The need for digital and soft skills in the Romanian business service industry

Abstract

Abstract The Romanian Business Service Sector developed fast in the last decade. Today it employs more than 120 000 Head Counts and continuously grows. However, companies claim not to get the right skills from employees to pursue the digital transformation from a mere service sector towards a more value-added service. Since it has a very young working population with an average age between 26 and 35 years, it is increasingly important to review the employability skills needed by this industry to safeguard the continuation of the sector. So far, Romanian studies have been deducted reflecting the skills needed from the sector. In the first instance, these studies used the questionnaire methodology or global surveys mostly on a very holistic view (ABSL, 2017; Boşcor and Băltescu, 2014). This paper shows a new approach by deriving the skills needed by employers from their own database: job descriptions of entry positions published in companies or job boards were analyzed within a specified period, allowing an accelerated approach to defining skills needed without a too high time delay given the rapid progressing digitalization. The job descriptions are analyzed by using the method of qualitative content analysis according to Mayring (2014) using specific criteria based on the literature review of employability skills. Key findings confirm demand for hard skills such as languages and IT skills such as Office Suits, Development Environments as well as higher demand for soft skills especially analysis and problem solving induced by digitalization.