What are the main skills issues and concerns for the Publishing industry?
Employers look for staff who are highly literate, numerate and who have a grasp of basic office skills, such as taking calls, turning up on time and working well with colleagues.
13% of publishing employers have current vacancies and of those employers, 36% report having hard-to-fill vacancies demonstrating a skills shortage. Skills that are in the highest demand include:
- technical skills, particularly the ability to meet industry standards;
- strategic analysis of e-publishing opportunities;
- creative digital marketing;
- multi-media journalism; and
- understanding the impact on Intellectual Property (IP) rights.
Job roles are blurring and merging across the workforce. Digital convergence continues to present a particular challenge. Roles within editorial, journalism, marketing and sales require strong traditional skills combined with technical expertise, to develop content for multiple platforms. Over a quarter (28%) of publishing companies report skills gaps in the existing workforce including:
- sales and marketing;
- technical, including programming, usage, web design and development and software;
- business and entrepreneurial; and
- leadership and management.
Within journalism almost three-quarters (71%) of employers think there is a skills gap amongst graduates, according to a Skillset report (Convergence Journalism Skills Survey, 2009). To read the report and access more information about the skills issues within journalism, please visit this page - Convergence Journalism Report.
For more information on the other skills issues, please visit our Research section.