South Africa’s employment rate reached an all-time high in July 2023 at 40.1 percent. While the employment rate is steadily rising, there are still plenty of South Africans (over seven million, to be more precise) who are looking for work.
As a business owner, you know how difficult it can be to find talent in South Africa, especially when you’re trying to fill a vacancy for a highly skilled position. Fortunately, this guide offers practical tips that can help, no matter what kind of company you run or what job you need to be done.
Below, you’ll discover in-depth advice on how to hire the best talent in South Africa. You’ll also learn about the greatest talent management challenges in South Africa and how to overcome them.
How to hire the best talent in South Africa
South Africa is an attractive talent hub for local business owners and international organizations. Many South Africans (77 percent) have received at least some upper-secondary or post-secondary education, making them qualified for many positions, from traditional 9-5 jobs to more flexible remote opportunities.
Regardless of your business type or the types of employees you’re looking for, the best ways to recruit job talent in South Africa strategies apply across the board. Here are some tried and true techniques that can help you figure out how to hire the best talent in South Africa.
Choose the right hiring method(s)
You can use a variety of hiring methods to connect with job seekers in South Africa, including the following:
- Post on online job boards: Use tools like GrabJobs to advertise openings and connect with people who are actively looking for work.
- Partner with the best talent agencies in South Africa: Talent agents in South Africa can help you streamline the recruiting process and assist with tasks like posting job ads, conducting interviews, and onboarding new employees.
- Share ads on social media: Advertising job openings on social media can help you reach a larger audience and connect with people who are good fits for the opening(s) at your company.
- Connect with local schools and universities: Collaborating with local schools and universities can help you reach talented young people who are eager to work and have the skills you’re looking for to advance your company.
Identify the top talent hubs
You can find talented individuals anywhere in South Africa. However, certain parts of the country are known for being top talent hubs, including the following:
- Johannesburg: Johannesburg is the top place to look for diverse talent, including those who are interested in working remotely. It’s home to multiple universities, including the University of Johannesburg and Wits University, meaning you’re more likely to connect with skilled individuals with experience in finance, business management, and economics.
- Cape Town: Cape Town is also home to universities, including the University of Cape Town, allowing you to recruit highly educated professionals with experience in business, marketing, design, and more. It’s home to a variety of creative and innovative individuals who are eager to work and develop their skills.
- Durban: Durban is another diverse city with a significant focus on logistics and trade. This city is a great place to look for professionals with experience in logistics, supply chain management, and shipping.
Understand South Africa’s work style and culture
This tip is especially important for international employers interested in hiring South African workers. Here are some important factors to keep in mind when recruiting, hiring, and working with South Africans:
- The country’s work culture values direct communication
- Employees also value meaningful conversations that cover topics beyond those directly related to work topics
- The concept of “Ubuntu,” which emphasizes interconnectedness and mutual support, is a priority
- South Africans value work-life balance
- South Africans also have a strong sense of responsibility and education to their work; this is rooted in the “Boere-sport” philosophy, which comes from agriculture and emphasizes the importance of commitment
Consider language diversity
There are 11 official languages in South Africa:
- English
- Afrikaans
- isiZulu
- isiXhosa
- isiNdebele
Setswana
- Sepedi
- Sesotho
- Siswati
- Tshivenda
- Xitsonga
English, isiXhosa, isiZulu, and Afrikaans are the most widely spoken languages. To ensure that a variety of job seekers can read your job ads and be considered for open positions at your company, post ads in multiple languages. It also helps to have a translator around during interviews to ensure everyone understands each other.
Offer a flexible schedule
Because South Africans value work-life balance, it helps to offer a flexible schedule when you’re trying to attract the best talent.
The standard work week is Monday through Friday, 45 hours total. However, that doesn’t mean your employees necessarily have to be at their computers every day from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Whether you’re hiring for a remote or in-person position, look for ways to incorporate more flexibility, such as allowing people to work from home on certain days, allowing them to set their own schedule, etc.
Meet South Africa’s salary requirements
It’s much easier to attract talented professionals when you offer a competitive salary. In 2020, the country increased its minimum wage to 20.76 South African Rands per hour (28,026 Rands per month or 336,312 Rands per month).
Depending on the position you’re trying to fill, you’ll need to make sure you’re offering a fair salary that aligns with industry standards. If you’re not paying enough, you’ll find that it’s harder to attract and retain the right people for your company.
Consider using an EOR
If you run an international company, you may want to use an Employer of Record (EOR) to simplify the process.
An EOR is a third-party company that hires employees on another’s behalf. They take over employer-related responsibilities like contracts, payroll, taxes, and insurance. They also allow foreign companies to be legally compliant and pay foreign employees without having to set up a new office in that specific location.
Remember that the South African government strictly enforces labor laws. If they discover that you’re violating the country’s laws (even accidentally) you could face severe penalties and interruptions to your business.
