Introducing Huru Academy

Introducing Huru Academy

A local solution for security checks

Huru’s digital training partnership with PostNet and Jetline is helping South Africans get employed, by making security checks available to all.

Removing barriers to recruitment

Huru, a security check company based in Johannesburg, has an ongoing partnership with nationwide print companies PostNet and Jetline to offer fast, effective criminal record checks in all nine South African provinces.

Since 2017, Huru has provided criminal record checks for prospective employees in South Africa using advanced fingerprint biometric processes, completed by accredited fingerprint capture professionals. New digital training allows for the training and accrediting of new fingerprinting professionals online, helping with Huru’s expansion to over 450 PostNet and Jetline locations across the country.

As fingerprinting for security checks need to be done face-to-face, South Africans outside of metropolitan areas often have difficulty reaching capture locations. Now, with Huru’s expanded capture options, anyone seeking a security check can visit their local PostNet or Jetline store and begin the process in just minutes.

This new “ecosystem of accessibility”, according to Beeline CRO Dylan Evans, merges expertise with ease of access, aiming to remove barriers for those seeking employment. Security checks are required for a number of critical positions across the service industry, including educators, healthcare and hospitality workers, contractors, caretakers, and more. By streamlining the fingerprinting process, Huru Academy aims to help more South Africans get hired without delay.

Upskilling South African workers

Vincenzo Gonzales, Huru’s Operations Manager, explains that the security checks industry has thus far been very reliant on in-person training, making it difficult to expand the geographical scope of their service offerings. Now, with digital training, Huru can run an unlimited number of fingerprinting courses simultaneously across the country.

“All of a sudden, rather than 4 or 5 trainees going through this process in a day, it’s now 100, or even 200,” says Vincenzo. More than 3 000 accreditations have been issued so far, with over 1 750 of those issued in just a 4-week period.

It also makes retraining and reassessment easy, to keep employees up to date with new materials, and allows trainees of different education levels to complete the training at their own pace. Training can be standardised and monitored, which Vincenzo says is a huge plus, ensuring that prospective fingerprinting professionals pass examinations with a comprehensive understanding.

Vincenzo explains that the new digital training has already begun minimising errors and improving trainee retention. The delays associated with in-person accreditations often meant that by the time trainees captured their first fingerprints, the knowledge of how to do so was largely lost, says Vincenzo. With digital training, that “dead period” is greatly reduced.

It’s an exciting venture for the industry as a whole, as well as for PostNet and Jetline store owners, who now have higher skilled employees and increased traffic to their stores. But Vincenzo looks at it from a more personal perspective: that of the trainees, who are building new skills they can carry with them throughout their careers.

“It actually means a lot to them, because they get to say, I’ve accomplished something. I’ve done something to better myself,” says Vincenzo. At some PostNet and Jetline offices, you can even see employee accreditations framed on the wall with pride.

The future of training

The success of the Huru Academy demonstrates how digital training can change the scope of a business overnight — even ones providing brick and mortar services.

In a bit of advice to fellow business leaders, Vincenzo says, “Don’t be afraid to spend money on things that will actually do better for your company as a whole. You have to be open to allowing the change to digital. It’s not easy in the beginning, because it goes against what you’re used to, but if it’s going to make your life easier in the long run, if it’s going to make training easier and adaptable to different clientele, why wouldn’t you?”