SA’S banks top list of companies still hiring as talent war intensifies
SA’s banks top the list of companies with plans of hiring additional professional staff and managers in the next quarter as the war for talent intensifies amid a worsening skills crisis, according to a newly released global survey on hiring trends.
On the other hand, companies in troubled sectors such as manufacturing were less bullish about adding staff but were still recruiting to fill gaps, while notably companies across major sectors were not planning major staff cuts.
The survey, conducted by global recruitment agency Antal International, was based on responses made in the past two months by line and human resources managers in 20,546 companies, professional partner- ships and financial institutions in 50 countries, including SA.
Antal said despite expectations that the current survey would see an increase in recruitment rates in SA, the percentage of companies hiring at managerial or professional level had declined modestly this quarter to 50%.
On the other hand, it said job cuts remained relatively low, with firing rates standing at 18% in line with the international average, adding: “Over the coming quarter this figure is predicted to fall to a low of just 12%, indicating significant job stability for those already employed in SA for the near future.”
Although the big South African banks have been rationalising staff costs through retrenchments and natural attrition, they are nevertheless in the market for skilled staff to support their growth plans in SA and in subSaharan Africa.
Michael Jordaan, the CEO of First National Bank, said yester- day the bank was always in the market for professionals. “We are always on the lookout for skills. Specific skills needs in IT are driving new recruitment at FNB,” Mr Jordaan said.
“We continue to expand these areas aligned to our very clear focus on digital banking. Banking in next few years will become increasingly mobile, customerdriven and 24/7,” he said.
Standard Bank’s CE for business and personal banking, Peter Schlebusch, said there was a “definite” war for talent in the banking sector with qualified and skilled people in demand.
Mr Schlebusch said, without giving figures, that Standard was recruiting in selected areas where it wanted to grow its capabilities, such as social media, and other areas in which the bank wanted to improve services.
“We are recruiting people with experience in social media and apps so we can grow with our customers as they become more mobile,” Mr Schlebusch said. “We are also replacing our core banking system so we need people with project management skills and the other area is customer relationship space particularly in business banking where we want to service customers particularly (those) growing into Africa,” he said.
Antal’s MD for SA, Alan Russell, said recruitment plans by banks were not surprising given their growth plans. He said in mining and construction, there was demand for engineers.
He said the shortage of talent meant companies should not delay filling key positions as qualified people were in demand.
He gave the example of a company that delayed interviewing a candidate, who already had four job interviews lined up by the time they contacted him.