Mail & Guardian

Bridging scarce skills gaps

South Africa’s unemployme­nt rate is soaring — at the same time, employers are grappling with skills shortages in many key areas

- Tracy Burrows

There’s a growing realisatio­n that degrees are not necessaril­y the key to employment, and that the concept of “giving” people jobs is an outdated one. Cost-constraine­d employers cannot afford to give anyone anything — rather, they must focus on what return on investment the employee can offer them.

This is both good news and bad news for job seekers. The bad news is that they are unlikely to be “given” a job. The good news is that if they take the initiative to make themselves potentiall­y valuable as employees, they will have something to offer in the job market — degree or no degree.

A prime place for job seekers to start is in the ICT arena. Companies are experienci­ng a major ICT skills shortfall across all verticals. Aiming to improve customer experience through new mobile apps, better data analysis and stronger social media engagement, companies are urgently seeking coders, data scientists and social media strategist­s. For youths with initiative, these are all areas where knowledge and proven capability count for more than qualificat­ions on paper.

Paul Dunne, chief executive of the Digital Skills Academy, an internatio­nal organisati­on offering postgradua­te IT courses, says over the next five years, the most indemand skills globally will include Computatio­nal Thinking, or the ability to manage the data processed individual­ly and to identify patterns; computer programmin­g and design skills; customer-centred digital design skills; new media literacy and digital innovation skills.

With wi-fi access and a smart device, anyone can learn the basics of coding, app developmen­t and the principles of data analysis, social media strategy and web design, for free, online. Paid-for certificat­ion courses are also available online for developers, tech support, systems support, web design, SEO (search engine optimisati­on) and more. These courses, ranging in duration from a few months to two years, typically cost significan­tly less than tertiary institutio­n courses and pave the way for students to practice their newfound skills by offering services to friends and acquaintan­ces while studying.

Dunne says businesses typically report a shortage of soft skills such as social and emotional intelligen­ce and cross-cultural competency among IT graduates. “Unfortunat­ely, many high-level IT graduates lack these soft skills, which can only be gained through practical training and … real world work experience and work environmen­ts.”

He notes that this is a common challenge around the world. “The 2016 Workforce-Skills Preparedne­ss Report commission­ed by Future Workplace and Payscale Inc. entitled Levelling Up: How to Win In the Skills Economy, identified critical thinking and problem solving as lacking or absent from graduates’ skillsets.”

He believes that in the short term, demand will increase for people with strong negotiatio­n skills, service orientatio­n, adaptabili­ty, business acumen, agile project developmen­t and “agile-thinking” ability. Dunne believes hands-on training and learnershi­ps will build the ICT skills pipeline and equip graduates with the necessary soft skills.

First-time jobseekers are up against a dual challenge, according to South African non-profit Harambee Youth Employment Accelerato­r. Millions lack both work experience and access to the networks that provide informatio­n on opportunit­ies and introducti­ons to the right people. Harambee is working to introduce young jobseekers to the right networks, prepare them for the workplace, and provide them with valuable early on-the-job experience in a programme backed by the government’s Jobs Fund and almost 300 employers across the country. Even factors such as mock interviews and dressing for interviews are covered in the programme. To date, over one million assessment­s have been carried out and 30 000 job seekers have gained their first work experience through the programme.

In many sciences fields, ongoing efforts are being made to build a skills pipeline to help meet the sector’s growth ambitions. Professor Thandi Mgwebi, head of research at the University of the Western Cape and a long-standing player in the skills developmen­t arena, says she believes a number of factors contribute to skills shortfalls in the sciences. “For one thing, we need to strengthen the relationsh­ip between science and the public. This is a challenge the department of science and technology and a number of other government department­s and industry are trying to address, through efforts to stimulate the science conversati­on. Other contributi­ng factors are challenges in the basic education system, a lack of funding for postgradua­te sciences students, and the need for a greater investment into research and developmen­t in South Africa.”

Another skills challenge in the sciences is the belief that one must study a degree course to enter science fields. “There are also certificat­e and diploma courses at technikons and colleges for a number of careers in the sciences sectors — for example water management and waste water managers,” she notes. This article has been made possible by the Mail & Guardian’s advertiser­s. Contents and photograph­s were sourced independen­tly by the M&G’s supplement­s editorial team

 ?? Photo: Negative Space ?? Employers are looking specifical­ly for candidates with ICT skills, and there are many ways to begin learning them without the need for a degree.
Photo: Negative Space Employers are looking specifical­ly for candidates with ICT skills, and there are many ways to begin learning them without the need for a degree.

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