Michael Page has released its Salary Guide and Hiring Insights report for 2022, which found that the healthcare and technology industries have been the most active in hiring activity.
PageGroup South Africa operating director Paul Newman said they saw a sharp increase in recruitment assignments compared to the previous year for mid-to-senior management level positions during Q1 2021. This pace continued throughout the year.
Newman noted that this was despite Bloomberg reporting that South Africa currently has the highest unemployment rate globally.
“This would indicate that businesses are in need for strong leadership and skilled candidates with considerable experience to drive business recovery during these challenging and uncertain times,” stated Newman.
Almost all the industries and sectors covered in the report showed a positive hiring activity trend.
These include engineering and manufacturing, finance and accounting, procurement and supply chain, sales and marketing, and technology.
“As per our survey with 318 job applicants in South Africa, a majority of 88% believed they could fulfil their tasks or responsibilities remotely, highlighting the need for technology capabilities to be accelerated,” Newman said.
“What started as an enforced work-from-home policy for some companies has now evolved into a long-term strategy for most companies, thereby accelerating digital transformation and technology adoption across nearly all industries.”
Newman said the economic outlook for South Africa and Africa remains uncertain with new Covid–19 waves anticipated, together with slow vaccine rollouts.
“However, what is certain is that with organisations running lean teams, they are looking for top talent to not only lead businesses but perform critical roles within their functions.”
Within the technology sector, the top five positions in demand are:
- Cloud computing
- Artificial intelligence and machine learning
- Data scientist
- Software development
- Cybersecurity
The most in-demand skills and experience in cloud computing include AWS, Azure, DevOps, Docker, and Kubernetes expertise.
Data analysis and insights skills and experience are also in demand as companies develop their capabilities to make more data-driven decisions.
The report stated that cybersecurity is an issue of critical importance, and companies are prioritising hiring talent with the expertise of putting safeguarding measures in place.
One major challenge for companies in the sector is a shortage of talent with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics skills.
“Increased effort needs to be undertaken to modernise and develop sustainable education programmes with an emphasis on innovation, science, and technology,” said Robyn Stainbank, managing consultant at Michael Page. Article by Jan Vermeulen
