...but it's not the best time for top management positions
WORDS LIKE mergers, strategic alliances, rationalisation, cost-cutting, leaning and meaning - call it what you like - are becoming the order of the day in the freight industry as SA's economy hits the wobbles.
This should - in a market rather short of trained and experienced staff - see the happy circumstance of a supply of skilled personnel becoming available to meet this demand.
But it could also mean a lot of people struggling to find replacement jobs in a shrinking market.
So FTW asked three of the country's freight personnel agencies: What are the job market conditions of the moment?
LOTS OF jobs coming in, according to Lee Botti, of Lee Botti & Associates. But still a great difficulty in getting quality people to fill the holes. However, said Botti, the company cut-backs should release people, and make this easier.
All the Botti offices report lots of job specs and enquiries coming in. But this is a fairly normal New-Year trend, Botti said.
With the retrenchments taking place, it's probably coinciding with the best time in the job market for positions available.
BUSY SINCE the beginning of January, according to
Joan Cheetham, director
of Professional Freight Recruitment.
There have certainly been more people available, she said. We certainly went through a bit of a shortage of positions.
But we've got some very good jobs on our books at the moment.
That's Cheetham's summary of the post Christmas bonus and merger retrenchments period of this year.
As far as the extra people becoming available through retrenching, Cheetham said: I feel we'll absorb them back into the market.
She is also placing people in Australia and the UK, for example, with foreign companies posting their vacancies in this country.
As far as the present situation goes, according to Cheetham: It's a pretty good balance of the wanters and the wanted.
ALTHOUGH IT is that changing jobs after the 13th cheque time of the year, there is an air of caution in the job-seeking wind, according to Jane (Falconer) Donaldson, of Durban-based Jane Falconer Personnel.
People are moving more carefully, she said. There are a lot of retrenchments through mergers, so they are not so keen to move.
Overall, her market is not in a good balance between wanters and wanted.
We don't have the people to fill the positions, Donaldson said. And there's a wide-range of staff needed.
ALL THREE agree: If you're a top sales person, with a proven track record in freight, you're in demand.
Sales reps are in great demand, said Donaldson, reflecting the consensus viewpoint: Companies are desperate to boost their market shares.
In operations, a controller, a clerk - all with relevant training and experience?
There are lots of good positions waiting for the right people, said Botti.
But - senior management?
The jobs for really top-notch positions are not readily available, said Donaldson.
Not the best time for management to be looking for jobs, said Botti.
I had some really good senior management positions in January - and was able to fill them almost instantly, said Cheetham. But that's not the market in general.
By Alan Peat
