South Africa is receiving Global recognition from a fashion design perspective, with a fresh new take on garments and the words “Afro-chic fashion” flying around, designers are achieving global recognition within the Fashion industry and in doing so are finding themselves in a position to outsource work to textile workers within South Africa. Where there is a boost in trade, there will be a boost in jobs bringing together designers, retailers and manufacturers in South Africa while boosting the availability of positions within this exciting industry.
Fashion Jobs on SA Job Portals:
A search across major South African Job Portals brought up 1,068 jobs for the keyword “Fashion”. While this seems to be a growing industry, the number of jobs in comparison to other sectors is still low.
CEO of one of South Africa’s leading Jobs portals mentions that while the fashion industry is still amongst one of our smallest job categories, we are noticing a considerable increase in the number of jobs being posted for candidates. Our database currently has just shy of 3,000 active job seekers registered specifically within the Fashion industry and who are currently looking for jobs in this industry specifically. That is double the amount of candidates than there are jobs available at present.
The average salaries for the jobs available for junior positions in Fashion range from Entry/Junior level R45 000 – R11 000, for Mid the range is R12 000 – R25 000and Senior R26 000 – R45 000 and Executive Level R46 000 +. These figures indicate that the Fashion industry is in line with most salary offerings.
A Leading Fashion Recruitment specialist says that the fashion industry has seen phenomenal growth in certain sectors mainly retail as many new international brands are being launched into South Africa; this has provided an increase in job opportunities within the retail sector. We have noticed in 2012 that there has been significant increase in people looking for new careers we believe this is due to the many companies in the industry halting salary increases during the recession as the industry is now starting to recover candidates are now looking for better prospects in terms of career advancement as well better financial remuneration”.
Head of Recruitment for leading brands says that candidates always have to have a minimum requirement: Diploma or Degree in the fashion Industry. Two of the best T degree’s obtained to enter into the market are from Pretoria University called a BSC Clothing or a BA Degree from LISOF”.
Leading South African Job portal went a little deeper into identifying how candidates are searching on the web, using the search terms “Jobs in Retail” and “Jobs in Fashion”
“Jobs in Fashion“
- South Africa is ranks 2nd most popular after Pakistan for this search term, followed by India and then the UK.
- Receives an average of 3,600 searches for this term per month (less than 1% of global searches for the same term)
- Jobs.co.za is ranked amongst the top 3, Google recommends placement targeting for advertisers for most relevant reach in South Africa, together with mobile apps such as Style Studio and other niche sites like Fashion.net.
- The search term started to feature in September 2007 on Google Searches in South Africa, peaking in January 2009 & 2010.
- The most searches are done from Pretoria, then Cape Town and then Johannesburg, while other cities did not feature due to insignificant search volume from those regions.
“Jobs in Retail”
- The search term “Jobs in Retail” is more popular in South African than “Jobs in Fashion”
- South Africa is ranks 4th most popular after Pakistan for this search term after the UK, India and Ireland.
- Receives an average of 5,400 searches for this term per month (1,20% of global searches for the same term)
- Started to feature in July 2007 on Google Searches in South Africa, peaking in August 2009 & 2010, and again in January 2012.
- The most searches are done from Durban, followed by Cape Town, then Pretoria and Johannesburg. Other cities do not feature due to insignificant search volume from those regions.
Tips for Recruiters creating job content for the Fashion & Retail industries
For Recruiters creating and advertising job content for the Fashion and Retail industries online, the relevant keywords (based on search volume) that they should place in their advertising copy this includes titles, headings and meta data to trigger searches- to attract relevant job seekers, or when searching CV databases to find relevant candidates include: Jobs in Retail, Jobs in Fashion, jobs fashion, fashion careers.
Tips for Job Seekers
- Include all relevant keywords (job in retail, job in fashion, fashion career)
- When searching for jobs on the major job sites, remember to use all phrases like jobs in fashion, jobs fashion, fashion careers
- Ensure that you have optimised your profile and CV for search terms that fall within the Fashion or Retail industries
Currently the textile and clothing industry employs 200 000 people, with annual sales of R20bn. Accounting for 15% of the nation’s formal employment, it is identified by the government as a key sector for economic growth. With the cultural diversity the South African nation possesses, there is no reason why the Fashion and Retail industries cannot play a bigger role in contributing towards sustainable economic growth for South Africa.
