IG@work: SEV’s platform for matching innovative enterprises with talented workforce
The Greek economy has left behind the period of the severe economic crisis and is growing again, with growth rates above euro area’s average. Maintaining this positive momentum and achieving a seamless green and digital transition requires above all a talented workforce equipped with the appropriate mix of knowledge and skills. At the same time, people must be offered high-quality upskilling and reskilling opportunities in order to keep track with continuous technological change. However, skills shortages are stubbornly prevalent across the Greek economy and are particularly pronounced in ICT-related roles. The skills gap is by far the most serious obstacle facing Greek companies, especially the largest and tech-savvy ones, as it hinders their efforts to grow, secure their place in Global Value Chains, and produce innovative products and services.
Skills shortages are not, of course, a phenomenon of today; nor is it limited to Greece – all developed economies face the same challenge to various degrees. However, these shortages have been more acute in Greece, especially in recent years, as the economy is growing again. The main factors that have led to this situation include high non-wage labor costs; the brain drain phenomenon during the years of the economic crisis; a mismatch between the skills needed by firms and those available in the workforce; a low participation rate of adults in high-quality education and training programs; limited on-the-job training opportunities offered by firms; and the lack of a high-quality system for education, training, and certification.
SEV, as the largest employers’ representative in the country, with some of the largest, outward-looking and tech-savvy businesses as members, is working steadily to alleviate this problem for its members. In this context, one of the initiatives it has undertaken is the creation of IG@work digital platform. IG@work was designed and implemented by SEV and the Innovative Greeks community, with the valuable help of Workable – a Greek multinational, one of the leading companies worldwide in the field of recruitment and human resource management processes.
👉 In IG@work, SEV member companies and start-ups of the Elevate Greece registry publish, free of charge, highly specialized, knowledge and skill intense job vacancies. In other words, at IG@work the quality of both the businesses that publish their job ads and the job ads themselves is guaranteed.
The aforementioned initiative aims to gather on one platform well-paid and high-quality jobs with promising prospects, offered by the most dynamic part of the country’s business community. In this way, it aspires to contribute to a better and faster matching between demand and supply of high-level skills and, to some extent, to the repatriation of talented Greeks who sought better jobs abroad during the crisis but wish to return back.
About a year after its launch, 313 companies have registered on IG@work; 3.000 job ads have been published, for which 8.400 applications (resumes) have been submitted.
Not surprisingly, the lion’s share of requested specialties is directed to Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) roles. This is followed by Engineering, Sales and Marketing majors (left chart). In addition, 56% of the job ads aim at middle and high-level executives. When it comes to the job seeker segment, the most interest is directed towards job ads for Data Analysis. They are followed by ICT, Engineering, Marketing and Human Resource Management majors (right graph).
The graphs above reveal a limited, but not negligible, discrepancy between the specialties that companies are looking for and those that are mainly of interest to job seekers through IG@work. Of course, the interpretation of the data should not lead to generalized conclusions, since the platform is only one year old and the sample is not representative. Nevertheless, the growing demand for ICT and engineering skills seems to be confirmed by the concrete figures as well.
Faster and better coupling between businesses and high-level human resources is a necessary condition for economic growth and prosperity for every country. IG@work aspires to contribute to this effort by bringing talented Greeks, both from Greece and abroad, into contact with the most innovative and dynamic segment of Greek entrepreneurship.