With year-end exams upon us and thousands of matriculants deciding on a future study path, CEO of credit management company Debtsource, Frank Knight, has reiterated the importance of a career choice aligned to high-demand occupations.

Every two years, the Department of Higher Education and Training publishes a list of over 370 high-demand occupations in South Africa, which highlights occupations that show relatively strong employment growth or are facing staff shortages and which may to be in demand in future. According to the department, there is a growing international need for education and training to be better coordinated with the needs of society and economy.

Its list identifies high demand occupations at a national level to better assist universities and other post-school training programmes with the broader developmental objectives of the country. According to Knight, one of the job titles included in the high demand category was that of credit manager.  “One cannot underestimate the importance of effective credit management as an integral part of a company’s finance and operations.”

He says a credit manager is a person employed by a company to manage the credit department and make decisions concerning credit limits, acceptable levels of risk, terms of payment and enforcement actions with customers. He says he heard a speech by Naledi Pandor who offered a very balanced view of South Africa and how to prepare our children for a fast-changing world.

“Some very interesting points were made, one of which is that a number of big global tech companies are no longer focusing on only hiring university graduates, and that vocational and on-the-job training is now far more valuable than a degree. She then shared the department’s list of high-demand jobs and it was interesting to see how valuable credit management is seen within the context of growing the economy in line with national developmental objectives.”

“Credit management should be considered as the most important of all business functions, whether in the public or private sector. We know that "money makes the world go around" and it is essential for any organization to have access to working capital.” He says a properly trained and educated credit management team will maximise trading opportunities, be strong on administration, assess risk, work closely with other departments to ensure maximum profit from sales and ensure money is collected professionally and on time.

“For anyone with a talent for finances or numbers, a career in credit control can be both rewarding and satisfying, and the fact that it is a high-demand career should be an incentive to investigate it further as a career choice,” Knight concludes.