Exploring the Utility of Social Content for Understanding Future In-Demand Skills

Abstract

Rapid technological innovations, especially in the information technology space, demand the workforce to be vigilant by acquiring new skills to remain relevant and employable. The workforce needs to be engaged in a continuous lifelong learning process by educating themselves about skills that will be in demand in the future. To do so, it is essential for students, job seekers, and even recruiters to know which skills will be in demand in the future and to invest time and resources in developing these skills. On this basis, the main objective of this paper is to investigate whether social content can offer insight into potential future in-demand skills in the IT job market. Based on the analysis of social content from Reddit and job posting data from Dice and Monster websites, we find that social content related to job skills is a strong indicator for future in-demand skills. We further find that specific social content associated with recruitment-related topics are stronger indicators of future skills. Our findings encourage learners and job seekers to pay close attention to online social content to strategically plan new skills and maximize their employability.