Online Job Ads Research Articles

Skills in online job ads: An analysis of Italian regions

Economists and other social scientists are increasingly leveraging web data to tackle socio-economic issues and integrate existing sources of information. The data generated by online platforms and websites offer a wealth of multidimensional information with diverse potential applications in economic analysis. Online job advertisement data, for instance, allows us to enhance our understanding of the labour market by providing timely insights into business demand and the skills required for various job positions. This paper examines skill similarities at the regional level in Italy and the variations in skills sought by businesses over time using Lightcast data for 2019 and 2020. In light of this, we use two measures related to the regional skill similarities, an index for the regional skill changes, jointly with some features of the local economy, in order to provide a picture of Italian regions.

Does Probation Lead to Higher Starting Wage? Evidence from Japanese Online Job Ads

Does Probation Lead to Higher Starting Wage? Evidence from Japanese Online Job Ads

Online job ads in Italy: a regional analysis of ICT professionals

Online job ads in Italy: a regional analysis of ICT professionals

College majors and skills: Evidence from the universe of online job ads

We use the near universe of U.S. online job ads to document four new facts about the skills employers demand from college majors. First, some skills—social and organizational—are demanded from all majors whereas others—financial and customer service—are demanded from only particular majors. Second, some majors have skill demand profiles that mirror overall demand for college graduates, such as Business and General Engineering, while other majors, such as Nursing and Education, have relatively rare skill profiles. Third, cross-major differences in skill profiles explain considerable wage variation. Fourth, although major-specific skill demand varies across place, this variation plays little role in explaining wage variation. College majors can thus be reasonably conceptualized as portable bundles of skills.

To see, or not to see: Online job advertisement and EU non-discrimination law

The recruitment process has largely moved online. Job advertisements which used to be bound to newspapers and other print media have become an online service as part of a growing trend towards a more digitalised hiring process. Alongside increased flexibility and cost-cutting, this trend brings so previously unseen challenges. The technology behind online job portals and social media allows job ads to be shown to targeted groups of people using machine learning techniques to filter through the available data and search for the most suitable audience. The correlations that are inferred by algorithms between content and audience, however, can lead to biased outcomes. This is a serious problem since the specific risk with online job ads is that jobseekers who are considered less suitable by the algorithm will not see the ad at all. Such a result effectively hinders access to the labour market and poses the risk of perpetuating existing biases and discrimination. Those discrimination risks raise questions about the legal framework of online job advertisements. This article examines the requirements of the new EU initiatives to regulate artificial intelligence and the digital market and EU non-discrimination law regarding online job advertisements. It also proposes a low-tech solution to the high-tech problems associated with online job advertisements by introducing a legal requirement to publicly tender job ads on an online noticeboard, thus ensuring transparency and effective access to employment.

The development of a competence framework for artificial intelligence professionals using probabilistic topic modelling

PurposeThe current gap between the required and available artificial intelligence (AI) professionals poses significant challenges for organisations and academia. Organisations are challenged to identify and secure the appropriate AI competencies. Simultaneously, academia is challenged to design, offer and quickly scale academic programmes in line with industry needs and train new generations of AI professionals. Therefore, identifying and structuring AI competencies is necessary to effectively overcome the AI competence shortage.Design/methodology/approachA probabilistic topic model was applied to explore the AI competence categories empirically. The authors analysed 1159 AI-related online job ads published on LinkedIn.FindingsThe authors identified five predominant competence categories: (1) Data Science, (2) AI Software Development, (3) AI Product Development and Management, (4) AI Client Servicing, and (5) AI Research. These five competence categories were summarised under the developed AI competence framework.Originality/valueThe AI competence framework contributes to clarifying and structuring the diverse AI landscape. These findings have the potential to aid various stakeholders involved in the process of training, recruiting and selecting AI professionals. They may guide organisations in constructing a complementary portfolio of AI competencies by helping users match the right competence requirements with an organisation's needs and business objectives. Similarly, they can support academia in designing academic programmes aligned with industry needs. Furthermore, while focusing on AI, this study contributes to the research stream of information technology (IT) competencies.

Knowledge Graphs in Education and Employability: A Survey on Applications and Techniques

Studies on the relationship between education and employability are of paramount importance for policy makers, training institutions, companies and students. The availability of large scale data on the internet, such as online job ads, has been leveraged to better investigate this relationship. Recent studies have shown that representing this data using knowledge graphs can be useful in identifying the job market needs and establishing better assessment methods. Such studies also highlight the skill mismatch between education and the job market and help mitigate it. In this survey, we provide a comprehensive review of the applications of knowledge graphs in education and employability. We go through the knowledge graph based frameworks that have been proposed in previous work on different aspects of education and employability. The survey introduces new taxonomies for these applications and their methodologies, and provides a thorough outlook on promising research directions. We also present a use case to illustrate how knowledge graphs can be used to investigate the relationship between education and the job market.

The Demand for Language Skills in the European Labour Market: Evidence From Online Job Ads

The Demand for Language Skills in the European Labour Market: Evidence From Online Job Ads

College Majors and Skills: Evidence from the Universe of Online Job Ads

College Majors and Skills: Evidence from the Universe of Online Job Ads

Studying the UK job market during the COVID-19 crisis with online job ads.

