Which soft skills are most in demand?
The demand for skills has changed under the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Soft skills have gained in importance, but finding candidates with the desired ones is a challenge for organizations – both locally and globally. Almost every third employer in Poland has difficulties in acquiring employees who demonstrate reliability, responsibility and discipline. The biggest problems in this area are noticed by large companies. What skills should candidates develop if they want to increase their attractiveness on the labour market?
ManpowerGroup’s analysis shows that the talent shortage in Poland has increased significantly in recent years. Already 81% of employers feel challenges in the area of recruitment of candidates with appropriate competences – both hard and soft. 35% of companies declare that it is difficult for them to acquire employees who demonstrate reliability, discipline and a high sense of responsibility for the tasks entrusted. More than 1/4 of organizations notice a shortage of competences related to logical thinking and the ability to solve problems on the market. Deficiencies also apply to taking the initiative, which is pointed out by 28% of employers. Other skills difficult to acquire in the recruitment process are critical thinking and analytical skills (26%). 24% of entrepreneurs also feel shortages of employees characterized by resilience and flexibility of operation.
„Currently, we observe that the so-called transferable competences, i.e. those that are needed in every industry and allow us to adapt to new tasks and operate efficiently in the business environment, are gaining in importance. The soft skills listed in the report, indicated by employers as the most difficult to obtain, are precisely those that allow organizations to achieve concrete results in a dynamic and uncertain market. It should be emphasized that soft skills support the achievement of hard results. Although knowledge and expertise are crucial, it is only in combination with the use of soft skills that they enable employees to achieve optimal results at work – says Agnieszka Krzemień, an expert in development and career management from Right Management at ManpowerGroup. The specialist also points out that the difficulties associated with acquiring staff with the desired skills may result from both the lack of an effective talent management strategy adapted to current market challenges, as well as ineffective building of the employer brand by choice.
– An important starting point is to define competence models that will ensure the organization’s expected competitiveness in the industry and allow it to achieve business goals. It is worth systematically reviewing your resources and diagnosing your skills and talents in the company, and then identifying competence gaps, examining the strengths of employees and developing them so as to achieve the desired results. Effective talent management strategies focus on the equivalent development of technical skills and soft skills. The key role of HR teams in this area is to analyze what skills the organization may need in the future and what activities are worth starting today to acquire them. It is also important to periodically verify whether employees are currently matched to positions and to what extent the employer’s brand building strategy of choice supports the retention and acquisition of new staff. It is also worth taking care of the mobility of employees within the organization, because it ensures even better adaptation of competences to the needs of the company, while supporting the development of staff and opening alternative development paths for employees – says Agnieszka Krzemień.
Skills in the area of solving problems were indicated by employers as scarce already in 2018. They opened the list of soft skills that are the most difficult to obtain, and their shortage on the labor market was noticed by 31% of entrepreneurs. However, this is the only item in the field of soft skills that is repeated in the „Talent Shortage” reports in both 2021 and 2018. Three years ago, companies declared that the challenge for them was to find employees who could cooperate – 30% of organizations paid attention to this. Communication (29%), organization (29%) and management (14%) were also considered deficit soft competences, i.e. skills completely different from those indicated as difficult to obtain in this year’s edition of the survey.
Projekt otrzymał dofinansowanie z Norwegii poprzez Fundusze Norweskie 2014-2021, w ramach programu „Dialog społeczny – godna praca”.