South Africa’s ICT hiring market is showing signs of recovery, with recruitment activity for IT professionals ticking upward in the final quarter of 2025.
According to the Q4 2025 Employment Insights Report by online recruitment marketplace CareerJunction, year-on-year hiring activity for IT roles increased by 3%, while quarter-on-quarter recruitment activity rose by 4%.
The report is based on empirical data sourced from The Stepstone Group − a global job tech company that runs recruitment platforms in several countries, including CareerJunction in South Africa.
Although the increase is modest, the marginal gain marks a shift after what the report describes as a “prolonged period of subdued demand” for the country’s tech talent.
The broader labour market is also stabilising, with overall vacancy volumes increasing by 4.5% year-on-year, while recruitment activity climbed 6% between Q3 and Q4 2025 on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the report.
“Over a two-year period (Q4 2023 to Q4 2025), hiring activity increased 1.5%,” the report finds.
“Importantly for the IT sector is that recruiter behaviour is pointing towards a growing intent to hire, as companies look to attract talent in areas where scarcity meets high enterprise demand. Talent searches on CareerJunction’s CV database increased by 5% quarter-on-quarter and by a more pronounced 10.1% year-on-year, reflecting intensified competition for suitably skilled tech candidates.”
This, as digital transformation accelerates across public and private sectors, as firms increasingly deploy emerging technologies across their services and offerings.
“Ongoing digital transformation and automation initiatives are creating new IT roles across enterprises. Second, companies are increasingly leveraging remote work, widening the talent pool and making it easier to attract skilled candidates. Third, intensified competition for experienced professionals is prompting employers to accelerate recruitment efforts and invest in targeted talent acquisition strategies,” according to CareerJunction.
Collectively, these factors are underpinning the early recovery in tech hiring.
Similarly, Pnet’s Job Market Trends Report for November 2025 shows demand for tech professionals in SA surged in the second half of 2025, signalling a positive turnaround for the sector.
The Pnet analysis shows that technology vacancies increased by 18% year-on-year for the year to end-October 2025.
Vacancies increased 10% month-on-month from September to October 2025, signalling a sustained uplift in the sector, it says.
Despite incremental hiring growth, structural skills shortages continue to constrain the IT sector.
The report highlights persistent critical gaps in technology and digital roles, particularly database administrators, software developers and solutions architects.
These occupations require advanced technical capability, practical experience and, in many cases, cloud platform expertise such as Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure.
As organisations increasingly accelerate digital transformation, automation and system modernisation initiatives, demand for these skill sets continues to outpace supply, leading to the growing skills gap.
The report notes that rapid technological change, combined with education systems that struggle to keep pace with evolving industry needs, is widening the skills gaps in advanced technical domains.
Ongoing emigration of experienced professionals is further tightening the supply of senior and specialist IT talent, it points out.
Skills mismatch
CareerJunction further identifies structural tension in SA’s labour market, where high unemployment exists alongside persistent skills gaps in specialised roles.
In the technology sector, this imbalance is most visible in positions requiring deep technical expertise, professional accreditation and hands-on industry experience.
“Some employers face difficulty sourcing suitably qualified professionals altogether, while others encounter candidates who fall short of the advanced or niche skills needed. The result is extended recruitment cycles, rising time-to-hire and increasing costs for organisations competing for top IT talent.”
This structural mismatch underscores the need for strategic interventions, including targeted upskilling, reskilling programmes and broader talent acquisition strategies, it points out.
By addressing these gaps, employers can reduce hiring bottlenecks, strengthen workforce readiness, and position themselves to meet growing demands in software development, systems architecture and other critical technology roles.
To mitigate IT skills shortages, the report recommends greater investment in upskilling and reskilling, particularly in ICT fields.
Internal training programmes, online certifications and structured mentorship initiatives are highlighted as practical levers to build job-ready capability. Expanding the talent pool through remote work, tapping underrepresented groups, and leveraging SA’s Critical Skills List for immigration are also cited as practical ways to ease recruitment pressure in software development and engineering roles.
“As hiring momentum gradually returns to the tech sector, employers that adopt data-driven recruitment strategies, strengthen employer branding and invest in continuous skills development will be better positioned to secure scarce digital talent in 2026 and beyond.”
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