Balancing skills in the digital transformation era: The future of jobs and the role of higher education

Abstract

Developing human resources and matching job profiles are essential tasks to promote economic and social growth. The technology-related job market has undergone significant changes over recent years, mainly due to technological advances that have pushed industry toward new demands for skilled professionals. This change in required skills and competencies has led to a gap between what companies need and the professional profiles that are available in the job market. Technology companies are often unable to find an employee who meets the required profile, resulting in financial loss and extra training expenses. It is therefore essential that higher education in technology is reconsidered to address job market demands. Thus the goal of this work is to evaluate the relationship between the professional profile required by information technology (IT) companies and what students are taught on IT-related programs in higher education institutions (HEIs). The authors adopt a systemic perspective in three different qualitative approaches. They cross-check and link data on educational curricula acquired from interviews with IT human resource managers (HRMs) and student focus groups. The analysis reveals that HEIs must go beyond the transfer of knowledge and technical qualification in IT, promoting a comprehensive education that incorporates personal development goals, with a focus on developing social and emotional skills. The study focuses on the emerging economy of Brazil and presents findings from which other developing countries can learn. The results reveal the critical role of soft skills in the professional development and employability of students and the associated challenge for technical education. In conclusion, the authors also highlight the importance of partnerships between HEIs and HRMs as a fundamental strategy to fulfill the current skills gap.

The demands on competencies for digital transformation and the perception of business students

“…These findings answer the first two research questions and Table 2 presents the perceptions of young economists towards the competencies needed in relation to digital transformation requirements. This result is in line with the findings by Goulart et al (2021) who also focused on "skills in digital transformation era and the role of higher education". The authors claim that from the managerial point of view "Technical skills were also seen as critical, but there was an emphasis on soft skills."…”

“…Businesses and other organizations at all levels are focused on developing digital transformation frameworks and undertaking research to better understand the new professional competencies that are and will be required. Developing human resources and matching job profiles have become essential tasks to promote economic and social growth (Goulart et al, 2021). The global survey by McKinsey (2021) underlines that many companies face large and growing skills deficits.…”

“…For example, Sousa and Rocha (2019) contribute to the discussion of effective digital transformation of organizations based on the latest trends of skills. Also Goulart et al (2021) use "skills in the digital area", and Ostmeier and Strobel (2022) focus on the employee skills that organizations need to succeed, particularly in the face of digital transformation. Similarly, the global surveys by McKinsey (2020McKinsey ( , 2021 use the term workforce skills or the skills required to work, etc.…”

“…The goal is to fill the current gap in required competencies in both domains (cf. Cesco et al, 2021;Goulart et al, 2021;Marnewick, & Marnewick, 2020) but in a situation in which students point out shortcomings of the technical domain. The findings of this research show that there exists a gap between the requirements of the business sphere for technical competencies and university students' perception.…”

Las competencias del talento en la Industria 4.0, demanda vs oferta: caso de estudio de la Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, España

“…Los cambios a los que hay que hacer frente exigen talento, habilidades y competencias que son muy diferentes a las necesidades de las tres revoluciones industriales anteriores (Grzelczak et al, 2017;Maisiri et al, 2019). Estas nuevas exigencias han provocado una brecha entre lo que las empresas necesitan y los perfiles profesionales que están disponibles en el mercado laboral, lo que supone pérdidas económicas y gastos de formación adicionales (Goulart et al, 2021).…”