The COVID-19 global pandemic and the lockdown policies enacted to mitigate it have had profound effects on the labour market. Understanding these effects requires us to obtain and analyse data in as close to real time as possible, especially as rules change rapidly and local lockdowns are enacted. This work studies the UK labour market by analysing data from the online job board Reed.co.uk, using topic modelling and geo-inference methods to break down the data by sector and geography. I also study how the salary, contract type, and mode of work have changed since the COVID-19 crisis hit the UK in March. Overall, vacancies were down by 60 to 70% in the first weeks of lockdown. By the end of the year numbers had recovered somewhat, but the total job ad deficit is measured to be over 40%. Broken down by sector, vacancies for hospitality and graduate jobs are greatly reduced, while there were more care work and nursing vacancies during lockdown. Differences by geography are less significant than between sectors, though there is some indication that local lockdowns stall recovery and less badly hit areas may have experienced a smaller reduction in vacancies. There are also small but significant changes in the salary distribution and number of full time and permanent jobs. As well as the analysis, this work presents an open methodology that enables a rapid and detailed survey of the job market in unsettled conditions and describes a web application jobtrender.com that allows others to query this data set.

Competências e habilidades digitais requeridas aos profissionais da informação nos anúncios brasileiros de emprego na web

We analyze online job ads to identify the digital competences that companies and organizations demand from information professionals. This information is obtained from a content analysis of online job ads. Their retrieval from the web is terminological, and specialists select ads that include knowledge, activities, or requirements related to information science and digital transformation. After the ad format is standardized, the ads are analyzed using an ad hoc taxonomy for categorization. The taxonomy and the corpus of the ads are compared using automatized XML files in Apache Solr. Based on the taxonomy, we approach the text of the ads. The obtained data are stored as CSV files, from which we generate the general and specific groups of knowledge. The results are displayed according to classes of knowledge and professional profiles, focusing on those that relate to digital transformation. We explain the activity branches and the transversal informatics knowledge of the companies offering the positions. The specific knowledge in the digital environment is then presented, interpreted, and grouped according to the ads’ most characteristic facets: digital objects, data banks; digital services; data analysis; knowledge banks and artificial intelligence; software; knowledge organization systems (KSO); rights and values; and web and portals. These facets are distinguished by their frequency and by the transformations they generate in professional activities. We conclude by considering the appearance of profiles that are quite removed from traditional denominations and activities, as well as considering the effects of digital transformation in a highly complex labor market and on the development of digital competences.

A Survey on Skill Identification From Online Job Ads

A changing job market, influenced by different factors such as globalization and demographic growth, urges close monitoring. The digitization of the job market has given the opportunity to researchers to better understand job market needs as job postings/ads become more accessible. However, such postings are submitted in unstructured text and need further processing to identify the required skills. The aim of this survey is to review current research on skill identification from job ads and to discuss possible future research directions. In this study, we systematically reviewed 108 research articles on the topic. In particular, we evaluated and classified the prior work aiming to identify the skill bases used for analyzing job market needs; the type of extracted skills; the skill identification methods; the studied sector and the skill identification granularity. Then, we categorized the existent applications and goals of skill identification. Finally, we present key challenges and discuss recent trends.

Spillover Effects from Voluntary Employer Minimum Wages

Low unionization rates, a falling real federal minimum wage, and prevalent non-competes characterize low-wage jobs in the United States and contribute to growing inequality. In recent years, a number of private employers have opted to institute or raise company-wide minimum wages for their employees, sometimes in response to public pressure. To what extent do wage-setting changes at major employers spill over to other employers, and what are the labor market effects of these policies? In this paper, we study recent minimum wages by Amazon, Walmart, Target, and Costco using data from millions of online job ads and employee surveys. We document that these policies induced wage increases at low-wage jobs at other employers. In the case of Amazon, which instituted a $15 minimum wage in October 2018, our estimates imply that a 10% increase in Amazon's advertised hourly wages led to an average increase of 2.6% among other employers in the same commuting zone. Using the CPS, we estimate wage increases in exposed jobs in line with our magnitudes from employee surveys and find that major employer minimum wage policies led to small but precisely estimated declines in employment, with employment elasticities ranging from -.04 to -.13.

College Majors and Skills: Evidence from the Universe of Online Job Ads

College Majors and Skills: Evidence from the Universe of Online Job Ads

Spillover Effects from Voluntary Employer Minimum Wages

Low unionization rates, a falling real federal minimum wage, and outsourcing have hampered wage growth in the low-wage sector in the US. In recent years, a number of private employers have opted to institute or raise company-wide minimum wages for their employees, sometimes in response to public pressure. To what extent do wage-setting changes at major employers spill over to other employers, and what are the broader labor market effects of these policies? In this paper, we study recent minimum wages by Amazon, Walmart, Target, CVS, and Costco using data from millions of online job ads and employee surveys. We document that these policies induced wage increases at low-wage jobs at other employers, where the modal response was to match the wage announced by the large retailer. In the case of Amazon’s $15 minimum wage in October 2018, our estimates imply that a 10% increase in Amazon’s advertised hourly wages led to an average increase of 2.3% among other employers in the same commuting zone. Using the CPS, we estimate wage increases in exposed jobs in line with our magnitudes from employee surveys and find that large employer minimum wage policies led to small but precisely estimated declines in employment, with employment elasticities ranging from -0.04 to -0.13. Large employer minimum wage announcements influenced wages more broadly. The magnitude of these wage spillovers cannot easily be explained by standard competitive pressures, suggesting a role for both market power and norms in wage determination.

