Year by year, a progressively larger number of IT graduates are reportedly unable to secure satisfactory employment. Simultaneously, the industry finds itself struggling to attract, recruit and retain suitable talent. This paradox is experienced globally and yet it has defied any simple solution. In South Africa, with its heightened social awareness of the importance of educational investment, it is no exaggeration to suggest that such a paradox corrodes the foundations of its social compact. Building on prior theoretical work, this paper reports on a series of conversations held with local employers of software developers over two months. The semi-structured interviews sought to gauge employers’ perceptions of the ICT skills gap, particularly as regards the recruitment of recent graduates. A novel theoretical framework had been extrapolated to guide the conversations towards areas that were deemed under-explored. A thematic analysis of the corpus of transcripts indicated, for the local context, the importance of fostering positive, ongoing engagement between academia and industry. The findings indicate relatively little interest in candidates’ social media presence, embeddedness in professional networks or industry certifications. Most interviewees valued formal academic qualifications highly. Some expressed interest in the extent to which candidates had been involved in internships, competitions and the pursuit of personal projects, including engagement with open source projects. Most interviewees underscored the value of attitudinal attributes and soft skills. This paper voices the industry’s call for far greater engagement from academia, along with a renewed focus on ensuring that conceptual mastery is achieved, particularly at the fundamental level.