Report: Employers in the service sectors need experts with language skills

The pilot project of Service Sector Employers Palta, the Finnish Commerce Federation and the Finnish Hospitality Association MaRa investigated what kind of competence is needed in the service sectors. The competence needed by employers was now investigated for the first time from job advertisements using artificial intelligence.The competence needs of the service sectors have previously been investigated by means of surveys and interviews.

“Job advertisements provided us with valuable information about the needs of employers and the AI-assisted data collection enabled us to review and compare the competence needs of three sectors. Among the sectors represented by Palta, the financial administration sector, which is a key partner for other service sectors, was included in the report. The financial administration sector has reported a shortage of financial and payroll management specialists and challenges in finding a sufficient amount of developers of digital financial management solutions,” says Milka Kortet, Chief Policy Adviser at Service Sector Employers Palta.

Skills in creating an excellent customer experience are emphasised in all sectors

Creating an excellent customer experience is key in all service sectors, especially in tasks involving encountering consumer and corporate customers.

The skills of employees in the service sectors focused on skills related to customer service, such as customer orientation, teamwork and cooperation skills and a positive attitude. Competence related to responsibility and sustainable development was also emphasised.

“The results reinforce the perception that even though sectors are developing, competences seen as traditional in the service sectors will retain their significance. Customer service skills are fundamental pillars that carry through change. Responsibility and sustainable development, on the other hand, ensure that the services meet both current and future needs,” says Katri Jakosuo, Education Policy Specialist at the Finnish Hospitality Association MaRa.

English and Swedish skills are particularly needed 

When looking at the language skills required for work, Swedish is an important skill in addition to English.

“Services are offered throughout Finland, so it is often important to offer the service in English and Swedish in addition to Finnish. Customers appreciate the service in their own language, and the service they receive has a major impact on the customer experience,” says Moona Naakka, Senior Advisor of Education at the Finnish Commerce Federation.

Of course, language skills are also needed in tasks other than customer service. Especially the emphasis on Swedish in the material strongly indicates that the other official language in Finland is seen as a significant skill, which is also highlighted in job advertisements.

“Recently, commerce sector companies have communicated the need for Swedish-speaking employees. Together, we want to emphasise that perfect Swedish language skills are not expected in working life. The most important thing is to have the courage to use the language and bring out the language skills already during the recruitment process,” says Naakka.

Digital skills play an important role in the developing sectors

The competence needs related to office software were emphasised in all sectors. Office software refers to software used in daily work. In particular, skills related to MS Office were highlighted in the material.Competence related to using e-mail was also highlighted in several job advertisements.

Palta’s and the Finnish Commerce Federation’s materials highlighted programming languages, business systems, cloud services and software development as equal areas of competence.

Understanding related to information security is also important in all sectors and all positions, but surprisingly, it was not particularly highlighted in this material. Artificial intelligence, which significantly shapes working life, has not yet emerged as a competence need in the 2023 job advertisements that were the subject of the report.

The report was carried out by examining the competence needs of companies in the sectors based on job advertisements from 2023. The data was collected by Headai Oy using cognitive artificial intelligence.

Further information:

Milka Kortet, Chief Policy Adviser, Service Sector Employers Palta, tel. +358 (0)50 569 7856, milka.kortet(at)palta.fi

Katri Jakosuo, Education Policy Specialist, Finnish Hospitality Association MaRa, tel. +358 (0)41 501 4224, katri.jakosuo(at)mara.fi

Moona Naakka, Senior Advisor, Education, Finnish Commerce Federation, tel. +358 45 651 8474, moona.naakka(at)kauppa.fi