by AKANI CHAUKE
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – THE South African recruitment industry needs a facelift so that barriers to work, including gender, can be effectively removed.
This is according to an information and communication technology (ICT) executive, Lindi Engelbrecht, who believes these barriers could be replaced with a system that creates more opportunities.
“A job brings a pay-cheque. But, it also brings self-respect and
dignity. It should also help to remove barriers and make the world a better place one job at a time,” she said.
Engelbrecht is Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Digger, the online recruitment marketplace which won the Best Enterprise Solution at the 2020 MTN Business App of the Year Awards.
She said technology was enabling recruitment to become a process where biases can be actively counteracted.
Also, using the tools available means that an HR practitioner can avoid the temptation to favour applicants by rating them higher than others because they attended a prestigious university or school.
“Although recruiters know that this approach may not be to the company’s long-term benefit and can result in the best candidates being ignored, old habits die hard, especially where the alternative is sifting through hundreds of CVs,” said Engelbrecht.
She added getting the right talent in place was essential in South Africa where there could be up to 10 000 applications for a job.
“Often job seekers are split more or less equally along gender lines,” according to Engelbrecht.
The 2021 MTN Business App of the Year Awards would meanwhile see one winner walking away with R1 million (US$65 958).
“It is by bringing change to marketplaces, updating corporate practices and meeting challenges such as maximising South Africa’s skilled talent pool that the MTN Business App of the Year Awards have served the nation for ten years,” said Kholo Magagane, Head of Marketing, MTN Business.
– CAJ News