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The Most Sought-after Job Skills in 2022
Mondo Admin / 02-12-2022 / Financial News
Almost a million matric students are writing their final exams in 2022, which means next year will once again see an influx of matriculants into the job market.
Sadly, only a lucky few will find work: StatsSA’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey, released in August 2022, indicated that the total number of unemployed youth (aged 15-34) increased by 2% (or 92,000) to 4.8 million from Q1 2022, with a noticeable increase of 7.2% (or 370,000) in the number of employed youth during the same period.
Encouragingly, recruitment activity has increased but only for skilled workers with experience: Jobs portal Career Junction, in its Employment Insights Report for October 2022, says recruitment activity has risen by 18% over the past year.
The Career Junction Employment Insights report is based on comprehensive data gathered from Saongroup South Africa, where about 5,000 of the country’s top recruiters (both agencies and employers) advertise positions to millions of registered jobseekers.
The report breaks down the most in-demand jobs per province over the past 12 months as follows:
Eastern Cape:
Admin clerks have seen the highest growth in demand, followed by tool/die-making and middle/department management.
Northern Cape:
Middle/department management was the only significant front runner in terms of fastest growing jobs in this province.
Gauteng:
Bookkeeping has seen the largest growth in demand, followed by cost and management accounting; database design/development/administration and IT project administration/management.
Limpopo:
Middle/department management was the only significant front runner in terms of fastest growing jobs in this province.
North West:
Middle/department management was the only significant front runner in terms of fastest growing jobs in this province.
Mpumalanga:
Senior management and middle/department management were the two fastest growing jobs.
Free State:
Middle/department management was the only significant front runner.
Western Cape:
Accounts payable/receivable was by far the fastest growing job in the province over the last year (70%), followed by financial/project accounting and IT project administration/management.
KwaZulu-Natal:
Account management, business development and financial/project accounting.
Lessons from this report?
Careers in finance (up 9%), information technology (up 8%) and business and management (up 5%) have seen the biggest increase in hiring activity in South Africa this year and encouragingly, there was no significant decline in hiring activity in any job sector in the past three months. Careers in design, media and arts, and marketing sectors have also seen a significant increase in demand since 2020.
Looking at recruitment per location, Gauteng still has most of South Africa’s vacancies (54%), followed by 21% of job offers from the Western Cape, 10% from KwaZulu-Natal, and the other provinces all less than 5%, while international work opportunities remain at 3%.
To ensure you’re more marketable in a tricky job market, here’s a comprehensive list of the most sought-after job skills in SA in 2022, helping you navigate your path to career success:
Top 3 paying jobs (according to Career Junction):
- Executive management/director
Median salary offers between R100,000 and R134,167 per month.
Typically, executive managers or directors are required to have at least a bachelor’s degree, but many companies prefer to hire candidates who have been educated up to master’s level, especially MBAs. Relevant coursework includes business administration, finance, accounting, marketing and management.
- Technical/ business architecture (IT)
Median salary offers between R46,500 and R83,333 per month
There are several education requirements to become a technology architect. Technology architects usually study computer science, electrical engineering or computer engineering. Sixty-five percent of technology architects hold a bachelor’s degree and 25% hold a master’s degree. Most technical architect roles require candidates to possess a bachelor’s degree in computer science, software development or business information systems. These majors and college courses provide the knowledge, skills and practice necessary to perform the tasks of a technical architect. Technical architect positions rarely require master’s degrees, but because it’s a senior-level position, a master’s degree will be a key differentiator.
- IT project administration/management (IT)
Median salary offers between R50,000 and R72,000 per month.
Academic requirements vary but in general, a bachelor's degree and experience in a software project environment are recommended for entry-level positions while a master’s degree or other optional certification, with experience in the software development life cycle, may provide opportunities for advancement. Solid knowledge of MS Excel and Jira experience, a tracking product that allows bug tracking and agile project management, are also requirements.
Four key IT skills have been highlighted as providing sustainable “employability” in the future: cloud engineering, data science, DevOps, and data engineering.
CareerJunction’s research revealed that hiring activity for cloud engineering has increased by 1071% since the first half of 2018, while data engineering saw a 516% increase in hiring activity over the same period, and DevOps and data science, while at the lower end of hiring activity for the four skills, saw demand increase by 104% and 32%, respectively.
To become a cloud engineer, a bachelor’s degree in computer science, information systems and technology, software engineering or another related field is required. Several programming languages are important skills, including Python, C++, Java and Ruby. You should also develop your understanding of mainstream cloud services, such as Apache Hadoop and Microsoft Azure, which can also be done through online coding bootcamps, courses or websites.
says executive management and change positions offered the highest salaries in South Africa. In 2022, professionals with jobs in this field yielded an average of R1.54-million per year. Further, people working in the retail, trade and craft industry earned, on average, R1.38-million annually. Average wages in financial services were R1.3-million.
The World Economic Forum says there is a global talent shortage, which has hit the highest level in 16 years. A ManpowerGroup survey for the WEF has identified the five most sought-after professions globally, including IT and data; sales and marketing; operations and logistics; manufacturing and production; and customer-facing and front office.
Critically, beyond education and experience, it has also identified soft skills that employers are increasingly looking for, such as reliability and self-discipline; resilience and adaptability; reasoning and problem-solving; creativity and originality; and critical thinking and analysis.
