The rapid growth and expansion of Dariel Software’s operations in Gauteng and the Western Cape has led to the appointment of Joshua Mills as a dedicated Talent Manager to help the company attract and retain the best skills in the ICT sector.
“The digital skills gap in South Africa makes it imperative for companies like Dariel, who are leaders in the field, to identify and nurture talent, ensuring a skills pipeline runs through the company’s structures,” says Mills.
The role of a talent manager has become pivotal in companies such as Dariel which is focused on employee growth and development. Mills sees his job as helping drive this process throughout the organisation and to assist employees in staying on a growth trajectory, to better not only themselves but the organisation as a whole.
Mills believes that in the rapidly changing world of work, companies need to develop employees’ soft skills as well as the hard skills they need to fulfil their roles. “Growing leaders of tomorrow starts with investing in entry-level talent and encouraging a culture of learning,” he says. “Emotional intelligence and adaptive and forward thinking are as important as technical skills, so we need to upskill staff in both,” he says.
Mills has already begun to work with Dariel’s employees to establish engagement levels and career expectations. In identifying ‘top performers’ destined for leadership roles within the company, Mills believes that it’s important to take a holistic view and not just earmark who has the greatest technical knowledge. “Taking communication skills and commitment into consideration, as well as an ability to collaborate with others, are equally as important factors,” he says.
Making employees feel valued is a critical part of a company’s talent retention programme and so one of Mills’ and Dariel’s strategies for leadership development will be to pair senior management with more junior employees to walk the path of career growth together and to monitor that journey.
“Making someone believe in their future with an organisation makes all the difference in employee engagement. If an employee feels valued, they will give you back that same value in commitment and work output,” Mills believes.
“Our investment in people is as significant as our investment in technology and software development,” says Greg Vercellotti, Dariel Executive Director. “Joshua brings a wealth of experience and some progressive ideas to the table, and we are looking forward to the new perspectives on talent management he brings to the company.”
Mills holds a BCom in Human Resources Management and a Master’s degree in Industrial and Organisational Psychology, both from the University of Pretoria.
