These professionals are in demand

Imagine it was common knowledge that the beaches in holiday destination XY were empty. Despite this, hardly anyone travels there. Similar to this example, there is a shortage of skilled labour in certain sectors, while at the same time apprenticeships remain unfilled. However, the occupational fields with a shortage of qualified labour are only partly the same as those in which apprenticeships remain unfilled. Technical specialists are generally in demand. IT specialists are still in high demand, but hardly any IT apprenticeships remain unfilled.

The studies contradict each other in some professional fields. For example, the skills shortage index published by the University of Zurich and the personnel service provider Adecco puts engineers, IT specialists and technicians at the top of the list of sought-after professionals. Manpower, on the other hand, sees sales and marketing experts in second place, followed by operations and logistics specialists. According to the Manpower survey, the greatest shortage of skilled labour is in IT.

Generational change at SMEs

For years, trades and crafts in particular (construction, industry, commerce) have been courting young professionals and promising them good career opportunities. The prerequisite is that you accept the challenge of an apprenticeship in a skilled trade and then continue your education or even go on to study at a university of applied sciences. In addition, many Swiss SMEs in the commercial sector will be handed over to the next generation in the medium term as the current bosses reach retirement age. Anyone dreaming of running their own business one day should take a look around.