Finance

International companies are recruiting South Africans for these jobs

Luke Fraser

 ·8 Feb 2024

South African workers are increasingly being recruited by international employers, with information technology (IT) and finance professionals making the leap.

This is according to the latest Pnet Jobs Market Report for Q4 2024, which noted that the local job market experienced the same level of hiring over the last two (from Q4 2021 to Q4 2023), even if there was a quarter-on-quarter drop in Q4 2023 due to the decrease in hiring activity in December.

International recruitment, however, picked up in 2023, with Pnet highlighting a substantial increase in the hiring of IT and Finance professionals:

This creates a problem for the local job market, as Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) – widely used in the finance sector – and IT skills are desperately needed in the country.

Last July, numerous businesses in South Africa, including those in the banking, automobile and retail sectors, told BusinessTech that they are desperately short of these skills due to inefficiencies in the country’s education system.

“Public institutions of higher learning (which are the most affordable option for the majority of school leavers) are not currently able to provide the level of IT skills we require,” Dr Thuli Tabudi, National Human Resources Executive at the SPAR Group, said.

“Private IT institutions are extremely costly and not accessible to many learners/employees, hence there is very little opportunity for previously disadvantaged individuals to access the field.”

These skills are not only in short supply but South Africans with these skills are getting poached by international firms due to global shortages.

Ayn Brown, the Tymebank Chief People Officer, said that emigration and the higher salaries offered by larger international corporates make it difficult for the company to keep these skills and entice new talent.

Discovery Vitality also noted that it is losing professionals to emigration due to the global demand for these skills sets.

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Despite the pull of international employers, Pnet’s report showed that people working in Finance and IT professionals can earn relatively high salaries in South Africa.

In the IT sphere, South Africans can earn between R20,000 and R75,000 per month, while those in the finance sector can earn between R15,000 to R50,891 per month:

IT

Finance

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