An internship is a professional learning experience that offers meaningful, practical work related to a student’s field of study or career interest.
For the student, an internship offers an opportunity for career exploration and development, and to learn new skills. For the employer the opportunity to bring new ideas and energy into the workplace, develop talent and potentially build a pipeline for future full-time employees.
Internships serve the great purpose of providing professional experience to the youth.
Internship opportunities are open for all qualifying candidates in South Africa to apply. Candidates are considered based on their eligibility.
Often, internships are open for unemployed graduates/ school leavers who haven’t participated in an internship programme before and are between the ages of 18 to 35 years.
There are various internship options, catering to all unemployed youth available within the South African government, SOEs/Public Entities, and also within the private sector. These options are for matriculants (candidates with just matric), and graduates (candidates that hold a recognised higher education qualification).
To help unemployed youth, we have listed some of the best websites that they can use to find all the available internships.
Best Websites to Find Internships in South Africa
Career Portal
Career Portal prides itself on being one of the most influential and informative websites that post all about new jobs and vacancies available in South Africa and abroad.
They list all the latest opportunities, this includes learnerships, internships, apprenticeships, and traineeships.
They post everything about Amazon jobs, SASSA jobs, Government jobs, Transnet jobs, Woolworths jobs, HomeChoice jobs, SAPS jobs, Checkers jobs, Dischem jobs, and many more.
Their website offers all the available internships, with all requirements and how to apply details. You can view all the available internships here: https://www.careersportal.co.za/work-opportunities
STUDENTRoom
STUDENTRoom is a South African Career Portal for students and graduates, made to assist them with kickstarting their careers. The website focus on bursaries, learnerships, apprenticeship, and all the latest internships.
They are up to date with all the open internship opportunities available within all the South African government departments, public entities, and private companies.
View all the available internships.
With over 800 million users LinkedIn is one of the most reliable job portals worldwide. Although its widely used as a social media network platform, it has shown great potential as a talent finder. Their job portal is very much advanced and offers opportunities from various companies.
LinkedIn alone has over 200 open internship posts available for qualifying candidates to apply. These internships are offered by various industries and companies in South Africa. Just to name a few, the vacant posts are for Content Creators, Sales Representatives, Admin, PR Specialists, and DevOps Engineers.
You will have to filter your search to find internships that best suit your skills and educational background.
SA Gov Jobs
SA Gov Jobs specialises in Government and SOEs/Public Entities jobs.
It is a single platform that aggregates all jobs, including internships across various South African government departments.
As a job portal, they are dedicated to:
- Making it easier for you to find Government job opportunities.
- Simplifying the search for the latest jobs available in government.
- Giving professional career advice and guidance to those in need.
Their jobs are categorised accordingly by department, job type, province, and industry. This makes it easier for anyone to find what they are looking for easily.
On the site, you may view the open vacancies and also apply.
View and apply for all available internships.
You may also read more about all the available internships within the SA government on their latest labour news page.
Other Job Portals
Following are some of the most trusted top job search engines that one can utilise to view and apply for all open internship opportunities in South Africa:
For fresh graduates and school leavers, these websites are a great starting point to kick start your professional career.
You will then have to do your part of using the information to your advantage and applying in time for the internship opportunities that you qualify for.
To get started, make sure you have an updated CV that best portrays your key competencies, qualifications, and achievements. You may also want to make sure that your LinkedIn profile is updated and sells you to the tee.
Available Internships in the Public Sector
- City of Johannesburg
- International Relations Internship
- Strategic Coordination & Integration
- The Department of Sport Recreation, Arts and Culture
- Systems Functional Support / Data Analyst-Scientist Internship
- LAN / Desktop Support Technician Internship
- Transnet
- Trainee Train Assistant
- Department of Employment and Labour
- Supply Chain Internship
- South African Police Service
- Police Trainee
Available Internships in the Private Sector
- Nedbank Group Risk Graduate
- Mercedes-Benz Graduate Development Programme
- Santam Internship Programme
- Hollard Data Analytics Internship
- Discovery Vitality Group Database Administrator Internship
