in Kosovo: A Demand Side

Transcription

1 Knowledge and Skills Gap Analysis in Kosovo: A Demand Side Perspective Visar Vokrri, Riinvest Institute

2 Study Objectives Analyze the current workforce qualifications structure Identify critical skills and occupations Identify potential training categories that improve business processes Firms perception and attitude towards Entrepreneurial Universities

3 Methodology Primary data 100 randomly selected medium and large companies Source: Tax Administration of Kosovo database Interviews with the management of selected companies The questionnaire contained 50 questions General information about companies Section on labor force

4 Survey Results

5 Hiring practices: Most common practices 4% 6% 4% Public announcement Headhunting and recommendations from others 23% From family circles 63% Through Employment Centres Other (i.e. partnership with academic institutions)

6 Hiring practices: Evaluation criteria Family relations the most important criterion for 60% of surveyed businesses; Yet a very small portion is employed from this category; Educational qualifications and university reputation of graduates, not quite relevant criteria only 20% and 16% of businesses respectively

7 Hiring practices: Evaluation criteria (2) Only 2% of businesses consider previous employment references Management tops the list of the most relevant fields for key positions The second most relevant is Engineering followed by Economics, Accounting the least relevant field

8 Workforce analysis: Academic Qualifications Current situation 1.7% 0.2% 0.1% Secondary 8% BSc 11% 16% 63% Vocational qualification Primary MSc/MA Phd No education

9 Workforce analysis: Recruiting challenges Suitably skilled jobseekers the biggest challenge Lack of relevant work experience a major challenge, too Competition from other companies and remuneration packages among the least challenging issues

10 All Graduates (1 never; 7-always) Not enough suitably skilled people Lack of the work experience you demand Company doesn t pay enough Not enough people interested in working at this location Too much competition from other employers Lack of technical or practical skills Poor attitude, motivation, or personality Lack of the qualifications you demand Not enough people interested in doing this type of job Lack of basic ability to build upon

11 Skills gap: Personal and job related skills Around 60% of companies reported that there is a significant skills gap between the current skills and those in need Skills that need improving: Technical / Practical skills, team working and problem solving skills with the highest average intensity score (5.1/7) Communication related skills also needs improvement (4.9/7) Literacy skills the lowest average intensity score (3.7/7)

12 Problem solving skills Team working skills All Technical or practical skills Graduates (1 no improvement; 7-substantial improvement needed) Literacy skills Numeracy skills Cyber security skills Financial literacy skills Customer handling skills Communication & presentation skills Managerial skills General communication skills Computer literacy / IT skills

13 Skills gap: Specific skills Vast majority of firms consider Setting objectives and planning as very important (97% of firms); Understanding numerical and statistical information is also a very important skill (57% of firms); fairly important (37%) Communicating in English and Manual dexterity very important skills, too (41% and 65% of firms respectively)

14 Knowledge gap Respondents rated a list of 25 different knowledge areas On average, all listed areas were rated above 4 on a scale of 1 to 7 Ability to identify emerging technologies received the highest score; the least needed area to be more successful was ranked Impact of cultural differences on doing business Similar ranking when controlling for graduates

15 Knowledge gap: Exporters vs non-exporters Areas Average Score (1 - very low; 7 - very high) Non-exporters Exporters Identifying emerging technologies Managing business process Communication processes Knowledge of competitors in this regional/domestic market Opportunities for potential new costumers Impact of the cultural differences on doing business

16 Knowledge gap: Firms reaction to newly emerging tasks 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 3.3% 6.6% 3.3% 25.3% 24.2% 28.6% 13.2% 14.3% 14.3% 58.2% 54.9% 53.8% Training of available staff Internal reorganization to better use the existing skills and competencies Yes No Don't know No answer Recruitment of new staff

17 Hard-to-fill vacancies 56% of firms plan to hire new staff this year However, the following are identified as the most hard-to-fill vacancies: Sales specialists (one third of surveyed firms) 16% are looking for sales professionals Technologists (food processing industry) Electro and construction engineers IT specialists

18 Trainings: Improving business processes Marketing training scores highest on average (5.9/7); more than 40% of businesses ranked as the most important A close second is considered Creativity and innovation training (38% of respondents giving it the highest score) Corporate social responsibility training is ranked lowest on average

19 Creativity and innovation Training Use of IT technology Training 1 least important; 7 most important CSR training for management or board Training Corporate govenance training for managment Marketing Training or board Training In house communation Training 4.9 Cyber security Training 5 Leadership skills Training 5.6 Business/Company Law Training 5.1 Business management principles 5.6 Human Resource Management Training 5.3 Business ethics Training 5.6 Tax / Financial regulations Training 5.5 Business strategy Training 5.4

20 Trainings: Perception on training usefulness 1 not useful; 7 very useful 5.9 Learning on the job E-Learning Self Study 4.8 Face to face learning Learning based on case studies Learning based on simulation 4.9

21 Entrepreneurial Universities The majority of surveyed firms support the concept (81%) Entrepreneurship courses for students has been identified from businesses as the most important indicator in making Universities entrepreneurial (5.6 out of 7) The second most important indicator students favorable attitude and keen interest towards entrepreneurship (5.4 out of 7) Appropriate rewarding system as the least important area in making Universities entrepreneurial

22 Firms satisfaction: Public vs private universities Majority of firms satisfied with skills of employees graduated from public HEIs (69%) Most common issues: knowledge of foreign languages, practical experience, team working experience Similar satisfaction level with private HEIs (67% of firms) Common areas of dissatisfaction: disinterest, practical and managerial skills, communication skills Businesses show interest in cooperation with HEIs (public and private) in designing programmes according to their needs

23 Concluding Remarks The private sector (small and medium enterprises) acknowledge the need for improvement of employee s skills Around three fourths of jobs are filled by employees with vocational qualification or secondary school Firms systematically face difficulties in hiring skilled workers with relevant experience Sales professionals, technologists, engineers (electrical, construction, etc.) the main hard-to-fill vacancies

24 Concluding Remarks (2) Skills that need immediate improvement: communication skills, team working, technical, IT, managerial skills Firms perceive trainings as very important in improving business processes There is willingness among the private sector to cooperate with HEIs in addressing their challenges Firms are aware of and support the concept of Entrepreneurial Universities

25 Thank you!