The interview went well. Really well. They smiled. They nodded. Someone said: โWeโll be in touch by Friday.โ Friday comes and goes. Then another week. Then another. Six weeks later, an email finally arrives: โ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ.โ No real explanation. No feedback. No indication of what changed. Just a door quietly closing while the candidate is left wondering whether they did something wrong. This happens far too often in recruitment. And although the candidate feels the cost first, they are not the only one paying it. ๐ฆ๐ถ๐น๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ณ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ถ๐ฒ๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฒ – ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐,…
I sat with a candidate last week whose CV said BSc Computer Science, 2023.Good marks. Strong project list. I was already thinking about which client to put him in front of.Then I asked when he graduated.He hadn’t. One module outstanding, had to put it on hold due to financial constraints.He’s not a bad candidate. He might still get the job. But that gap between what his CV said and what was true nearly cost him the conversation before it started.I’ve been seeing more of this lately. Not one dramatic case. A pattern. A completed qualification that isn’t quite completed. A…
You hand in your notice. Within the hour, you’re in a room with your manager and a number you’ve never seen on your payslip before.Suddenly you matter. Suddenly the budget exists.It feels like a win. Mostly, it isn’t.Let’s talk about counter offers properly… what they really are, why they get made, and what both sides get wrong about them.๐๐ข๐ฅ ๐๐๐ก๐๐๐๐๐ง๐๐ฆ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ถ๐ ๐ณ๐น๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ด. ๐ง๐ต๐ฎ๐’๐ ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐น๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ๐บ.It feels like proof you’re valued. What it’s actually proof of is that the company can move fast when it’s about to lose you. Ask yourself why that speed wasn’t available at your last…
Tech Interview Advice for South African IT Job Seekers (2026) Your CV gets you the interview. Your interview gets you the job. If youโre preparing for a tech interview in South Africa, the right preparation can make the difference between receiving an offer and missing out on an opportunity that could change your career.Every week, I interview software developers, DevOps engineers, QA specialists, cloud engineers, business analysts, project managers, data professionals and technology leaders. Over the years, Iโve interviewed thousands of IT professionals, and the same patterns appear time and time again.The candidates who receive offers arenโt always the ones…
Dear Job Seekers and Hiring Managers, I recently interviewed a candidate for a mid-level developer role. Strong CV. Clean layout. Good experience on paper. About ten minutes in, I asked him about a specific technology he’d listed under skills. He hesitated. I asked a follow-up question. He hesitated again. So, I dug a little deeper. Eventually, he admitted he’d never actually worked with it. He’d seen it used by colleagues. Read about it.Watched it in action. But never built anything with it himself. Then he said something that stayed with me long after the call ended. “I honestly didn’t think you’d notice.” And if I’d sent him…
Dear Job Seekers (and Hiring Managers),You know the feeling.Sunday evening rolls around and your stomach tightens a little.Youโre not miserable exactly. But youโre not excited either.Youโve been in the role for a while. The work is fine. The money is okay. Your colleagues are decent enough.But something is missing. And you canโt quite put your finger on what.So you stay. Because leaving feels risky. Because the market is uncertain. Because better the devil you know.And another year passes.So how do you know when itโs time to leave your job, and when itโs actually worth staying?Knowing when to stay and when…
Dear Job Seekers (and Hiring Managers),You’ve updated your CV.You’ve fixed your LinkedIn profile.You’re applying to every relevant role you can find on PNet, LinkedIn Jobs, and indeed.And you’re hearing nothing.Wellโฆ the job you’re perfect for may never appear on any of those platforms.It was filled quietly. Through a conversation at an industry event. Through a recruiter who already knew the right person. Through a WhatsApp message to someone in the right network.This is the hidden job market. And in South African IT, it is enormous.Today, we pull back the curtain on how it works – and how you get access…
Dear Job Seekers (and Hiring Managers), A recruiter finds a great-looking CV. They open LinkedIn to learn more about the candidate. The profile photo is a blurry selfie from a braai. The headline says “Open to work.” The summary is blank. The last update was 2021. The CV goes in the maybe pile. Someone else gets the call. This happens every single day. Your LinkedIn profile is no longer just a nice-to-have. For anyone in tech, it is the first place a recruiter looks – sometimes before they even see your CV. If it’s not working for you, it’s working…
Dear Job Seekers (and Hiring Managers),You spend months applying for jobs.Nothing.No calls. No interviews. Just silence.You tweak the subject line of your email. You apply to more roles. Still nothing.Here’s the hard truth: it’s probably your CV.Not because you’re unqualified. Not because you’re a bad candidate.Because your CV is doing you no favours – and you don’t even know it.Today, we fix that.The Brutal Reality of CV ScreeningRecruiters spend an average of 7 seconds on a CV before deciding yes or no.Seven. Seconds.That’s not long enough to read. It’s a scan. A glance. A gut feel.And in those 7 seconds,…
2025 forced us to rethink how we hire in South Africa. AI crept into our processes, remote work matured unevenly across industries, and salary transparency arrived whether we were ready or not. And 2026 will ask even more of us. What shifted in 2025 AI moved from curiosity to capability Most SA companies are still experimenting rather than automating entire pipelines, but even basic AI screening saved hours. We also learnt that tech can speed the early stages, but it still canโt replace judgement, nuance or understanding of local context. Remote and hybrid changed shape Some teams went fully remote,…