VACANCIES FOR GRADUATES:

WHAT ARE THE TOP JOB OPENINGS?

Career planning and deciding which vacancies for graduates are going to be more suitable is more than just the roll of a dice. The information highway makes all the relevant data easily accessible and finding employment areas where vacant graduate jobs in South Africa are available much easier.

It is prudent to understand that as the world changes, and technology with it, industry and its needs keep evolving and vacancies for graduates that were lucrative a generation ago may not necessarily be financially viable in today’s employment climate.

Finding comparisons for graduate jobs in South Africa should be on par with other first-world countries and as such, the expansion of certain business sectors has been remarkable compared to the most popular vacancies for graduates in the 1980’s.

Astonishingly, for instance, vacancies in the garment industry have seen an approximate 83% drop, the telecommunications manufacturing sector has declined by a staggering 78% and surprisingly, the coal mining industry has seen a drop of 76%.

Comparatively, the most popular vacancies for graduates in 2022 are information security analysts, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, medical and health service managers, software developers, data scientists and financial managers.

To put it bluntly, as technology has made our lives easier and changed the world, some graduate jobs in South Africa will end up becoming more redundant and graduates will have to find avenues away from these industries. Compared to the 80’s, as an example, the newspaper printing and publishing sector has declined by 56%, yet independent news media seems to be dominating current affairs coverage.

Therefore it is vital that when looking at vacancies for graduates we don’t get stuck on past preferences, but look forwards to what the new technological era requires while balancing that with the still present human need for basic services.