ShiftMate · Skills Development

Academy

We build verified

employment pathways

for SA youth.

ShiftMate Academy is the training channel that sits between assessment and employment. We close skill gaps in candidates identified through our assessments, and help employers put their Skills Development Levies to work training existing staff.

Explore our programmesPartner With Us
Assessment-first entry·Multiple structured programmes·SDL-eligible employer training·Employment-first design
Assessment-based entry◆SFIA Level 2 · Digital Work Readiness◆BPO Learnership · SAQA 93997 · NQF Level 3◆Standalone BPO Training Modules◆SDL Employer Training◆Work Integrated Learning · up to 6-month placement◆B-BBEE Skills Development evidence◆Employment-first design◆Candidate pipeline from ShiftMate assessments◆SETA-aligned · Mobile-first◆Assessment-based entry◆SFIA Level 2 · Digital Work Readiness◆BPO Learnership · SAQA 93997 · NQF Level 3◆Standalone BPO Training Modules◆SDL Employer Training◆Work Integrated Learning · up to 6-month placement◆B-BBEE Skills Development evidence◆Employment-first design◆Candidate pipeline from ShiftMate assessments◆SETA-aligned · Mobile-first◆

Why the Academy exists

No experience, no job.
No job, no experience.

That's the trap millions of capable young South Africans are stuck in. They can do the work — they've just never been given the chance to prove it. The Academy is built to break that loop.

ShiftMate does three things: we assess people to find who has the potential, we train the ones who do until they're genuinely ready, and we help employers place them. Training is the hard middle step most platforms skip — and the placement that follows gives that first real work experience, the one thing that breaks the trap.

Assess, Train, Place — how ShiftMate Academy works

How we do it

Real coaching, for one person at a time — at the scale of thousands.

Every Academy programme is delivered online and coached by AI. After each answer, the learner gets told what they got right, what they got wrong, and why — the kind of feedback that usually needs a human tutor sitting next to them. That's what makes the rest possible.

Accessible

It runs on a phone. No campus, no laptop, no travel. A person in any town in South Africa can do the whole thing from where they are.

Affordable

Online delivery and AI coaching keep the cost low — low enough that most routes into the Academy are free to the learner.

At scale

The AI coaches every learner personally, so the quality of feedback doesn't drop as the numbers grow. One learner or ten thousand — same support.

Quality one-on-one coaching has always been too expensive to give everyone. Putting it online and letting AI do the coaching is what finally makes it cheap enough to reach the people who need it — at the scale a country with South Africa's unemployment actually needs.

What we train

Two tracks.

We train for the two areas that hire the most entry-level people in South Africa. Pick the one that fits.

LIVE NOWFree modules

Contact centre & customer service

The skills a call centre actually hires on — handling customers, working the systems, staying calm under pressure, and sounding ready on the phone. It's the biggest entry-level employer in the country, and it's where we're already placing people.

Already training candidates for teams like Rewardsco, one of South Africa's largest contact-centre employers.
Free, self-paced modules — open to anyone
Coached by AI after every answer
Works on a phone, start to finish
Explore the contact centre track
Entry-level digitalFree to learner

Entry-level digital & IT

For people who can do digital work but need proof before an employer will look at them. Train for one of seven entry-level digital roles, then prove it on a real placement — not just a certificate on paper.

Ends in a Work Integrated Learning placement — real work with a real employer, where performance is the proof.
No matric required — entry is assessment-based
Coached by AI, online from anywhere
Up to a 6-month placement with a real employer
Explore the digital track

How it fits together

One loop, not three separate things.

Step 1
Assess

Find out who has potential, and exactly what's standing between them and a job.

The Academy
Step 2
Train

Close that exact gap with coached, online training until they're genuinely ready.

Step 3
Place

A real placement with an employer — their first work experience, which is the exact thing the trap denies them.

And it keeps going — a placed candidate's results feed straight back into the next round.

Which one are you?

I want to get hired

Turn your potential into proof.

If you've got the ability but not the experience yet, this is built for you. Start with the contact centre modules for free, or train for an entry-level digital role and prove it on a real placement.

I'm an employer

Hire entry-level ICT people who are already work-ready.

Every candidate we send you has been assessed, screened, and trained for a specific entry-level digital role before they ever walk through your door. No CV guesswork — you know exactly what they can do and how reliable they are.

Start with a placement and first right to hire. You only bring them on permanently once you've seen them perform.

Already in a programme — candidate, host employer, or reviewer? Sign in to your portal →