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1 June 2016

Guerrilla recruitment campaign pays off for Telkom

JOHANNESBURG - Telkom is taking a new view on recruitment in order to attract the best talent to the transforming business. It has recently hired eight interns through an online guerrilla marketing campaign that seeks to reward new ways of approaching business challenges. The campaign generated over 38 000 hits in a two-month period.

"We recognise that our industry - and our company - is in the midst of a profound transformation. We wanted new perspectives and to reward unconventional thinking, so we took a chance with a new approach to talent acquisition," said Ian Russell, chief administration officer at Telkom.

The campaign used social media posts, Google ads, and email marketing. The ad copy read: "We're looking for bright young minds. If you think you're the smartest person in the room, answer this question."

Participants who successfully completed the brainteaser were then given a set of 12 questions measuring problem-solving ability. The final stage revealed that "a JSE-listed organisation" was looking for interns and asked them to submit personal details along with a 60 second video clip outlining their recommended solution to a business challenge. Unusually, academic qualifications and area of study were not a consideration for eligibility.

Around 2 000 people completed the brainteaser and questionnaire between December 2015 and January 2016. Of these, 260 people submitted a video clip, and were then invited to a three-day selection camp where the company behind the campaign was revealed as Telkom, and the final nine were shortlisted. The last hurdle was a pitch session where Telkom executives would be present. One person dropped out, and of the remaining eight, all were selected as the inaugural interns for 2016.

The interns are:

  • Bojorosi Morule, 23, BA Economics, supports the digital business unit at Telkom
  • Ovashen Naidoo, 24, who has a BCom Information Management degree and works in the finance and technology division at Telkom.
  • Toni Nkosi, 21, who is currently studying towards her BSc Biochemistry & Human Physiology degree. She works on Telkom FutureMakers, the enterprise and supplier development initiative.
  • Anand Hadebe, 22, studying towards her BCom Accounting degree, works in e-commerce and helps to evaluate potential partnerships for Telkom.
  • Oreratile Itumeleng, 23, BCom Financial Accounting, who works in the marketing department on Telkom's gaming strategy.
  • Narina Nel, BA Languages, BA English (Hons), and Higher Certificate in Marketing. Narina works in Telkom's customer experience team.
  • Lior Sinai, 23, BSc Mechanical Engineering, assists the transformation office with strategy and regulatory initiatives.
  • Francois Neethling, 23, who has a Bsc Actuarial & Mathematical Science degree. Francois assists Telkom's transformation office with data analysis and pricing.

For further enquiries, please contact:

Pynee Chetty

Senior Specialist: Media Relations

Group Communication

Tel:+27 12 642 1716

Mobile: +27 81 389 7874

Email: chettpr2@telkom.co.za

 OR

Leigh-Ann Francis

Specialist: Media Relations

Group Communication

Tel: +27 12 642 1728

Mobile: +27 81 391 4780

Email: francilm@telkom.co.za

Telkom Park, The Apex

92 Oak Avenue

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ABOUT TELKOM:

Telkom is a leading communications services provider in South Africa. We had consolidated operating revenue of R16.8 billion and normalised profit after tax of R1, 683 million for the period ended 30 September 2015. Total assets amounted to R41.9 billion and equity attributable to the owners of Telkom to R23.5 billion as of 30 September 2015. The group generated normalised free cash flow of R1.4 billion for the period ended 30 September 2015.

As of 30 September 2015, we had approximately 3.3 million telephone access lines in service and 1,030,441 ports connected via MSAN access. We offer business, residential and payphone customers a wide range of services and products, including:

  • fixed-line retail voice services using PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) lines, including ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) lines, and the sale of subscription based value-added voice services and calling plans;
  • fixed-line customer premises equipment rental and sales services both voice and data needs and these include PABX, Computers, Routers, Modems, Telephone handsets and other ancillary equipment;
  • interconnection services, including terminating and transiting traffic from South African mobile operators, as well as from international operators and transiting traffic from mobile to international destinations;
  • fixed-line data services, including domestic and international data transmission services, such as point-to-point leased lines, ADSL (Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line) services, packet-based services, managed data networking services and internet access and related information technology services;
  • Data Centre Operations includes e-commerce, application service provider, hosting, data storage, e-mail and security services;
  • W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access), a 3G next generation network, including fixed voice services, data services and nomadic voice services;
  • mobile communication services, including voice services, data services and handset sales through our mobile navbar-brand called Telkom Mobile;
  • information and communication services including cloud services, infrastructure services, workspace services, global service integration management and hardware and network equipment sales locally, in seven African countries, the UK and Dubai through Business Connexion Group; and
  • other services including directory services, through Trudon (Pty) Ltd, wireless data services, through Swiftnet (Pty) Ltd.
  • Convergence is one of our key strategic initiatives in building a sustainable future for Telkom. We will lead the provision of converged services in South Africa in support of our mission statement: Seamlessly connecting people to a better life.