The share of job offers that require hard skills or expert knowledge, has declined sharply as they are being replaced by demands for soft skills such as logical thinking, presentation skills, or the ability to work in a team, TASR learnt from an analysis carried out by the jobs site Profesia.sk.
The analysis suggests that job applicants should aim at improving their soft skills. The lower unemployment rate is bringing a lower response to available job offers. It is thus often more difficult for companies to find a new employee with all the professional skills needed for the job. This is one of the reasons why Slovakia is seeing a reduction in business requirements in the jobs offer.
Employers are increasingly placing more emphasis on logical thinking, presentation skills, the ability to work in a team, analytical abilities and the like. This trend goes hand in hand with what can be seen in the world. At the same time, this knowledge is often not replaceable by automation. "I would emphasise that today we don't know exactly what jobs will look in five or ten years. But we know exactly what knowledge will be needed. Both applicants and students should be aware of the fact that the labour market will need creative people more and more, with the ability to make independent decisions," said Profesia executive director Ivana Molnarova.
The analysis shows that in 2014, the top ten most wanted skills among university graduates included five hard skills. The number has been reduced over five years. In 2018, only one hard skill is in the top ten, namely active knowledge of English. However, it should be stressed that English is, at the same time, the most frequently requested skill in university graduates.