Competencies of the present-day Graphic Designer: A document analysis of online job ads in Ghana

This study sought to provide an overview of the competencies required by employers in advertising for graphic design position in relation to inter-active design in Ghana. This was done in the context of the dynamism of graphic design profession with current technological advances. Both thematic and content analysis were used to analyse online job advertisements collected within eight months to determine the patterns and frequencies of occurrence of specific requirements for the job position relating to graphic design. This was to better understand employers’ expectations from the graphic designer in terms of designing for interactivity and the implications for graphic design pedagogy. Findings from the study revealed that, traditional graphic designers in Ghana will now have to acquire skills in interactive design and competencies associated with them. These include among others, responsive design, problem-solving, coding skill, software skills, creativity, CMS tools, project management and personal characteristics. Beyond these, request for skills in coding, knowledge in responsive design, knowledge in content management system tools, software skills and teamwork are the most frequently expected skills from the present day graphic designer. We end the paper by suggesting how our study could trigger graphic design pedagogy developmen

POSTGRADUATE EDUCATION FOR INTERNAL AUDITORS VERSUS EMPLOYERS’ EXPECTATIONS

The article analyses the content and structure of postgraduate courses in internal auditing to compare them with Polish employers’ expectations about internal auditors’ competencies. It was prepared based on a review of the literature and analysis of 43 online job ads for internal auditors and 19 postgraduate internal auditing courses available from 17 higher schools in Poland. The comparative analysis of postgraduate courses for internal auditors and employers’ expectations regarding the professionals’ characteristics revealed the weaknesses of the former and their limited ability to provide public and private organizations with the right types of specialists. Educational institutions were found to underestimate the importance of internal auditors’ soft skills.

Categorizing Humorous Employer Brand Message in a Small Company’s Online Job Ads

This study creates a framework for defining the employer brand message to understand an understudied phenomenon: how small companies use humour in online job ads. The originality of the framework is based on three issues. First: categorizing employer brand content into symbolic attributes: staff, applicant and other stakeholder, and instrumental attributes: company and job. Second: categorizing humour, informal and formal as communication styles. Third: investigating the thematic relatedness of communication style to employer brand content attributes to understand using humour in employer brand message. Illustrative empirical findings indicated that a small company focused more on symbolic attributes rather than instrumental attributes in its employer brand content. Humour was used typically when it was thematically related to symbolic attributes: applicant or staff. Humour was used less when it was thematically related to instrumental attributes: company and job. A framework offers new insights for researchers in the conceptualizing of the employer brand message. For marketing practitioners, it offers a method for evaluating and planning a company’s employer brand message.

Does Emphasizing Different Types of Person–Environment Fit in Online Job Ads Influence Application Behavior and Applicant Quality? Evidence from a Field Experiment

Grounded in person–environment fit theory, this field experiment was designed to test the effects of job advertisements emphasizing information about demands–abilities (D–A) or needs–supplies (N–S) fit on the size and quality of the applicant pool. The wording used in 56 actual job ads was manipulated to emphasize D–A or N–S fit, and data were collected about application behavior and applicant quality based on ratings of the resumes submitted by 991 applicants. Other study hypotheses were tested using survey data collected from a subsample (n = 91). Job ads emphasizing N–S fit, rather than D–A fit, elicited more applications (relative to job ad views) and a higher quality applicant pool. Analyses of survey data provided support for mediated and moderated effects that provide insight into how and for whom N–S fit information in job ads is ultimately linked to greater attraction. The findings indicate that recruiting organizations can craft job ads to emphasize specific types of fit and favorably affect applicants’ perceived fit, attraction, and application behavior, as well as the quality of the applicant pool. This study is one of only a few field experiments containing manipulations of the content of job ads in the recruitment literature. The distinction between two important fit constructs that have received surprisingly little empirical attention in recruitment contexts was found to have effects on application behavior and applicant quality—two critically important, yet rarely examined outcomes.

Examining How Corporations Use Online Job Ads to Communicate Employer Brand Image Information

In the nascent stages of recruitment, job seekers typically have little or no information about employers beyond that communicated by recruitment materials. An investigation of the employer brand image information presented in online job advertisements was conducted using the instrumental-symbolic framework, an approach for studying the factors that influence people’s evaluations of employers. A sample of 100 job ads representing four vocations was collected from three online job boards. Study results suggest that job ads typically included 4.5 times more instrumental than symbolic information, with 13 percent of the job ads analyzed containing no symbolic attributes at all. The average reading level of online job ads and frequency of image use are also reported.