Survey reveals professionals most sought by employers

Professionals in sales and marketing, ICT, accounting, and administration are the most sought after by employers this year, a new survey has revealed.

The 2017 Corporate Staffing Services job outlook survey, released on Monday, indicates that these are the jobs a majority of employers are looking to fill as they seek to grow their revenue and market presence.

The survey also noted that most employers are grappling with a high turnover and lack of skilled employees in critical income-generating positions.

Most of the employers surveyed indicated that they will not be increasing staff compensation, explaining that they believe they are paying market rates.

“Instead, they will eliminate some benefits and maintain their current compensation cost while offering lower entry [salaries] for new staff in the course of the year,” human resource consultancy firm Corporate Staffing Services CEO Perminus Wainaina said in a statement.

POLITICAL UNCERTAINTY

This being an election year, the survey also established that most employers (52.2 per cent) believe the current political climate is their biggest challenge.

The prevailing political uncertainty calls for risk management, and hence most organisations, especially in the private sector, are not expanding into new markets.

“Another 43 per cent of those surveyed mentioned low economic growth as the second biggest challenge, which is brought about by low demand for goods and services, high inflation rates and drought,” says the report.

JOB SECURITY

The Job Outlook Survey 2017: Trends, Challenges and Future Outlook, was released at a Nairobi hotel.

In attendance were officers from Corporate Staffing Services and the Institute of Human Resource Management.

The survey examined the top trends impacting today’s workforce and how organisations will be responding in the remainder of the year.

Some of the challenges employers face while recruiting staff include too many applicants seeking available jobs (67 per cent), followed by poor quality of candidates (56 per cent) and withdrawal from accepted job offers (40 per cent).

The report recommends to public and private organisations to focus on offering job security, retaining top talent, cultivating transparency and ensuring employees feel like partners in their workplaces.