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JEL Classification: I25, O15, O33
INTRODUCTION
"Universities fulfill their mission by enabling access to the highest education, especially in accordance with the needs of society, so that education prepares a graduate with high moral principles, civic and social responsibility, especially for corresponding application in practice and research, development or artistic and other creative activities" (Act No. 131/2002 Coll. Act on Universities and on Amendments to Certain Acts).
The Covid 19 pandemic has accelerated the digitization of some activities in businesses that have moved to the online space. In this context, the requirements for some employee skills have also changed. The need to develop some key skills related to, for example, conducting online meetings or online education or independent work, self-management was inevitable. The need for new workers in connection with the introduction of new digital technologies increases the importance of education and training of the workforce in the field of digital skills, education of pupils in preparation for a profession in the field of information technology (Kešelová et al. 2022)
In the overview article, we find out which key competences / skills are currently most in demand on the labor market and what is the estimate of skills for the future. For this purpose, we collected and analyzed data from surveys already carried out, mainly in the territory of the Slovak Republic, and summarized the intersection between the required skills on the labor market. In accordance with the preparation of graduates for practical application, our article is published in good faith as an aid or inspiration for updating the curriculum of institutions providing formal education in the Slovak Republic or abroad.
1. CURRENT REQUIREMENTS FOR POTENTIAL EMPLOYEES
Current practice is marked by the onset of digitization, automation and robotization (Kešelová et al. 2022). The use of digitization, automation, robotization and artificial intelligence is understood as a new concept bringing about a societal change affecting not only the production sphere itself, but also exerting pressure for change in the understanding of other systems and institutions – the education system, labor law frameworks, science and research, up to the labor market itself and social systems (Kotíková et al. 2019).
The creation of new jobs has always been associated with the disappearance of older ones, which gave way to advanced technologies in economies. Digitization, automation, robotization are manifested by changes in jobs in three main directions (Kotíková et al. 2019):
- New technologies have an impact on the transformation of individual jobs. Some tasks are already automated today, in some cases technology complements employees in achieving their work tasks. Overall, the tasks provided within individual job positions are changing, as is the demand for work skills. Those employees who will have to adapt a whole range of their skills are and will be affected the most.
- New technologies will make certain occupations unnecessary in the country's economy. In some occupations, most tasks may be automated and their stay in the labor market will be only temporary. Employees in these occupations will very likely have to change their professional focus if they want to remain on the labor market. This will require changes in their knowledge and skills. Although the assessment of the threat of automation varies, as do the specific numbers, a strategy must be in place to prepare employees for the possibility of this risk.
- New technologies create new job opportunities and new ways to acquire the necessary skills. As a result of the introduction of new technologies, new jobs are directly created (eg big data specialist). Preferences in the area of free time and how it is spent are also changing, which will lead to the expansion of other professions (e.g. sports trainers, physiotherapists). New forms of work are emerging, such as online platforms, which people will still have to learn to profit from.
It follows from the above that the easiest work to automate is routine manual work, the worst work to automate is non-routine knowledge work (Kotíková et al. 2019).
In order to avoid a situation where automated systems will replace us on the labor market, it is essential to know the trends and requirements that are in demand and have a low level of automation risk. In In 2019, the Business Alliance of Slovakia conducted a survey in which we were interested in two areas (Alianciapas.sk 2019):
- Criteria that, according to the employer, a graduate (potential employee) with a university education should meet (Figure no. 1).
- Areas in which the least prepared graduates arrive (Figure no. 2).
Fig. no. 1 - Criteria that should be met by a graduate with a university degree
Source: own processing
According to the findings, graduates are the least prepared in the so-called soft skills (Alianciapas.sk 2019).
Fig. no. 2 - Areas in which graduates arrive the least prepared
Source: own processing
The importance of acquiring and mastering soft skills is also supported by newer research carried out by the Center for Scientific and Technical Information of the Slovak Republic (hereafter referred to as CVTI) on the basis of a request from the higher education section of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic. It also interestingly divides the qualifications important for hiring graduates according to employer sectors, for example. In Table no. 1 we can see that employers from the public sector make decisions when hiring graduates mainly on the basis of their major, communication skills and level of education. For employers from the private sector, competencies such as communication skills, field of study and experience in the field acquired during studies were important (Filčák 2022).
