Share

Told to leave SA

A skilled but jobless professional is fed up after hearing endless excuses from recruiting agencies or told to leave SA. He writes:

Good day,

Your article states that South Africa is in need of skilled professionals but my problem is that finding work through agencies is made impossible, as they only see qualifications and disregard experience.

There are even agencies out there that recommend specialists to leave South Africa.

I am fortunate to be in the position where I have both qualifications and work experience. However, the greatest difficulty I have is with the recruiting agencies that either do not understand how to market skilled professionals, or just want to make a quick buck with little or no regard to a proper placement.

I have a very broad technical background in IT with 15 years' work experience, ranging from service delivery/management (ITIL) over information security (ISO, IT risk management, PCI standards and digital encryption) straight through to IT infrastructure management, with some IT project management.

For the last 2.5 years I have gone through the standard application to advertised vacancies and registration on the most popular job sites, but have not found a contact person or recruitment agency that can help me proactively market my skills to a potential employer that can make use of my skills.

Below I have listed the most typical excuses I get to hear, when I am declined for a position I have applied for:

•    Overqualified
•    Too technical (for a technical job)
•    Too senior (for a senior technical position)
•    Too management-orientated (for jobs that originally stated experience with ISO & PCIDSS)
•    Too much management experience
•    Stay in the wrong area (northern suburbs versus southern)
•    Wrong ethnic background
•    Too passionate

At the moment I am struggling with staying motivated due to the continuous rejections, and I have great doubts about my future here in South Africa.

- Fin24



*Have you been struggling to find work? Tell us your story and get published.







 
We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()
Rand - Dollar
18.90
+0.2%
Rand - Pound
23.86
+0.2%
Rand - Euro
20.36
+0.3%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.31
+0.3%
Rand - Yen
0.12
+0.2%
Platinum
908.05
0.0%
Palladium
1,014.94
0.0%
Gold
2,232.75
-0.0%
Silver
24.95
-0.1%
Brent Crude
87.00
+1.8%
Top 40
68,346
0.0%
All Share
74,536
0.0%
Resource 10
57,251
0.0%
Industrial 25
103,936
0.0%
Financial 15
16,502
0.0%
All JSE data delayed by at least 15 minutes Iress logo
Company Snapshot
Editorial feedback and complaints

Contact the public editor with feedback for our journalists, complaints, queries or suggestions about articles on News24.

LEARN MORE
Government tenders

Find public sector tender opportunities in South Africa here.

Government tenders
This portal provides access to information on all tenders made by all public sector organisations in all spheres of government.
Browse tenders