Have you ever considered what skills your business is going to need in three- or five-years’ time to still remain relevant? This is a question we have to keep asking ourselves, because when it comes to recruiting the right people, the answer to this is what we all need to be working towards on a daily basis.
In today’s Covid-affected workplace, businesses are facing unprecedented changes to the way people work, both inside and outside their organisations. Ongoing factors like the South African ‘brain drain’ and critical events like Covid have had a major impact on the decisions we make as business owners. One of the major crossroads we now face, for example, is how to skill the business with these showstopper changes in mind.
In the Quality Assurance space, there are four key high-level skills we’re after: Cloud engineering, automation engineering, security awareness and full stack development. At the same time, our clients have a need in order to service a broader stack of technologies by using efficiencies and being Agile.
We as IT service providers provide the skills, to assist organisations in finding skillful software QA engineers that can apply technology to shape their QA services. We also have to make use of new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, automation and robotics in order to deliver the services our clients need.
Because things are changing so fast and so much, we also have to change the way we recruit people. A lot of the skills we need are new, there’s no formal qualifications or certifications for the roles we’re defining today. There’s no AI engineer, for example. So, we have to adapt and change our talent acquisition processes.
It’s no longer about interviewing from a CV, but rather harnessing personal aptitude and relationships. Almost the entire process we used to follow has evaporated. Where we used to have panel interviews and assessments, we now factor in referrals, experience, trust and fit-for-purpose. It’s this personal element – the fit within the organisations – that determines how we recruit.
Because recruitment is not our core business, we also need to partner with specialist organisations that seek out and actively develop grassroots talent. Organisations like 4IR 4HER are constantly looking at which new technologies will infiltrate and take hold, which will be relevant in the coming years, and are already grooming the necessary skills to service our future needs.
The combination of inward-looking recruitment transformation and external partnerships are the key to driving future growth in an industry where the future is our everyday reality.
About Nadine
Nadine Du Toit is an innovative leader with extensive IT experience in South Africa and globally across all major industries. Her key role at Inspired Testing is Chief Services and Innovation Officer. A member of Inspired Testing’s Executive Committee, Nadine is also responsible for global innovation strategy, ensuring clients have access to the business technology innovations most aligned to their industry needs.
