Soft skills and digital skills are leading the charge for new jobs

Soft skills and digital skills are leading the charge for new jobs

Amsterdam, March 25, 2021 – The era in which a diploma will guarantee the best job opportunities seems to be over. No less than 64% of Dutch companies no longer ask new employees for a diploma. This is evident from the Lepaya Skills Index, research conducted by Lepaya, among the publicly available job descriptions of the 100 fastest growing companies in the Netherlands. 13% indicated while they are still seeking a certain level of thinking that suits a specific type of education, yet no longer ask for the diploma itself. Skills, on the other hand, are increasingly taking a leading role in the search for new staff.

Non-automatable soft skills are on the rise

The digitization of the labor market has accelerated due to the corona crisis. This has created entirely new jobs, changed requirements, and increased the need for skills that cannot be automated, research shows. While 2 out of 3 companies still see hard skills, measurable practical skills, as necessary, more than 60% of the organizations cite one or more soft skills as a job requirement. Communication skills, solution orientation and independence are among the most in-demand personal skills of the fastest growingDutch companies.

Digitization comes with additional skill needs: a growing demand for digital skills

Despite the growing concern among workers, 37% of the respondents indicate that they pay insufficient attention not only to developing future-proof skills such as empathy, persuasiveness, but also the digital skills necessary to properly understand and control new technologies. The younger the employee, the less attention paid to personal growth and development: no less than 41% of millennials surveyed pay insufficient attention to developing skills that are necessary for their future career.

Personal growth is an explicit part of the job description at Dutch companies

One in three fast-growing Dutch companies see personal growth as an inherent part of a job and identify the opportunities for personal growth and development in their job descriptions. The 33% who mention development opportunities, however, do not give concrete examples of what exactly is being offered. Possibilities that are mentioned are attending external events, personal learning budgets and internal training.

“Diplomas are outdated. We were pleasantly surprised to see that fast-growing organizations also see the importance of skills. Hiring new staff with future-proof skills and continuously developing them is the only way to remain relevant as an organization. The challenge for companies in the coming years is to fully embrace lifelong learning, in all business processes, even beyond the job description ”, says René Janssen, founder of Lepaya.

About Lepaya

Lepaya provides power skills training that combines online and offline learning. Founded in 2018 by René Janssen and Peter Kuperus who believe that the right training, at the right time aimed at the right skill, makes organizations more productive. Lepaya has already trained thousands of employees.

As a challenger in an overcrowded training market, Lepaya responds to the needs of Europe’s fastest-growing tech companies, such as Mollie, Takeaway, and Picnic. By combining hard skills with soft skills, offered together as power skills, the Amsterdam company is growing faster in a market in which the demand for further education and training continues to increase throughout the world.

In 2020, Lepaya raised an investment round of €5M and independently acquired Smartenup, a training company that supports professionals to work better, faster, and smarter with data. Lepaya focuses on the Dutch, Belgian, German, and Swedish markets and serves its customers worldwide.

More information about Lepaya: www.lepaya.com

For more information, contact:

René Janssen | Founder & Managing Director of Lepaya
rene@lepaya.com | +31 (0)6 306 42 695