Table no. 1 - Skills needed when looking for a job
| Public sector | Private sector | |
|---|---|---|
| Completed level of education | 79.60% | 46.50% |
| Graduated field of study | 89.20% | 68.90% |
| Graduated study program | 72.40% | 50.20% |
| Completion of studies abroad | 10.60% | 16.60% |
| Experience in the field acquired during studies 41.70% | 60.90% | |
| Experience gained abroad | 13.40% | 31.60% |
| Study results | 21.60% | 12.30% |
| Skills in the field of information technology | 51.40% | 57.10% |
| Mastery of foreign languages | 30.40% | 48.90% |
| Communication skills, independence ("soft skills") | 83.10% | 81.60% |
Source: Filčák 2022
Following the National Digital Skills Strategy of the Slovak Republic and the Action Plan for the years 2023-2026 (hereinafter NSDZaAP or the National Strategy), we also supplement the necessity of soft skills with digital literacy. By digital literacy we understand a selected set of proven abilities of an individual to confidently, critically and responsibly use digital technologies for life, learning and work in a digital society (Mirri.gov.sk 2022).
The support for building digital skills and competences thus very appropriately complements the results of the survey of the Business Alliance of Slovakia, as well as the Center for Scientific and Technical Information of the Slovak Republic. Digital literacy is one of the key priorities for the development of the Slovak population at the state level. The goals of the National Strategy are, for example (Mirri.gov.sk 2022):
- strengthening the institutional background and creating an effective coordination mechanism for the field of digital skills within public administration, as well as in connection with the professional public, the academic community or the business sector,
- creating conditions and supporting activities to increase the number of information and communication technology specialists,
- development of digital skills of young people and teachers, at all levels of the educational process,
- development of digital skills of active participants in the labor market, support for increasing qualifications ("upskilling"), or requalification ("reskilling").
"A critical element of the successful implementation of NSDZaAP is the regular updating of the content and scope of curricula in the field of digital skills and informatics at all levels of education" (Mirri.gov.sk 2022, p. 7). Only in this way is it possible to ensure that education meets the current requirements of the labor market, the state of currently available and used technologies, and creates the potential for the use of human capital from Slovakia in the development, deployment and management of digital technologies (Mirri.gov.sk 2022).
NSDZaAP considers it extremely important to take into account the importance of digital skills and incorporate their development into the education of both children from an early age, as well as adults within the framework of quality lifelong education and increasing their opportunities on the labor market, or maintaining a job or switching to another job. The acquisition of digital skills must be available to all residents of Slovakia, regardless of age, education, or belonging to disadvantaged population groups (Mirri.gov.sk 2022).
The need to master soft skills is also helped by the research of the Slovak Youth Council with the support of the National Institute of Education and Youth and the European Union, which, unlike previous surveys aimed at employers, was oriented towards job seekers. During focus groups, young people were asked about skills that help them find a job. The skills that the participants mentioned most often in the discussions are summarized in Table no. 2. Looking at the table, we can notice that young people in their statements identified significantly more so-called soft skills (Pecháčová and Čavojská 2022) and are consistent with findings from employer surveys.
Table no. 2 - Skills needed when looking for a job
| Hard Skills | Soft skills |
|---|---|
| Knowledge of foreign languages | High-quality oral and written speech |
| Driving license | Communication skills |
| Knowledge of MS Office | Flexibility |
| Control of digital tools | Ability to solve problems |
| Systematicity | |
| Creativity | |
| Ability to handle stressful situations | |
| Ability to work in a team | |
| Organizational skills |
Source: own processing
2. REQUIREMENTS FOR FUTURE EMPLOYEES
The skills needed for the future are further supplemented and expanded by the survey of the Republic of Employers' Union, which focused on the assumed most important skills by 2030. Picture no. 3 ranks skills according to importance (the more points, the more important the skill) and this display reflects the necessity of human resources to have digital literacy and soft skills, not only for the present, but especially for the next 7 years (Lednárová Dítětová et al. 2021).
Fig. no. 3 – Skills according to importance to 2030
Source: own processing
Another study on the effects of digitization on the employment and social security of employees (Kohout 2017) similarly states that, even from today's trends in the labor markets, it can be concluded that an individual who will be more successful in the labor market will have more complex knowledge and skills, will be able to think and make decisions in broader contexts, and will be willing to continuously learn. According to this study, it is also possible to assume that the following knowledge and skills will be required in the future:
- Digital literacy as part of the basic education of every person. In particular, the ability to know how to use technology to effectively solve problems and the ability to work effectively with various information. Related to this is the ability to continuously adopt new trends in technology and constantly develop your knowledge and skills in the field of information technology.
