‘Jobs Bloodbath’ – Value your jobs people!

Driving past a busy intersection yesterday I spotted the headline on the front page of the Sunday Times (29 March 2009) – ‘Jobs Bloodbath – Up to 300 000 South Africans could lose jobs this year’. Naturally the headline piqued my interest and I immediately purchased a copy to read the rest of the article.

The article continued: “South Africa is on the brink of a jobs bloodbath. Between 200 000 to 300 000 people stand to lose their jobs this year on top of more than 112 000 who have already been laid off since November.” Wrote Rowan Philp of the Sunday Times. With over 350,000 school leavers looking for jobs, already over 47,000 employees laid off in the automotive industry and the projection of up to 50,000 job cuts predicted in the mining industry it is clear that there is cause for concern. Individuals that are most likely to be affected are those in the mining, automotive, call centre, steel, engineering, clothing and textile industries. Retrenchments are predicted to affect both white-collar and blue-collar workers alike.

According to the director-general of trade and industry, Tshediso Matona, only the pharmaceutical, chemical and agricultural processing industries are less likely to expect lay-offs this year. According to the article, the unemployment rate could be pushed up significantly – pegged at 22% by government and 40% by various research units – up roughly 3%.

As I read this article with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, I was immediately reminded of a previous article regarding Job Creation that we commented on in our blog post in October last year where Finance Minister Mr. Trevor Manual delivered his medium term budget speech on Tuesday the 21st Of October, placing emphasis on job creation and the further reduction of unemployment and poverty in South Africa. As quoted in a newspaper article published in The Star, 22 October ‘08 (by Sibusiso Ngalwa), according to Manuals reports during this speech, more funds (Approx R4.1 Billion) will be injected into the EPWP (Expanded Public Works Programme) over the next 3 years with the intention of boosting long term job creation and employment opportunities that offer sustainable and enduring promises to Job Seekers. Manuals speech further expressed that such financial backing would expect to create 155 000 long term permanent jobs per year, until 2011 which will result in a round 465 000 jobs in the next 3 years with particular focus in; Community Health Services (including home based care), Construction, Rehabilitation and Environmental Programmes (projects based employment), NGO and Community Based Organisations. Manual also suggested that further wealth will be injected into South Africa’s Employment Intensive Programmes, further boosting job creation with the objective of reaching a projected target of creating a total of 5 Million jobs by the year 2014.

Given the current economical status and the many predictions that we are heading for a deep recession, I need to wonder what the reality of the situation is. My suggestion to those currently employed is to value your jobs. Hold onto your current employment with all your might. Make sure that your attitude at work reflects one of ‘I love my job and am thankful to be here’. Arrive at work on time, give 110%, try to add value wherever you can and retain a positive attitude amongst your colleagues. In other words, do whatever it takes to prove to your employers that you value your job and want to be there and will do anything to stay employed. The old saying of ‘last in first out’ does not necessarily apply in the current situation. If companies are forced to retrench, they will rather retain those that add value and have a positive attitude and will retrench those that offer little to no value to the organisation.

If you are one of the unfortunate hard working, positive, valuable employees that are faced with retrenchment, start looking for a job immediately. Register your CV on CV databases such as Jobs.co.za and make your CV active and searchable so that companies can find you.

When you apply to jobs, make sure that you write your cover notes with careful consideration and thought rather than simply using a standard ‘Dear Sir/Madam, please find my CV for your XYZ job attached’. Highlight in your cover note where you can add value to the role that you are applying for. Show that you are dedicated, skilled and committed. Before simply attaching your default CV make sure that the CV is targeted to the specific role that you are applying for by highlighting those skills that you have that matches the job advertisement and include references wherever possible to demonstrate that you have nothing to hide.

Good luck to everyone in South Africa – whether employed or unemployed – and remember, with so many unemployed individuals in the country there is some dedicated, hard-working individual waiting in the wings to take your job in a heart beat.

So I reiterate, if you are one of the fortunate to have a job right now – value it!

Monday, March 30th, 2009 at 2:01 pm and is filed under The Employment Times. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.