Over Supplied and Under Skilled Workforce in South Africa

The typical environment that many corporates encounter when recruiting in large volumes is that there is an oversupply of unskilled labour lacking in the most basic of skills. Sifting through and filling potential bulk employment positions is time consuming and expensive.

In a recent news report, approximately 10 000 people waited in a two kilometre queue for a learnership opportunity that they (mistakenly) thought may get them employed. This was for 30 fire fighting learnership positions. In this situation there were about 333 applicants for each position. Situations like these are tense and have the potential to turn violent, but these scenarios can be avoided through the use of effective recruitment systems that are available in South Africa.

?This is not an uncommon trend in South Africa, and we see it every day,? says Errol Freeman, MD of Lulaway, ?while it may sound good to employers to have this large pool of workers to choose from, getting the correct people for the required job at hand is a costly and extremely manual and time consuming process.?

Saul Lever, Group HR manager at Dis-Chem agrees that there are too many job seekers that do not even have the most basic of skills and one of the key factors currently hindering growth is the inability to provide foundational work experience to the unemployed youth. Combining this is a lack of suitable screening of the mass audience, therefore too much of the selection team or HR?s time is taken up on basic screening compared to focusing on a character fit for the role.

Dis-Chem is an early adopter of the Lulaway staff recruitment system and has been using it for just over 6 months. To date approximately 60 new staff have been employed and Dis-chem are enjoying the benefits of having a higher calibre quality employee as part of their workforce.

?The reason that we started using this type of recruitment system is its ability to make contact with the target audience close to their major transport hubs and in addition, it provides a screening platform suitable for us to review viable candidates. We are able to make contact with potential, and importantly, screened employees via SMS. This not only saves us time, but saves the prospective employees travelling costs.

Because the system is user friendly through the web based portal, we will be developing our manager?s ability to utilise the system for operational positions within the group,? says Saul.

The Lulaway system takes the efficient internet job-board to the next level by creating a virtual platform with job-centre networks on the ground. Job-seekers visit centres located in their near vicinity where consultants will construct a CV, scan relevant documentation and take photographs. Applicants are put through rigorous screening and testing, designed to test skills, knowledge, aptitude and corporate fit. These tests can be generic or individually customised.

Source: http://www.gbn.co.za/articles/dailynews/3244/0.html

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