- Narrow specialization in one field will recede and so-called T-shaped professionals, i.e. professionals with T-shaped knowledge, i.e. they will have deep and broad knowledge at the same time. Depth of Expertise - professional deep knowledge in one field, and at the same time Breadth of Knowledge - broad knowledge across many disciplines (Figure no. 4, (Kršák and Závodný 2018)), but also communication skills, critical thinking, etc. The ability to think interdisciplinary is a necessary prerequisite for innovation. Due to the interconnectedness of technologies, production processes and the entire value chain, it will be necessary for an individual to navigate the entire system.
- In addition to hard skills (professional, technical, language, etc.), the importance of soft skills will continue to grow. These are mainly communication skills, conceptual thinking, the ability to lead a team and cooperation, resistance to stress, the ability to react quickly and make decisions, the ability to share information, the ability to tolerate, self-management, etc. Soft skills are a necessary prerequisite for effective work in teams (physical or virtual), within collaboration platforms, etc.
Fig. no. 4 – Schematic representation of requirements for a system worker
Source: Kršák and Závodný 2018
Changes in the requirements for employee skills in the market are changing faster than the education system can reflect. According to a survey by the Institute for Work and Family Research (Kešelová et al. 2022), companies are considering two ways of self-helply solving changed requirements in the future:
- According to the survey, training directly in the company for new technologies was the most common way that companies would deal with the change in workforce requirements in the future, both for regular employees and managers, in production and in administration.
- The second frequent way in which companies would deal with changing workforce requirements in the future was retraining.
According to the companies that plan to train, retraining should be focused primarily on the field of information technology (hereafter IT) - either on the general development of IT skills, or on the control of specific digital technologies (Big Data data processing, cloud, data storage, software solutions for production management, data security) and on the automation of production processes. In addition to IT, according to the companies, education will be needed, for example, in the areas of research and development, health and safety, quality, economy, sales and purchasing, or in the area of professional competence training and its updating, soft skills and foreign languages (Kešelová et al. 2022).
In the field of higher education, the cooperation of colleges and universities with companies that can quickly respond to projects coming from universities is emphasized (Kešelová et al. 2022).
CONCLUSION
According to the Institute for Work and Family Research (Kešelová et al. 2022), creative and social skills will be increasingly needed, at the same time, the increasing number of highly qualified people will crowd out low-qualified people from the labor market. According to the mentioned surveys, the best preparation for practice is characterized by a focus on digital literacy in combination with soft skills. In order to apply on the labor market, whether as an employee or an employer, key competences in the field of cooperation, change management, critical and analytical thinking, the ability to learn, command of a language other than Slovak, or communication skills are key.
An interesting idea is contained in a survey carried out by the Republic Union of Employers: "Empathy, humility, the ability to cooperate, and conflict resolution appear to be important for future workers in the conducted survey. This is an interesting finding, especially in the context of the gradual encroachment of digital technologies into our lives. The nature of work is changing due to the introduction of technological innovations, and it is necessary to pay increased attention to the development of those interpersonal skills that innovative technological processes can deprive us of. This is important especially in order to preserve "humanity" despite technological progress" (Lednárová Dítětová et al. 2021, p. 98).
At the same time, according to the Republican Union of Employers, "the demands of employers and other actors of the labor market reflected in the results of the questionnaire survey should be input material for representatives of those state administration institutions that can fundamentally influence the necessary curriculum reform at the level of primary education, as well as secondary and tertiary education. At the same time, it should be the basis for updating the content of education in teaching and study fields, or the subject of a new accreditation process in universities within the content of study programs". Supporting the development of skills / competences / abilities according to the requirements of the labor market should be a basic prerequisite for the education system to prepare competitive graduates at all qualification levels (Lednárová Dítětová et al. 2021, p. 100).
Digital literacy combined with soft skills are areas that are currently part of us, and those who identify with new technologies sooner and learn to use them will have an edge over others on the labor market. At the same time, lifelong education, including professional; hard skills, we consider it an automatic and natural way of development for the current and future population of Slovakia.
Author: Ing. Miriam Takačová Slovak Technical University Bratislava, Institute of Management STU
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Act 131/2002 Coll. Act on universities and on amendments to certain laws.