An EOR reduces the risk of these challenges and helps you speed up the hiring process so you can keep your business running as productively as possible.
What are the biggest challenges in finding talent?
Even if you use every tactic and trick in the book, you might still run into some obstacles when learning how to hire the best talent in South Africa.
Here are some of the most common challenges employers and talent agencies in South Africa run into (with tips on how to combat them):
Skill shortages
One of the primary reasons why employers and talent management companies in South Africa struggle with hiring is the country’s many skill shortages. The following are some of the most pervasive shortages affecting South African employers:
- Software development
- Programming
- Data science
- ICT Systems analysis
- Market research analysis
- Actuarial science
- Investment analysis
- Tax preparation/filing
- External auditing
- Nursing
- Multimedia design
- Business development
- Civil engineering
Secondary schools and universities can play a key role in helping to fill vacancies in these fields by providing more training and encouraging students to pursue specific subjects. Employers can also prioritize upskilling and reskilling to help existing employees gain the skills they need to excel in their careers.
Job hopping
Job hopping is another challenge that prevents employers from retaining talent after going through the hiring process.
A mere 17 percent of South Africans are satisfied with their current financial situation. If an employee learns about a higher-paying position at another company, they often do not think twice about applying for that job and switching employers to earn a higher salary.
Offering higher starting salaries — and providing more opportunities for raises throughout employees’ careers — can help to prevent job hopping. It also helps employers attract more talented individuals right from the start.
Assessment issues
In some cases, a candidate looks great on paper and comes across as very charming during the interview. They land the job, and it’s only when they start doing the work that the employer realizes they’ve made a mistake.
In these situations, thorough and research-backed assessments could come in very handy. If employers use the appropriate assessments to learn about candidates’ interpersonal skills, personality traits, work style, etc., they’ll be more likely to make the correct choice the first time around.
Ideally, a hiring assessment will look at the following:
- Cognitive abilities
- Strategic thinking skills
- Subject-area knowledge
- Confidence
- Problem-solving abilities
- Leadership skills
- Agreeableness
- Organizational skills
- Helpfulness
- Analytical skills
- Risk-aversiveness
- Productivity
- People skills
- Reliability
- Positivity
- Empathy
- Collaboration skills
Look for screenings that take at least the majority of these factors into account to ensure you’re hiring the best fit for each open position.
Poor cultural fit
South Africans, generally, value collaboration and working together. If you hire someone who isn’t a good culture fit and doesn’t mesh well with the rest of your team, that can lead to problems with productivity and profitability long term.
What does it mean to be a good culture fit?
Culture fit involves screening candidates to understand their potential cultural impact on the company. This screening is typically based on how well the candidate aligns with the company’s values and beliefs.
How can talent agents in South Africa determine if someone is a good cultural fit? Here are some tips that can help:
- Involve other employees in the interview process to see how well the candidate gets along with them.
- Review the company’s values and mission before each interview.
- Consider how well the candidate’s answers align with your company’s values.
- Ask the candidate to share what they know about the company’s culture.
- Ask about the candidate’s long-term goals and what they’re passionate about.
Keeping these factors in mind can help employers and talent agencies in South Africa ensure they’re choosing the right fit the first time (and reduce the likelihood that the person will job-hop or need to be let go soon after being hired).
Lack of time
Many employers struggle with hiring the best talent in South Africa because they simply don’t have the time needed to dedicate to job posting, interviewing, screening, etc.
In these cases, partnering with the best talent agencies in South Africa can help.
A talent agency will do much of the heavy lifting for you, from helping you write job ads and coordinate interviews to vetting candidates and assisting with the onboarding process.
If possible, look for a talent agency that specializes in helping companies like yours find employees. They will have a better understanding of what you need and can help you choose the right match.
Inconsistent hiring processes
Inconsistent hiring processes, or a lack of processes and protocols altogether, can make it even harder for employers to select the best candidate for the job.
If you wing it and take a different approach every time you’re hiring a new employee, you’ll struggle to continuously bring on the most qualified professionals (not to mention people who are good culture fits).
Take some time to create a standardized hiring process, from a format you use to write job descriptions to a list of essential interview questions every candidate gets asked.
This is another place where a talent agent can come in handy. They can help you develop clear and detailed processes that are easy to replicate.
Find talent in South Africa today
Figuring out how to hire the best talent in South Africa can be tricky. However, if you follow the guidelines shared above, you’ll be better prepared to navigate talent management challenges in South Africa, choose the best talent management companies in South Africa, and find the best candidates.
Remember the importance of proactivity when attracting and retaining top-tier candidates, too. Start refining your hiring strategy now — with the tips discussed in this guide — instead of waiting until you’re desperate to find new employees.
Are you looking for more advice on the best ways to recruit job talent in South Africa? If so, visit the GrabJobs resource library today. We offer lots of guides on job listings, interviewing, onboarding, and more!
