With China, India’s economies expected to grow 8%-9% will they come after our skills?

JOHANNESBURG - With the recession over, is the war for South African talent back? Both China and India are expected to grow between 8%-9% in the current financial year, but there seems to be opposing views on the impact these two giants will have on the demand for South African talent.    

Both need skills in finance, engineering and mining.

China also wants "people who have worked around Africa", says Sam Schlimper, Mindcor's head of extraordinary minds. This should come as no surprise as China's influence on the continent is well known given its hunger for resources.

But why would it want our skills when it produces more PHDs per capita than any other country in the world?

China wants our human resources because it "needs managerial skills not research based knowledge", says Mathew McDonald, a research analyst at the Centre for Chinese Studies. Labour experts also suggest its ageing population, declining birth rates and lack of company loyalty amongst its young graduates could increase its thirst for talent.

However, McDonald suggests the demand for South Africans is opportunity based and not sinister. "South Africans go to China to exploit business opportunities it's not as if the Chinese are forcing us to come".

As for India it seems the opposite holds true, Isle Killian-Ross, a director at HJK Personal, said "in my experience Indian citizens are exploring opportunities in South Africa, particularly in the IT sector". According to India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the "Indian economy will achieve over 7% growth in the current financial year and will get back to 9% growth in 2010-2011".  If Isle's correct it seems the Indian economy might be a labour exporter, in stark contrast to its giant neighbour China.

So how should South African companies deal with demand for their talent, particularly from China? Sheila Goodwin, the general manager for people at Media 24, said "it's all about managing performance and paying the top talent well, though naturally that's a lot harder during a recession."  South African companies need to plan for the inevitable with the raise of China and India comes the demand for skilled staff. It seems the Indians have an adequate human resource pool though one wonders for how long this will remain. South African companies seem prepared for the possible demand surge through their various retention strategies, but if our companies are hoping to compete on a rand for rand basis they will come off second best, China might be short on skills but they're certainly not short on dollars.

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