African firms struggle to find the right candidates, says recruiter
There is no shortage of applicants in a competitive market but firms are struggling to identify real talent amid a flood of AI applications.
Finding the right candidates for open positions in Africa remains a persistent challenge for firms, according to Hilda Kabushenga, CEO of the African Talent Company. While millions of young Africans join the job market annually, recruiters are increasingly finding it difficult to identify suitable candidates for advertised roles. Despite a significant uptick in job applications, job listings have plateaued, leading hiring managers to sift through a greater volume of applications.
In Kenya, BrighterMonday has around 1.2 million jobseekers and works with approximately 70,000 employers. Jobberman, another platform operated by the African Talent Company in Nigeria and Ghana, has also observed a similar trend. More candidates are using AI to customise their résumés, applying for an increasing number of jobs, even those for which they may be poorly suited. This flood of AI-generated résumés makes it more challenging for employers to identify genuinely qualified applicants.
Employers are now introducing competency-based assessments to the recruitment process to better gauge a candidate's ability to perform the required tasks. However, employers with limited HR teams find it increasingly difficult to narrow down hundreds of applications to the few candidates they wish to interview.
To stand out in the competitive job market, jobseekers must possess soft skills such as adaptability, communication, problem-solving, and digital basics, including AI skills. However, the meaning of these soft skills may vary across industries. For instance, what soft skills mean in finance and banking may differ from those in retail, sales, or HR.
Kabushenga emphasizes that employers now expect candidates to take responsibility for developing these soft skills, a significant shift from past practices where employers would teach these skills during graduate training programmes. Ultimately, practical experience remains a strong asset for candidates, and Kabushenga encourages students and recent graduates to gain real-world work exposure through volunteering, internships, or entry-level positions.
Written by urgent.news from Africa Business's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
