Page 40 - Graduate Recruitment Handbook 2025

Schaeffler Xola Mapapu

To start, please tell us about yourself, your
organisation, and the areas or fields you recruit
for.
My Name is Xola Mapapu, I am the Labour Relations
Professional at Schaeffler South Africa where I
have a double barrel job in that I am responsible
for Recruitment as well. I recruit for all positions
ranging from Machine Operators, all plant level jobs
to Interns, Apprentices and qualified fields such as
Mechanical, Electrical, Industrial Engineers, Human
Resources, Supply Chain and Logistics fields etc.
What common mistakes do recent graduates
make on their CV’s or during interviews?
Putting irrelevant information on their CV’s and flexible and open to learn new things outside of your
not grabbing the recruiter’s attention as soon as field. Most times the best advice is gathered from
possible. The biggest mistakes graduates do is an outside perspective to what you are thinking.
cramming potential questions and answers for an Be innovative, in doing so, follow the rules as
interview and then when those questions aren’t prescribed, but when faced with a challenge/s, it is
asked or asked in a different way, they tend to often the road less travelled that gets you to where
blackout or ramble about irrelevant stuff. you need to be. Doing things differently from time
to time helps break down bottles where you find
How can graduates make their CV’s and cover the problem and then overcome it but initiating a
letters stand out to you? different process to make it run more effectively.
By grabbing the recruiter’s attention sooner I mean, Determination in that, never lose sight of your goals,
your CV should be tailored in a way that your most whether you have a bad day where you were caught
recent and/or current experience should come first, off guard and experienced a problem you have
then it moves down in an algorithm from most recent never experienced before and fail, take that as a
to least recent. If you don’t have any experience, learning curve, learn from it and remember where
put your qualifications first before anything else. you started.
This tactic is used due to recruiters dealing with
hundreds of CV’s for a single position due to the What advice would you give students to help
high employment rate in country. Generally, a them improve their chances of getting hired?
recruiter will browse through a cv in 30 seconds to a Be open to criticism, nobody has ever grown in
minute to see if you meet some of the requirements comfort, so working on those negative aspects of
e.g., years of experience, qualifications, key words yourself will improve you more than anything. With
and/or functions in a particular industry etc. before that said, work even harder at your strengths as that
they actually shortlist you to scrutinise your CV even will be key aspect you are recognised in the first
further. place.
What are the top three skills you believe are How important are soft skills, such as
essential for recent graduates to succeed in communication and teamwork, for recent
today’s job market? graduates in your organisation?
Flexibility, Innovativeness and Determination. Be Immensely important, even in isolated industries

40 2025/26 Graduate Recruitment Handbook