Tashta Jessa has this to say about her first month as a graduate trainee with VWSA: "The 1st of February finally arrived – the day on 28 young, enthusiastic and driven Graduates began their careers with Volkswagen of South Africa and became part of this legendary and deep-rooted heritage and family.

Xitivani Chabalala recently graduated with a Bachelors in Consumer Science: Clothing Retail Manager from the University of Pretoria. She is a "Pepiniere" in the market research department at L'Oreal South Africa. GradX recently caught up with her to find out more about her work experiences so far.

Loryn Symons is a recent graduate from NMMU. She completed a BCom Marketing Management and BCom Business Management Honours before joing Volkswagen South Africa. She is now a marketing research coordinator with this company, and we at GradX had the opportunity to ask her a few questions about her job.

Auctioneering – it’s a think-fast, talk-fast profession that requires someone with charm, wit, intelligence and a big personality. Ariella Kuper, one of only a handful of female auctioneers in the country, has all this and more, including an MBA from the UCT Graduate School of Business, which has propelled her forward with new energy and expertise.

The saying goes, when you become a CA, you will have the world at your feet. It is really true! I can vouch for that. I studied at the University of Stellenbosch. With my degree and CTA in hand I did my articles at a tiny firm in Somerset West.

Linda de Klerk is the marketing manager of the coolest brand in the land, Apple. So what’s we’d all like to know is how she got there? Well, apart from lots of hard work Linda studied the BA in Brand Leadership from Vega*. We asked her what Vega taught her?

Shaheer Motala, ex-UKZN student, says... Having graduated from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (Howard College) with a B Com Marketing and Business Management, Shaheer Motala was faced with the daunting prospect of entering the job market. Seeking an employer that would make the transition from university to the working world an easy one, Shaheer joined the Mr Price Group’s graduate development programme, which provided an opportunity to be in a company that offered a platform to which to launch his career.

Kamva Matshoba, ex-NMMU student, says... One of things Kamva Matshoba loves about working for SARS is that she feels like she’s at the cutting edge of the public sector. Kamva works in the economics division. She has a BComm Economics degree from Fort Hare University and an honours degree from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University.

Kathy Hadje Georgiou, ex-Wits student, says... Kathy Hadje Georgiou says that after attending the RCTE, she is confident that she has made the right decision to study chemistry. She is currently studying for her B Sc (honours) degree at Wits University and says she was very lucky that she was chosen to attend the RCTE programme in the UK.

Wandile Rikhotso, ex-UJ student, says… Wandile Rikhotso completed his honours in Marketing and Management at the University of Johannesburg. He currently works as a promotions and events co-ordinator for Volkswagen South Africa. Much of his work centres around organising car launches.

Raymond Ranta graduated from the University of Pretoria with a B Eng Mining degree. This lively, talented graduate is now a participant in AngloGold Ashanti’s management training programme. He cautions that some entry-level employees may find moving into the sector a bit of a shock.

Imogen Patzer, ex-Vega student, says... Imogen Patzer is living proof of the varied career paths available to someone entering the marketing and media sector. Graduating from the Vega School of Art and Design in Cape Town with a BA Degree in Creative Brand Communications, she currently finds herself in a job that is very different to what she studied.

Shelagh Rule, ex-Wits student, says... Shelagh Rule, an LLB graduate from Wits, is one of 36 candidate attorneys in Webber Wentzel’s 2009 graduate intake programme. Hiring candidate attorneys makes up the better part of the firm’s talent acquisition activities, which also include ‘parallel’ recruitment (head-hunting), and mergers and acquisitions.

Melanie Vorster, ex-Wits student, says… Melanie Vorster is doing her legal articles at Everingham’s, a firm of attorneys with specialist knowledge of insurance law that provides a full range of legal services. She has a B Com LLB from Wits, where she enrolled in January 2003.

Ewa Swart, ex-Tukkies student, says… Proving that academic achievement is only the first step towards success is Ewa Swart, a recent addition to Standard Bank’s CIB division. Her drive and ambition complements the successful completion of her studies.

Gareth Taylor, ex-Wits student says... For Gareth Taylor, the ICT sector is a very exciting place to be. “It is one of the more fast-paced industries,” he says. “Technologies that were ahead of their time yesterday are obsolete tomorrow.

Debbie Lombard, ex-UCT student, says... Debbie Lombard has been at P&G as an assistant brand manager since January last year and has loved it. She studied for a business science degree and majored in organisational psychology at UCT. “Every day is different.

Schalk Vorster, ex-Rhodes student, says… Schalk Vorster of BSG Africa prepared for working life at Rhodes Univeristy with a BSc in information systems and computer science, followed by an honours in information systems. Today he’s a business consultant, which means his current primary mission is to analyse client organisations from both a technology and a business perspective, and to model solutions based on their needs.

Ivan Serwadda, ex-UCT student, says... On graduating from the University of Cape Town with a bachelor’s degree in electrical and computer engineering, Ivan Serwadda quite clearly had the world at his feet. But his thirst for knowledge was not yet slaked.

Lara Maré, ex-Maties student, says...   Lara Maré is a management accountant that gained membership to CIMA in February this year. “I studied management accounting at Stellenbosch and finished in 2003,” she says.

For Ushantha Naidoo, the construction sector has always been a source of exciting opportunities that shapes the world as we know it. So after completing her BSc quantity surveying degree at Wits last year and joining Murray and Roberts’ graduate development programme in January, she was highly-motivated to start getting hands-on experience.