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Building critical skills at your organization: Top future skills in demand and how to embrace them

Oksana LavriFuture work expert21. June 20244 min read

The importance of university involvement
1. What will impact the labor market in the next 5 years if the empire of robotic Terminators won’t rise?
Ways HRForecast can help universities and educators

February 2024, co-founder and CEO of HRForecast, Florian Fleischmann, kicked off the university’s HR analytics lecture with outstanding, creative students in Vienna. At the core of it was to think about how HR analytics can support decision-making. The discussion went around:

Identifying business challenges
Research data (HR data, business data, and external data)
Finding suitable methods to enhance data (statistical methods, predictions, etc.)
Using strategies to analyze the data and make it available so actions can be taken.

One example they discussed at great length is how strategic workforce planning can be used to build a diverse workforce. This naturally leads us to consider the broader context of current graduates’ challenges.

co-founder and CEO of HRForecast, Florian Fleischmann, kicked off the university's HR analytics lecture with outstanding, creative students in Vienna

Source: HRForecast

Recent graduates (as of 2020) face an appalling 12% unemployment rate. While 88% of graduates find work, a significant number find themselves in positions that do not match their hard-earned degrees. This stark reality highlights the urgent need for universities to provide students with the necessary experience and support to transition from education to the workforce, with a particular focus on HR analytics skills. So, let’s go deeper into the case.

The importance of university involvement

As you already know, a degree is no longer enough to get you a job. Universities should be interested in career training to help them enter the world of work and encourage them to follow their desired professional path. Adequate career preparation provides students with the necessary skills, knowledge, and experience to succeed in their future roles.

Companies are looking for workers to fill the vacancies they need for future tasks. Universities should produce specialists relevant to companies’ implementation of their plans.

We highlight that the younger generation has problems finding a well-paid job after graduating from university because every company is looking for specialists with experience. Therefore, as a university, you can offer your students experience during their studies. With HRForecast, there are such possibilities. We will talk about them later.

Universities that consistently produce graduates ready to start their careers significantly increase their reputation and attract more students. Research by the Chronicle of Higher Education shows that institutions with strong industry partnerships see higher employment rates among their graduates, boost their rankings, and attract more funding.

The higher the level of successful cases of employment of your students, the higher your institution’s investment.

Below, we’ve shared the factors that will be with us in the coming years and will affect the reorganization of many industries and the current labor market.

What will impact the labor market in the next 5 years if the empire of robotic Terminators won’t rise?

The labor market today and in the future expect profound changes shaped by many factors. Employment and career advancement will be influenced by:

AI automation and integration. It might seem that automation is a buzzword of 2024, but it’s not just another trend; it’s a new reality. Routine and repetitive tasks have already become automated, requiring new skills. University authorities should consider introducing courses on understanding digital tools and platforms from various disciplines, not just technical direction. The shift towards remote and hybrid work models, especially after 2020 (pandemic time), will require graduates to be adaptable and skilled in virtual collaboration tools and techniques.
Green jobs. Global attention to climate change and sustainable development already leads to green jobs. These jobs cover clean energy, environmental protection, and green technologies. Sustainability coordinators, solar or wind energy technicians, and hydrogen energy specialists are already in high demand among companies in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries.
Electronic commerce and digitalization. The exponential growth of e-commerce and the pervasive digitization of industries creates a market for job opportunities in e-commerce management, digital marketing, cybersecurity, and data analytics.
Globalization and international cooperation. Knowledge of languages is a must. Simply knowing English as the language of international communication will no longer work (remember, we are discussing necessary changes in the future). In a globalized economy, cultural awareness and the ability to work abroad is vital. Understanding global economic and market trends can help students anticipate and adapt to changes in the labor market.
Lifelong learning and continuous development. The main goal of universities here remains unchanged – to teach students to learn, search and process information, conduct analysis, and not just describe the data found. One of the obvious indicators of accelerated technological progress is the rapid growth in the number of Internet users and the number of mobile phone subscribers. For example, in 2000, less than 7% of the world’s population had access to the Internet, and today this number has increased to half of the world’s population. Similarly, mobile phone subscriptions increased from 740 million to more than 8 billion during the same period, indicating the deep penetration of technology into everyday life. Thus, the rapid pace of technological change has dramatically shortened the lifespan of new skills. Skills that were relevant a few years ago can quickly become obsolete with new technologies and processes.
Data analysis and decision-making. Back on track, the ability to analyze and interpret data is critical in all areas. Integrate data analysis courses into different programs. Make it a core course to teach students how to make decisions based on data and evidence, an essential requirement in many professions.

So, let’s see how HRforecast can assist you in helping your students identify business challenges to guarantee students future job opportunities.

Ways HRForecast can help universities and educators

HRForecast specializes in researching and analyzing current and historical labor market data. For example, our successful collaborations with the University of Ulm in Germany included helping PhD candidates or researchers at the University work on specific socioeconomic research projects by providing accurate and detailed data. This collaboration resulted in published research that influenced local labor market policies and improved employment strategies for graduates.

While universities may source data from various providers, the content intelligence conducted by the HRForecast team for areas such as socioeconomic research is renowned for its accuracy.

For example, the HRForecast team’s data accuracy in extracting data from a job posting is 92% compared to leading providers.

Where-do-we-position-against-leading-provider

Source: HRForecast

Providing universities with reliable data is a key lever for their success. From socioeconomic, truly exploratory projects, like anything else that looks at the labor market, to spotting the latest trends in cybersecurity technology or anything mechanical, we’ve got the data for you.

Analyzing job posting data helps us understand where the demand for certain positions increases or decreases. It’s the socioeconomic part. And the other part is if we look at job postings from, say, an aerospace company, we’ll see if all these aerospace companies are starting to hire people who have skills in fuel cell development. The future of the aerospace industry is no longer in turbines but in fuel cell engines, whatever they may be. In this way, universities can understand which development directions in various industries will be relevant in the future.

When students hear about the potential impact of our data, they often express, “If only my professor had access to this budget three years ago, my academic journey might have been significantly different.” They’d do this if they could go back to the future.

Looking ahead, the future is full of potential. By gearing up the power of advanced data analytics, we can revolutionize academic and professional development, ensuring that missed opportunities are a thing of the past and instilling hope for a better-prepared future. Would you like to talk more about the solutions HRForecast could help you? Let’s get in touch.