Previous findings show that the shortage of skilled workers in the field of digitalization is a major obstacle to the implementation of digital solutions. The present short study examines what employee competencies companies in Germany are looking for and what differences can be observed between small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and large companies.
For this purpose, the study provides an overview of previous studies as well as an analysis of over 62,000 job advertisements on the LinkedIn platform. A number of insights can be gained from the analysis of these job advertisements:
- In the context of digital transformation, companies are often looking for applicants from the field of information science, but business graduates are also required for many positions, including the field of (online) marketing.
- The fields of technology that are focused in many job postings by SMEs are cloud computing and online marketing, including e-commerce. Surprisingly, many SMEs want to fill positions in marketing, but are hardly looking for people with a marketing degree; instead, SMEs are increasingly looking for people with a mathematics degree, in contrast to large companies.
- With respect to qualification levels, it becomes clear that a large number of people in management (executives) as well as young professionals are being looked for. Compared to large companies SMEs are looking considerably less for people with professional experience.
- Many companies (72%) - both SMEs and large companies - are looking for applicants with knowledge of programming languages.
- For decision-makers, for example in education policy or in companies, it can be stated that the identified skills and knowledge should be included in the curricula for training and degree programs as well as in (internal) training.
