Did you say “Skills Shortage in Foreign Language Speaking Africa”?

Did I hear you say “there is a skills shortage in foreign language speaking Africa”? Please tell me where. Is it in the Francophone, Portuguese or Spanish-speaking countries of Africa? Or did you refer to the Indian Ocean Islands? I am trying to understand your pain. Please do not get me wrong. I am not trying to ignore all your attempts to locate those desired hard-to-find top talent your company has been looking for through job postings on the best job boards, etc. You might have tried several local agencies and internationally known search boutiques, etc.

You must be convinced now that it is a skills shortage problem. What if it is not? Let me open a new angle that you may know, but have not really come to consider it as a potential limitation to your ability to attract and to identify that hidden top talent your organisation needs to get to your promise land.

I have read so much of what has been written about skills shortage, education and skills mismatch where research found out that young people in Africa need more comprehensive education that responds to labour market needs. One aspect I have observed most companies miss or refuse to implement is the fact that recruiting internationally requires that the language element be taken seriously. For example, the talent pool in Angola or Mozambique is predominantly Portuguese-speaking, out-numbering the minority that speak both English and Portuguese. it may not exactly be the same in Senegal or Morrocco where more and more people seem to speak English, but still considering both languages would give you more results to choose from. This means that an advert that is published in English will obviously reach the minority or market portion speaking English and Portuguese. What about the non-English speakers? The same thing applies to the Francophone North, West and Central African countries.

The common corporate practice in many companies is that since the language of communication is English, it is therefore the language that the must use. So when hiring in-country, the job descriptions is written and advertised in English. Which is good, but I believe that a company that wants to establish its brand should also become multi-lingual, cultural, and not just multinational.

I have worked on so many search assignments across several markets of the continent that I have had excellent successes for the simple reason that I have always advised my internal and external hiring clients on this aspect. As a result, a market mapping report that included the language element has always made a difference.

What does this mean in practice for my coleagues researchers or sourcers? this simply implies that you should conduct your search using both english search terms and search terms in the language (s) that is (are) spoken in that particular market. When you do that, there is no doubt that the results will yield great and accurate data.On the job posting side, the same principle applies. A job advert only written in English for the Gabonese talent market will only be read by candidates in Gabon that speak both English and French, and not by those that cannot speak English. What a great number of candidates being left out!

For example, if you are looking for a CFO in Senegal on LinkedIn via Google, you will miss on a lot of candidates if you only use English Keywords. Notice that my unverified results when using English search terms only give me about 368,000 results {site: linkedin.com (CFO OR “chief executive officer”) AND Senegal} (Link: https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3A+linkedin.com+%28CFO+OR+%22chief+executive+officer%22%29+AND+Senegal&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8). However, if I also add to my search a version of the search terms in French, it will give me an additional of about 296,000 results {site: linkedin.com (DAF OR “directeur financier” OR “directeur administratif et financier” OR “directrice administrative et financière” OR “directrice financière”) AND Senegal}, (Link: https://www.google.com/search?q=financier%22+OR+%22directrice+administrative+et+financi%C3%A8re%22+OR+%22directrice+financi%C3%A8re%22%29+AND+Senegal&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=site:+linkedin.com+%28DAF+OR+%22directeur+financier%22+OR+%22directeur+administratif+et+financier%22+OR+%22directrice+administrative+et+financi%C3%A8re%22+OR+%22directrice+financi%C3%A8re%22%29+AND+Senegal)

In the example above, you will notice that there are names in the French search that do not necessarily display on the English search results. The reason is that candidates whose names appear on both language searches definitely speak both languages, while those that only appear on the respective searches only speak one language (French or English).

In conclusion, recruiters must always consider the language element to reduce the risk of skills-shortage problem that we all face in this present age. Your talent sourcing strategy should always consider the local languages spoken as this will give you better results.