In this issue: • Building Relationships • Food Sector is Thriving • Don’t believe everything you read – recovery is imminent • Better times ahead for Civil Engineering • BOOK REVIEW: Shoe Dog By Phil Knight Hiring for Success Issue 15

Earlier we reviewed the book Zero to One by Peter Thiel who argues that if you want to start a business, make it a monopoly. “Competition is for losers,” he claims. Well, here’s another book with a similar theme. The book is Blue Ocean Strategy, by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, who argue that […] more

More than 400 000 white expat South Africans have returned to the land of their birth since the apex of the financial crisis in 2009, according to Moneyweb. PCS managing director Philip Park is quoted as saying there is a notable increase in expats on the firm’s books, who some years ago would have slotted […] more

By Philip Park How do you steer yourself out of an emergency? I am talking here of the type of emergency that any business or individual goes through. First of all, how do you spot an emergency? Simple, declining or unchanging statistics. Here is a graph of South Africa’s economic growth rate (gross domestic product) […] more

By Philip Park Success carries its own inherent hazards. To achieve success you had better find out exactly what actions produced the success. Was it a new marketing campaign? Did you hire a new executive? Get rid of an old one? Introduce a new bonus programme for staff? A combination of the above? Success is […] more

One sector of the economy that never seems to disappoint is IT. The rate of development in this sector places fresh demands for new skills on IT-related employers – something that has remained more or less constant for the last two decades. Pauline Michell, specialist recruitment consultant at PCS, gives us an update on trends […] more

Bev Stone, specialist recruiter in Construction at PCS, offers the following insight into trends and developments in this sector. Q: Bev, what are the three main things you look for in a candidate?  Bev: Stability, worked for reputable firms and good references. It’s pretty simple and not much has changed in this regard when it […] more

Angela Aveyard, specialist recruiter in the Hospitality & Legal sector at PCS, took us through some of the developments in this sector. Interesting to note is the buoyancy of the sector this year compared to last, and recruitment demand appears to be back to where it was pre-recession. Q: How has 2015 been so far […] more

Renowned entrepreneur Peter Thiel is worth listening to. He is a founder of PayPal and the data analytics firm Palantir, and has some refreshing ideas for entrepreneurs and those who want to get ahead in life. Here’s the one stand-out idea from Thiel: if you want to start a business, make it a monopoly. “Competition […] more

Whether you are working from home full time, living life as a road warrior or simply working the occasional day away from the office, you will be more effective if you have the right digital infrastructure for remote work. Here is a list of practical tools that can make your job a lot easier. 1. […] more