qualifying months. Click here for more information.
• This incentive will complement existing government programmes with similar objectives e.g. learnership agreements.
• The aim of the ETI is to facilitate the increased employment of young work seekers.

Who qualifies?

• The employer is eligible to claim the ETI if the employer–

  • Is registered for Employees’ Tax (PAYE), or must be eligible to register for PAYE (e.g. the employer can't register just to claim ETI, other registration requirements must be met)

  • Is not in the national, provincial or local sphere of government
  • Is not a public entity listed in Schedule 2 or 3 of the Public Finance Management Act (other than those public entities designated by the Minister of Finance by Notice in the Gazette)
  • Is not a municipal entity
  • Is not disqualified by the Minister of Finance due to the displacement of an employee or by not meeting the conditions as may be prescribed by the Minister by regulation.

Top Tip: To work out if you are a qualifying employer click here.

How do I determine who is a qualifying employee?

Top Tip: There is no limit to the number of qualifying employees that an employer can hire. 

An individual is a qualifying employee if he or she–

• Has a valid South African ID, Asylum Seeker permit or an ID issued in terms of the Refugee Act
• Is 18 to 29 years old (please note that the age limit is not applicable if the employee renders services mainly inside a special economic zone (SEZ) to an employer that is operating inside the SEZ. The following SEZs have been designated by the Minister of Finance with effect from 1 August 2018: 

Code​	Description
​COE	​COEGA SEZ
DTP​	​DUBE TRADE PORT SEZ
​EAL	​EAST LONDON SEZ
MAP​	​MALUTI-A-PHOFUNG SEZ
​SLB	​SALDANHA BAY SEZ
RIB​	​RICHARDS  BAY SEZ

• • Please note that this opened age limit is not activated as yet for any specific industry designated by the Minister of Finance.
• Is not a domestic worker
• Is not a “connected person” to the employer
• Was employed by the employer or an associated person to the employer on or after 1 October 2013 and
• Is paid the minimum wage applicable to that employer or if a minimum wage doesn't apply, is paid a wage of at least R2 000 (where the qualifying employee was employed for 160 hours in a month) and not more than 
  R6 000 renumeration.

Important: The value of the ETI the employer may claim depends on the value of the monthly remuneration paid to the qualifying employee. If the employee has worked less than 160 hours in the month, the remuneration amount must be ‘grossed up’ to 160 hours per month to calculate the value of the ETI. The amount can then be calculated and be ‘grossed down’ in the same ratio. See more information here.

Will penalties apply?

Yes, penalties will apply when:

• An employer claims the ETI for an employee who qualifies and earns less than the minimum wage (or less than R2 000 where a minimum wage is not applicable). A penalty equal to 100% of the ETI claimed for that employee will be imposed. This will lead to an under-payment of employee’s tax and possible interest and penalties in terms of the Tax Administration Act.

• An employer is believed to have displaced an employee in order to employ an employee who qualifies. A penalty of R30 000 will be levied, for each employee displaced. 

How long will it be available?

The ETI came into effect on 1 January 2014 and it will end on 28 February 2029.

Need help?

Call the SARS Contact Centre on 0800 00 SARS (7277), or visit your nearest SARS branch.

For more information on whether an employer is eligible to claim the ETI in respect of qualifying employees and how to calculate ETI, please visit the SARS website on www.sars.gov.za, or call the SARS Contact Centre on 0800 00 7277.

Source of text SARS website : https://www.sars.gov.za/TaxTypes/PAYE/ETI

What is YES? 

South Africa’s Youth Employment Service aims to create jobs for the youth in line with South Africa’s national development goals. Once a company is registered with the YES platform you can recieve the benefits. Recruit A Graduate assists companies to source youth for the YES program. 

How can my company benefit from YES? 

YES is a business-driven initiative which is a partnership with government and labour, in collectively tackling a national plan to build economic pathways for black youth. YES aims to create one million jobs for youth. In this process, a business can gain one or two levels on their B-BBEE scorecard by hosting a YES youth for a period of 1 year. There is deep value in our tech-driven youth behavioural content to nurture and motivate young people and business throughout the year. This technology assists business and our youth in succeeding in their first work experience. 

Does RecruitAGraduate assist with sourcing youths for YES? 

Yes! 

•  Companies may recruit youth from any partner they choose. 
• YES has not endorsed any consultancies to charge fees for registration services of YES. 

Source : https://www.yes4youth.co.za

• Companies can increase their BBBEE rating through skills development via the Youth Employment Service (YES). See Question on YES
• Companies can receive a pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) tax reduction through the Employment Tax Incentive. See Question on Employment Tax incentive
• For apprentices and internships, companies can claim back skills development tax from the Skills Levy. See Question on SDL

• Employing graduates can assist in reaching the company’s sustainability goals.
• Graduates bring new skills, like technology, and a fresh perspective to the workplace that can help build the future of work.

Fixed term contracts can be used for various reasons. Employees may be required for a project for a specific time period or a job may only be available for a specific time, for example when an employee is on maternity leave. Fixed term contracts may be terminated at the arrival of a specific point in a project, for instance, an electrician’s contract will terminate if that part of the project is completed.    

Fixed Term contracts come to a natural end at the time stipulated in the contract or at the arrival of a specific event, when the employee's services will terminate. That is the end of the relationship.

These types of contracts may not be terminated for any other reason than material breach or resignation by the employee.  In other words the employee may resign before the date of contract termination, or if the employee is found guilty of misconduct and is fairly dismissed, which will amount to the employee being in breach of the contract.

The employer may not terminate the contract before the time stipulated. The reason for this rule is that parties bind themselves in the contract for a specific time period and the commitment must be honoured.

An employee may resign before the date of the contract ends. If this happens RecruitAGraduate will replace the candidate, and if a suitable candidate cannot be found within an agreed reasonable time frame the fee for the remainder of the contract will be refunded to the client.

Should the permanent placement of the RecruitAGraduate graduate not be successful and the services of the graduate is terminated lawfully by either the client or graduate, RecruitAGraduate must be given the opportunity to replace the candidate with another candidate and no additional placement fee will be charged for the 2nd placement. The client must provide a written request for a 2nd placement. This warranty is on the condition that there is no difference between the remuneration of candidates. Should there be a difference in remuneration, the difference will be worked into the fee reconciliation.

Should a suitable replacement graduate not be found within 45 days, from the date of receiving a written request, the following refund calculated from the day notice is given to RecruitAGraduate will be applicable.

Permanent placements, fixed duration contracts, internships and apprenticeships. Please note that the employer has to be a SETA registered training partner to advertise apprenticeships. The minimum period of contract employment offered is one month on RecruitAGraduate, we do not work with jobs less than one month.