How to deal with the shortage of highly qualified workers

Employers are often forced to lower their requirements when searching for a high-skilled employee.

Illustrative stock photoIllustrative stock photo (Source: Unsplash)

High-skilled workers ready to take up jobs may be hard to come by in Slovakia. This is particularly true for IT professionals, the biggest Slovak job search website reports.

Yet, the IT sector is not the only one lacking a qualified workforce in Slovakia, even though it is the most prominent. Employers have encountered problems when looking to fill jobs in management, trade, economy and finance, administration, banking, electric technologies, energy and production, according to the Profesia. sk website. Experts add healthcare professionals, engineers, automotive industry specialists and teachers to professions that are most in demand.

SkryťTurn off ads
Article continues after video advertisement
SkryťTurn off ads
Article continues after video advertisement

SkryťTurn off ads

Market watchers see two plausible measures for improving the market’s condition – opening the labour market to migration as a short-term solution and, in the long term, thoroughly reforming Slovakia’s education system. Some are sceptical about whether the change will arrive soon enough. The competition in the neighbouring countries adds to their worries: if Slovakia does not catch up with its neighbours’ efforts to lure workers from abroad, its labour market will lag behind even more than it does already.

Moreover, the Covid-19 pandemic strengthened the demand for workers in some sectors, noted Martin Kahanec, founder and director of research at the non-governmental think tank Central European Labour Studies Institute (CELSI).

“There is a demand for employees who could adapt to new conditions, such as new digital smart technologies, who have a high stress tolerance, a high level of endurance, who are responsible and can work independently with a high level of self-discipline,” Kahanec told The Slovak Spectator.

SkryťTurn off ads

IT even more in demand during the pandemic

Profesia spokesperson Nikola Richterová uses the example of the IT sector to show that the pandemic increased the use of new technologies, which subsequently increased the value and demand for IT specialists on the labour market. The sector suffered from a lack of qualified workers even before the pandemic hit.

“The IT sector has lacked a labour force ever since it was established,” Brian Fabo, an analyst with the National Bank of Slovakia, told The Slovak Spectator. “There is still a lack of people. Employers repeatedly say that they would be able to employ many more.”

Richterová noted that the huge competition on the side of employers forces companies to lower their demands. This is why the increasing number of offers is suitable for graduates.

The rest of this article is premium content at Spectator.sk
Subscribe now for full access

I already have subscription - Sign in

Subscription provides you with:
  • Immediate access to all locked articles (premium content) on Spectator.sk
  • Special weekly news summary + an audio recording with a weekly news summary to listen to at your convenience (received on a weekly basis directly to your e-mail)
  • PDF version of the latest issue of our newspaper, The Slovak Spectator, emailed directly to you
  • Access to all premium content on Sme.sk and Korzar.sk

Top stories

From left: Defence Minister Robert Kaliňák (Smer), Supreme Allied Commander Europe Christopher Cavoli, and Daniel Zmeko.

Don't forget to do your shopping ahead of Easter, a tip for a new Slovak National Gallery exhibition, and feast your eyes on decorated eggs.


Píšem or pišám?

"Do ľava," (to the left) I yelled, "Nie, do prava" (no, to the right), I gasped. "Dolšie," I screamed. "Nie, nie, horšie..." My Slovak girlfriend collapsed in laughter. Was it something I said?


Matthew J. Reynolds
Czech biochemist Jan Konvalinka.

Jan Konvalinka was expecting a pandemic before Covid-19 came along.


SkryťClose ad