Investing in engineering skills for SA’s future
S outh African companies are being called upon to become more innovative and proactive in countering the country’s acute skills shortage - a strategy that lends itself to a fresh approach to their recruitment. This is particularly so in the engineering environment, where there are simply not enough experienced engineers to meet the growing demand. According to the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA), some 300 engineers leave the country annually as South Africa competes with countries such as China, Germany and Canada, where engineering skills are recognised as a strategic resource in the overall skills mix.
Currently South Africa has one engineer for every 3 100 people, compared to Germany, with one engineer for every 200. South Africa needs to produce ten times more engineers to compete favourably with these developed economies. Says Hillary Myburgh, Head of Engineering, DAV Professional Placement Group: “In a market where skills are at a premium, all business players and stakeholders have a shared responsibility to up-skill people and to help plug the skills gap. Taking on engineering graduates is one of the ways that companies can address this.” Traditionally in South Africa, companies have generally been reluctant to employ engineering graduates. “It’s a ‘catch-22’ situation,” Myburgh points out. “Everybody wants to employ people with experience, but few are willing to accept responsibility for up-skilling them.” Adds Senior Engineering Team Leader with DAV, Diane Gotthardt: “Many graduates have spent up to four years studying towards an engineering degree and up to a year later are still unemployed. We are consulting closely with our clients in a bid to find a new approach to avoiding the ‘brain drain’ of graduates going abroad, where their strategic skills are valued and appreciated.” “It’s a global playing field and we have so few qualified engineers in South Africa that we need to pull out all the stops to attract and retain them in this country.”
O ne part of the solution, in DAV’s view, is for companies to take on semi-retired or retired people possibly at a consulting and mentoring level – to bridge the gap between the shortage of experienced engineers and those who are just starting out in their careers. We are advising our clients to take a more flexible approach by accepting that they are not always going to be able to ‘tick’ all the boxes on their job description list. “They should be looking to take on the scarce and strategic skills possessed by brilliant young minds who have the potential to bring long-term benefits
to their companies – then delegate someone within the organisation to hone their skills and to make these graduates business-savvy. The older generation could play an important role in this bridging process”. Companies need to portray themselves as competing for these skills. They need to act decisively and move quickly in the recruitment process, making candidates feel wanted. For their part, graduates need to indicate upfront that they are keen and committed to work hard and to further develop their skills and business acumen, in what could be a win-win situation for both parties.
B y going this more flexible route, we will be better able to retain our engineers and have a constant pipeline of good quality engineers coming into the system.” Another barrier to the employment prospects of engineering graduates is that clients, trying to improve their empowerment scorecard, may keep a position open for several months, in the hope of finding the appropriate person. However, ECSA says there are approximately 34 000 registered professionals on their database of whom only 12% are black. Notes Gotthardt: “In a country that is trying to be competitive, companies seeking people with scare skills such as engineering, need to take on graduates whenever the opportunity arises. In this manner, we acknowledge reality and try to achieve a practical solution making use of the best available resources – the young and old, the skilled and those who are still acquiring skills.” Notes Myburgh: “Young people of today’s generation have a different set of values. When recruiting young people, companies need to be flexible in both their recruiting approach as well as their management styles”.
W orking for a number of different companies to gain experience and know-how is no longer considered a ‘job-hopping’ negative. Two years with the same company on a CV is perfectly acceptable today. “Flexitime and technology are in – the conservative tick-box approach is out”. “Graduates are the leaders of the future and we won’t be able to retain them if we are not providing flexible options.”