The Western Cape Regional Chapter hosted a successful mini-student conference on 13 August 2009.

Executive Committee members: Lesley Schroeder-Mclean (Chairperson)  Themba Ngada and Angela Naumann teamed up with two placement agencies (Layercake and Viv Gordon Placements) to put together an informative and practical conference aimed at equipping 2nd and 3^rd year students to effectively approach companies for internship or employment and sell themselves in an interview situation.

Sarah Murchison from Layercake spoke about avoiding the common interview pitfalls and Angela Naumann showed examples of the requests for employment that fill the inboxes of consultancies and PR departments. Students were shown how to tailor their messages to suit the company they were approaching and given some practical tips on how to keep their inquiry emails succinct and appropriate to prevent the recipient hitting the delete button.

This was followed by simulated interviews in small groups. As an executive, we in the Western Cape, felt that the conference was extremely valuable as few of the students are well-prepared for the job market.

Jan Horn, the Deputy Principal of Varsity College Cape Town said that the value for his students was immense and Varsity College would like to host it again in the future and ensure that it runs as an annual event.

If any of our other regions would like more information on how we structured the mini-conference you are welcome to contact the Chairperson of the Western Cape, Lesley Schroeder-McLean on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Angela Naumann (Western Cape Regional Chapter) and Sarah Murchison (Layercake) with some of the students who attended the conference