About the role
FNB is recruiting for its FirstJob Learnership Programme, a structured entry point into banking specifically designed for young South Africans who have never held formal employment before. Where many of FNB's other early career programmes target graduates, FirstJob is built around a much lower barrier to entry, a Matric certificate and basic computer literacy, making it one of the more accessible ways into a major bank's workforce currently advertised.
FNB is a division of FirstRand Bank Limited, one of South Africa's largest financial services groups, with a footprint that spans personal, commercial, and private banking across the country and increasingly across the continent. The FirstJob Learnership sits within this large operational base, giving learners exposure to real banking processes and customer interactions rather than a simulated training environment disconnected from day to day operations.
The programme is explicitly structured as a first entry point. Participants gain practical workplace exposure alongside structured learning, building foundational skills in customer service, basic banking processes, and general workplace professionalism. Because the requirement is specifically no prior work experience, FNB is deliberately targeting candidates who have not yet had the chance to build a CV, rather than candidates already circulating through other learnerships or entry level jobs.
To qualify, applicants need a Grade 12 or Matric certificate and must be computer literate, with specific reference to MS Office proficiency. Candidates must be South African citizens between 18 and 35 years old, currently unemployed, and, critically, must have no prior work experience at all. This last point is unusual among learnerships, many of which simply require candidates not to be currently employed, and it reflects FNB's intent to reach genuinely first time jobseekers rather than candidates who have already had some workplace exposure elsewhere.
Documents applicants should have ready before applying include an updated CV, their latest academic transcript or Matric certificate, a South African identity document, and any additional qualifications they may hold, even if not formally required for this programme. Having these prepared in advance tends to make the online application process considerably smoother, since incomplete submissions are a common reason strong candidates get filtered out early.
This learnership is particularly well suited to matriculants who want a genuine, structured route into the working world without needing a degree or diploma first, and who are specifically drawn to banking, customer service, or financial services as a starting industry. Because FNB is a large, well established employer, strong performers on programmes like this sometimes find pathways into further internal opportunities, though this is not a guaranteed outcome of completing the learnership itself.
Given FNB's scale, FirstJob intakes run across multiple locations and business units nationally, with specific openings and locations shifting throughout the year. Applicants should visit the official FNB Careers portal, search specifically for "FirstJob Learnership," and check the current listing for the intake location and closing date relevant to them, since FNB does not run a single centralised closing date across all regions for this programme. As with all entry level opportunities, apply only through FNB's own official careers platform, never through unofficial third party sites or anyone requesting payment as part of the application process.
Requirements
- Grade 12 / Matric certificate
- Computer literate, particularly MS Office
- South African citizen aged 18 to 35
- Currently unemployed
- No prior work experience
How to apply
Applications are handled by FNB (First National Bank) on their own site. Careers360 does not collect your documents and never charges a fee to apply.
