Here are the most in-demand job skills in South Africa right now

26 May 2022 – Businesstech

 

Jobs portal CareerJunction has published its Employment Insights for April 2022, showing which job skills are most in-demand in South Africa right now.

The insights report replaces CareerJunction’s previous job supply and demand index, taking a more detailed look at the job sectors in the country that are currently hiring, and which positions are most sought after.

The report is based on comprehensive data gathered from the Saongroup South Africa – where around 5,000 of the country’s top recruiters (both agencies and employers) advertise their positions to millions of registered jobseekers.

Following the highly elevated levels of recruitment activity during the first quarter of the year, the number of advertised vacancies dropped slightly in April, CareerJunction said.

Despite this, recruitment activity over the past 13 months still reflects a strong hiring trend, increasing by 32% between April 2021 and April 2022, it said.

In-demand job skills

Finance, Business & Management, as well as Admin, Office & Support, have seen the biggest increase in hiring activity.

It recorded growing hiring activity in three main sectors over the last three months. In each sector, several roles have been advertised more frequently.

Admin, Office & Support +23%

• Admin clerk
• Client / Customer support
• Human resources
• Switchboard / reception

Finance +17%

• Bookkeeping
• Financial / Project accounting
• Purchasing and procurement
• Cost and management accounting

Business & Management +11%

• Middle / department management
• Senior management
• Team leader and supervisor
• Staff recruitment / selection

Declining hiring trends

Conversely, CareerJunction also tracked a drop in hiring activity in certain sectors – specifically, two positions within the IT space.

Information Technology -3%

• Software development
• IT project administration / management

“Although Information Technology continues to be the top-performing employment sector in South Africa, it’s interesting to observe that hiring activity in this area has declined by 3% in the last three months.

“This decline may be partly attributed to increased emigration as travel restrictions are relaxed as well as the growing trend of ‘digital nomads’ in the IT space,” CareerJunction said.

The career expert noted an upward trend in candidates signing up to search and apply for jobs in education training and library, manufacturing and assembly, and design, media and arts.

Sales in focus

CareerJunction highlighted sales jobs in South Africa, with this sector still showing demand for candidates. The most desired skills include:

• Representative / Sales consulting
• Account management
• Retail

The majority of sales positions are for Gauteng (60%), followed by the Western Cape (14%) and KwaZulu Natal (13%).

Although Gauteng’s demand for sales candidates outstrips demand levels in the Western Cape and KwaZulu Natal, hiring activity for candidates in KwaZulu Natal has increased the most significantly over the past two years, the careers portal said.

Salaries in the sector for select jobs include:

• Sales Management:  R37,228 – R52,459 p/m
• Sales Consulting: R16,372 – R22,096 p/m
• Sales Administration: R14,191 – R18,394 p/m

Demand for Warehousing & Logistics candidates has grown by about 20% in Gauteng and the Western Cape between February to April 2020 and February to April 2022. On the other hand, KwaZulu Natal has only seen a minor increase in labour demand for this sector over the past  24 months.

Marketing professionals are experiencing improved employment prospects in Gauteng, Western Cape and KwaZulu Natal compared to two years ago, CareerJunction said.

Most overall recruitment activity is happening in Gauteng (53%), followed by the Western Cape (22%) and KwaZulu Natal (10%).

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