MIE
Wednesday, 17 March 2021
The World Economic Forum predicts
that over a third of skills that are considered important today will have
changed over the next five years. According to the Future of Jobs report, two
of the top five drivers of change in South Africa over the past five years are
technology related – big data and mobile internet/cloud technology. CareerJunction’s
latest jobs index shows that the Information Technology sector in general has a
demand for skills that far outweighs the supply, which is at 50% of demand.
But what does this mean for
companies looking to hire technical skills in a highly competitive market?
“There are a number of implications for
HR professionals and the companies they work for – some are challenges, while
others are opportunities,” explains Michelle Baron-Williamson, Chief
Transformation Officer at Managed Integrity Evaluation (MIE). “One of the
biggest opportunities is for companies to focus on developing skills in-house,
and in turn, creating and growing workplace skills programmes that have the
benefit of not only adding to the general technology skills pool in the
country, but that can be tailored to the specific requirements of the
organization.”
“On the other hand, one of the big
challenges that this skills shortage presents to organisations is the risk of
hiring candidates who do not have the correct technical skills,” says
Baron-Williamson. “Candidates could either misrepresent their skills in a
demand-heavy market, or the companies themselves might not have the expertise
required to effectively evaluate the competence of these candidates. Hiring strategies
will need to change to keep up with the type of technology skills that are in
demand, especially if HR professionals have very little knowledge about these
areas of specialization themselves.”
It is imperative that companies implement
talent acquisition solutions that enable sound assessment practices to identify
the right candidates from the application pool. Making better people decisions
not only ensures that the right skills are hired into the business, but
comprehensive assessment tools can also help avoid performance issues and
unwanted behaviours in the future.
Assessing talent correctly upfront
will increase an organisation’s overall performance, align with best practice
in terms of talent acquisition, and help position the organization as an
employer of choice – a highly valued attribute, especially in the technology
space where differentiators are critical in the race to hire scarce talent.
