Workers lack skills sought by employers

It usually takes companies in Greece more than a month to find the right candidate for a job, a period that often stretches to over three months, according to a survey by Adecco Greece.

Adecco’s fourth survey on employability in Greece, which records employers’ views on the labor market, showed that the majority of employers often found that candidates lacked the skills and abilities required.

The survey also detected a significant increase in the number of companies interested in recruiting for at least one of their departments, reaching up to 70 percent of respondents, against 53 percent in the previous survey in 2017.

Employers said the ideal candidate should demonstrate a strong work ethic, teamwork and communication skills and flexibility. Initiative is a skill whose importance appears to be growing by the year. The survey found that the degree to which candidates possessed those skills and characteristics was below employers’ expectations. Therefore, it is a shortage of people with the necessary skills and lack of work experience that are most frequently cited as obstacles to filling job vacancies.