Top 10 skills needed for business services and admin managers don’t include time management or Maltese

Speaking Maltese and having time management skills are not among the top 10 requirements listed in online job advertisements (OJAs) for the roles related to business services and administration management.

Eurostat, the statistical office of the EU, compiled data from OJAs to identify the top 10 skills most frequently mentioned in job descriptions.

The skills mentioned were extracted from online job adverts in 32 European countries collected by the Web Intelligence Hub of Eurostat in collaboration with the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop). These reflect 2023 figures, and Eurostat has stated that the data is still experimental.

The dataset includes 34 categories, spanning roles from waiters and bartenders to health and business services managers. Among the latter, the ability to adapt to change and work effectively in teams emerged as the top two most requested skills in OJAs, maintaining their prominence compared to 2022.

Additionally, proficiency in Microsoft Office and general computer literacy ranked as the third and fourth most sought-after skills. While these abilities are closely related, a comparison with 2022 data shows that Microsoft Office has become more valued than literacy as they have swapped places in the rankings.

This may suggest that the rising importance of the office suite reflects the growing demand for specialised, job-specific software skills in the workplace. While computer literacy might refer to skills such as navigating the internet, handling files or the general operation of a computer, proficiency in Microsoft office requires good use of tools like Excel, Word or PowerPoint. These are often linked to tools used in business and administrative roles.

Having the ability to lead a team ranked as the fifth most sought-after skill, followed by assuming responsibility.

This year’s data also includes two new skills, with the skill of using office systems finding itself in the seventh spot and reporting facts in the 10th.

Interestingly, the skill of managing budgets climbed two spots higher when compared to 2022 data, meanwhile using communication techniques retained its ninth spot.

Across all categories, it was noted that the top two skills advertised in OJAs were the ability to work in teams and to adapt to change, with the latter being the most popular choice. This has remained consistent with 2022 figures.