'Skilled staff still in short supply'

Great opportunities are there for the taking for staff with the right skills set. Individuals with sound customs knowledge and experience, those with food and wine export experience, and sales executives who can substantially boost the industry’s bottom line are still in short supply, according to Kim Botti, director at Lee Botti & Associates. “With the substantial changes in customs processes, those individuals who can close the knowledge and experience gap are highly sought-after,” she told FTW. “We’ve also seen a lot of job opportunities for the food and wine industry coming through our Cape Town office. And with companies feeling the economic pinch and having to focus on bringing in new business, sales executives are in high demand.” Botti says that as companies focus on keeping expenses down, there has been a decrease in training programmes previously provided. When recruiting, organisations seek qualified and skilled staff to jump into the role right away. “Clients still want candidates with working experience and not just a formal qualification, which is why we continue to emphasise the importance of candidates doing at least six months of in-service training at a company to complement their studies.” The knock-on effects of the world-wide recession are slowly creeping up on the South African job market now, but there are still opportunities to be had for highly skilled staff, she added. “We have seen many changes in the freight and shipping industry this year. This includes a number of acquisitions which seem to have resulted in an overcount of heads for various organisations, causing a shift in staff internally – or further retrenchments – as companies try to save costs.” Botti has also seen a drop in the number of vacancies which seems to be attributed to natural attrition within companies. CAPTION Bridging the skills gap... Kim Botti