The great paradox of the labor market: “Now the candidates are the ones who interview you”

Something doesn’t fit. In the Spain of 2.8 million unemployed, companies from different sectors assure that they cannot find employees to cover their needs. It is not just about technology companies looking for highly qualified personnel. Shipping companies, hotels, construction companies and service companies have difficulties covering their workforces. The employers, between surprised and dismayed, separate the Spanish imbalance from the phenomenon registered in the US after the pandemic —the Great Resignation—, with the massive trickle of workers who voluntarily abandoned their jobs. On the contrary, they maintain that, at least in Spain, we are witnessing a complex phenomenon in which not only salary matters. The shortcomings of the educational system to train employees with digital skills and the change in expectations of workers also have an influence.

The president of the Circulo de Empresarios Vascos, Jose Galindez, condenses in a phrase that something unusual is brewing in companies: “The people in charge of human resources say that now the candidates interview you.” The difficulties of some companies to hire personnel occur at a time of simultaneous boiling in key sectors such as the aerospace, defense, infrastructure and energy industries. As always, the phenomenon has its face and has its cross. On the one hand it reflects a country in motion, with opportunities; on the other, it shows that, at least as far as the labor market is concerned, there are more seams than seams.

It is not easy to understand what is happening. The president of the Family Business Institute, Andres Sendagorta —also president of the engineering company Sener—, confirms this. “It’s quite disconcerting and I think he’s doing damage,” he admits. The manager also admits a certain contradiction between appearance and reality. “Within this pessimistic environment, then you go deeper and it turns out that the companies are not doing badly.”

But facts are facts. And Sendagorta details that in his company “150 engineers are missing.” He adds another case: “CAF wants to set up a development center in Bilbao and it needs 200 telecom engineers that it cannot find; it turns out that the University of the Basque Country produces 10 a year”. The mismatch between supply and demand leads to brutal competition to attract talent. The unions do not share the diagnosis of the employers. The CC OO report Analysis of job vacancies in Spain (June 2022) attributes the gap to poor working conditions in low-skill sectors, high job instability, long working hours, low wages, lack of of training within companies and the low level of qualification of the Spanish business community.

“It is not just a matter of salary. You have to be attractive as a company. Complex technical profiles are in high demand and they don’t come to see you. You have to offer attractive packages; free hours and remote work…, in the professional world you have to deploy” says Galindez. The problem does not only affect leading companies. In areas of high industrial activity, companies find themselves and want to relieve workers who had been able to adapt from the most basic machine to remote control. It is not a question of money because, in this section, the context is favourable. The Next Generation European Funds are endowed with 750,000 million to be distributed in the EU between 2021 and 2027. Spain, only the program called Digital Kit, has a budget of 3,000 million to digitize companies and the self-employed.

digitization

Despite the complaints, Spain, according to Carina Szpilka, president of Adigital and founding partner of the venture capital fund K Fund, is not in a bad position. “It ranks seventh in the 2022 edition of the EU Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) and is the most digitized large country of all EU Member States.” But reality overwhelms. Across Europe, 64% of large companies and 56% of small and medium-sized companies are having trouble finding talent for jobs that require technological knowledge, according to a study commissioned by Salesforce from RAND Europe (Digital Skills Research). .

“In no sector is there too much talent,” explains Iker Arce, co-founder and CEO of The Bridge, a company dedicated to training in new technologies. The educational system is not enough to train the professionals demanded by companies. To be considered a digital talent, experts point out that you must master at least one of 24 “hard” and four of eight “soft” digital skills. Among the former are analytics, artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, community management, SEO or web development; among the latter, adaptation to change, time management, leadership, emotional intelligence and teamwork.

Sources from the Secretary of State for Digitization and AI assure that 2023 “will be the great year for the deployment of basic and advanced skills among citizens.” The lever is “the National Plan for Digital Competencies, with a budget of 3,750 million.” According to official data, more than 1,000 million have been transferred to the autonomous communities for the digitization of schools, vocational training and the University, with the creation of 130,000 additional vocational training places in the digital sphere.

Everything is little. Arce handles revealing data. In the world, the digital economy will require 149 million positions of digital specialists in 2025 when the educational system barely generates five million a year. As far as Spain is concerned, closing the gap between supply and demand would take, in the best of cases, 20 years. Companies know that they are playing it. The competition for talent is fierce inside and outside of Spain. The 70 companies that are part of the Circulo de Empresarios Vascos have held meetings with all the universities present in the territory to improve processes.

It’s a race against time and universities, public and private, try to keep pace. Isabel Fernandez, rector of the Alfonso X el Sabio University, PhD in Computer Engineering and with business experience, detects two major barriers to being able to adapt from the University to changes: “The quality assurance processes to which universities are subject to through the regulator, which involves cycles of a year and a half to introduce changes, and the fact that 80% of recent graduates appear in the public environment, which is excellent, but where introducing changes is slower”. Faced with the barriers, she proposes three solutions: “A sufficiently high proportion of practicing professionals in university cloisters; professional certifications given by third parties external to the University and work methodologies that companies are using”.

“The problem”, summarizes Galindez, is not from the University or from the companies. “It belongs to the University and the companies. The question is how we integrate students into companies throughout their professional cycle”. Small tech companies show new ways. Manuel Marina, CEO of Idoven, a start up which offers cardiology services powered by artificial intelligence and remotely, believes that companies like his now have an easier time recruiting talent and accessing financing. “If we want to be competitive in Spain, we must understand the rules with which other countries play. And I perceive that this is happening”.

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