Standardising job descriptions in the humanitarian supply chain: A text mining approach for recruitment process

Abstract

Purpose Uncertainty and complexity have increased in recent decades, posing new challenges to humanitarian organisations. This study investigates whether using standard terminology in Human Resource Management processes can support the Humanitarian supply chain in attracting and maintaining highly skilled operators. Methodology We exploit text mining to compare job vacancies on ReliefWeb, the reference platform for humanitarian job seekers, and ESCO, the European Classification of Skills, Competencies, and Occupations. We measure the level of alignment in these two resources, providing quantitative evidence about terminology standardisation in job descriptions for supporting HR operators in the Humanitarian field. Findings The most in-demand skills, besides languages, relate to resource management and economics and finance for capital management. Our results show that job vacancies for managerial and financial profiles are relatively more in line with the European database than those for technical profiles. However, the peculiarities of the humanitarian sector and the lack of standardisation are still a barrier to achieving the desired level of coherence with humanitarian policies.