10 critical skills which are hard to source locally

Young people who are planning their careers are often advised to find out which critical skills are hard to source locally when they choose a career. A new survey has now indicated which 10 skills are the hardest to find in South Africa.

Stakeholders most often use the Xpatweb 2020-21 Critical Skills Survey Report to influence policies around critical skills and the import of foreign professionals,” says Marisa Jacobs, MD of Xpatweb.

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The Top 10

According to 18% of participants, engineers are hard to find, followed by ICT specialists (13%), foreign language speakers (10%), media and marketing specialists (9%), artisans (8%), C-suite executives (7%), senior financial executives (6%), healthcare specialists (5%), science professionals (4%) and accounting professionals (1%).

Media and marketing specialists

Jacobs says the increasing urgency for media and marketing specialists is probably due to digital advances, the social media marketing explosion and the growing sophistication of the marketing profession itself.

Corporate general managers

While participants were concerned that the exclusion of corporate general managers from the National Critical Skills List will impact their search for executives with international experience, Jacobs says it was anticipated that the term would be replaced with specific titles, such as CEO or CFO to avoid abuse but so far this does not seem to be the case.

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Business impact

A total of 77% organisations reported they struggle to source critical skills in South Africa for local and cross-border operations, while 76% indicated that an international search would help them meet their objectives.

In addition, 92% of the participants indicated that missing critical skills have an impact on stakeholders in their organisation, with the gaps typically associated with these top 10 critical skills.

Bringing in foreign executives

Organisations can still bring in foreign executives, even if their titles do not appear on the Critical Skills List, but the process takes much longer and may cause C-suite candidates to favour offers in other regions where painless migration is assured.

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Foreign employees entering South Africa on a critical skills visa must first register with a local professional body representing their industry, but 21% of the participants said they find the registration process onerous when applying for a critical skills visa.

“While many bodies enable the efficient entry of foreign talent, others need to review their requirements and processes to ease entry while maintaining their professional standards,” says Jacobs.

Skills transfer and succession planning

Although South African employers are occasionally accused of overlooking local talent in favour of foreign professionals, 81% of the participants considered succession planning and skills transfer as a priority.

“Many organisations have stopped using foreign nationals after successfully transferring their competencies and responsibilities to local employees, but the demand typically outstrips the pace of transfer,” Jacobs says.

Experience and education

She says although demand is high, employers cannot risk the integrity of their operations by hiring inexperienced employees. A total of 38% of the participants require three to five years experience, while 28% demand more than five years and 49% seek an undergraduate degree and 23% a postgraduate or honours degree.

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