Mindset over majors: the new hiring trend reshaping South Africa's graduate employment
Tebogo Chaka, Design Thinking Programme Lead at the Hasso Plattner d-school Afrika at the University of Cape Town.
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South Africa's graduate unemployment rate fell to 10.4% in Q3 2025, down from 12.2% in Q2. Despite the improvement, the rate remains above the 8.7% recorded at the end of Q4 2024, underscoring the disconnect between what graduates study and what the labour market requires. Employers are responding by rethinking what they look for in new hires.
A Global Shift in What Work Demands
The World Economic Forum's latest Future of Jobs Report highlights a global transition in talent priorities. Creative and analytical thinking now rank as the most in-demand skills, followed by resilience, flexibility, curiosity, and lifelong learning.
With almost 40% of job-related skills expected to change by 2030, employers are focusing less on degrees and more on how people approach complex, ambiguous problems.
We're seeing a fundamental shift in how organisations define talent. It's no longer enough to state what you've learned. Employers want to understand how you think when solving problems that don't yet have established answers.
As a result, companies are increasingly investing in potential rather than pedigree by seeking candidates who demonstrate curiosity, adaptability, and problem-solving capabilities, even if their technical knowledge is still developing.
As matriculants await their final exam results, the job market has shifted for every young person looking for a job whether they are a graduate or a job seeker fresh out of high school. The youth continue to carry the brunt of high unemployment in South Africa despite graduate unemployment falling 10.2% in third quarter of this year. In this piece, the writer shares tips on how to make your CV attractive to employers.
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Five Ways to Demonstrate Soft Skills on Your CV
While these competencies are essential, they are not typically cultivated through traditional curricula. They develop through practice, by engaging with real-world, ambiguous challenges through project-based learning, internships, volunteering, or collaborative assignments.
Here are five ways graduates can highlight these skills more effectively on their CVs:
1. Reframe projects through a problem-solving lens: Rather than “Created a marketing campaign for X,” try “Identified declining engagement through user interviews and developed a targeted campaign that increased attendance by 30%.”
2. Highlight cross-functional collaboration: If you worked with people from different disciplines, be explicit. “Collaborated with engineering, design, and business students to deliver an integrated solution” shows comfort with diverse perspectives.
3. Show evidence of iteration and learning: Phrases like “refined the approach based on user feedback” or “pivoted strategy after initial testing revealed…” signal resilience and a growth mindset.
4. Focus on the ‘how’, not just the ‘what’: Numbers matter, but so does the process behind them. “Reduced customer complaint response time by 40% by implementing a triage system after analysing pain points” tells a fuller story.
5. Include non-academic experiences strategically: Frame leadership, community involvement, or freelance work to show initiative and adaptability. “Launched a community tutoring programme after identifying a need among local high school learners” demonstrates empathy and proactive engagement.
A degree tells employers what you know. But in a market where roles evolve constantly, what gets you hired and keeps you employable is demonstrating how you think, how you learn, and how you grow.
(Chaka is Design Thinking Programme Lead at the Hasso Plattner d-school Afrika at the University of Cape Town. Her views do not necessarily reflect those of the Sunday Tribune or IOL)