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South Africa: Paracon Joins Chorus of Discontent At Skills Exit
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Business Day (Johannesburg)
COLUMN
14 May 2008
Posted to the web 14 May 2008
Johannesburg
TECHNOLOGY group Paracon is leading the chorus of complaints about the shortage of skilled technicians in SA.
The shortage, which is stifling growth in the IT sector, is also fuelling demand for Paracon's staff placement services, and it enjoyed a 24% increase in attributable profits from R30,5m to R37,8m for the six months to end-March .
Paracon's resourcing division now contributes 85% of total revenue -- and the vast majority of its profit.
Yet Paracon is not entirely happy. The shortage carries a downside, too, as Paracon itself struggles to recruit enough technicians to meet the staffing needs of its clients.
It has been importing Indian technicians for months, but CEO Mark Jurgens says the supply of suitably skilled local people is a challenging constraint. He cites the rising number of skilled South Africans who are emigrating as another significant concern.
Paracon, to its credit, is doing more than just bringing in foreigners. It is growing the local skills pool by supporting industry training initiatives and by running its own black graduate training programme. The programme helps candidates gain work experience and allows Paracon to select the best and offer them full-time jobs.
Paracon is slightly protected by its IT worker database -- it claims to have the largest database in SA. This simplifies hiring new recruits because they want to work for the market leader, Jurgens says.
So Paracon's profit have been rising nicely. Yet Paracon itself -- along with the rest of the IT industry and companies with their own in-house IT departments -- would fare far better if educational institutes were not so clearly failing to train students in the skills that SA needs.
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The Bottom Line is Edited By Edward West
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