Communicating company culture: assessment through job advertisements analysis

NRU Higher School of Economics , 2017. No. 74.

Shmatko N., Lavrynenko A. S., Meissner D.

The paper explores the composition of researchers' skillsets in an innovation-driven environment from the perspective of employers. The authors analyze the relation between skills requirements described in job advertisements for researchers and the presumed innovation culture of companies. The study is based on job advertisements content analysis and in-depth interviews with chiefs of research and development companies. It uses biotechnology industry as an example as it is one of the fastest-growing and innovation-driven sectors globally. Authors used data from Russian, as well as Canadian, UK and USA job search engines to consider international context. Empirical findings demonstrated that skills composition stress on hard skills more frequently and detailed, while soft skills are often a "must have without saying". The same is for digital skills that are assumed to be essential in high-tech companies globally and therefore not fully specified in job ads. There is a certain mismatch between skills presented in the ads and articulated in the interviews as employers tend to demonstrate innovation-friendly company culture for possible applicants. The present paper enriches literature on skills assessment, giving comprehensive lists of biotech skills in-demand divided into soft and hard categories. In addition, it provides the new insight into employee skills articulated by the companies as a strong element of organizational innovation climate.

Keywords: knowledge economy, biotechnology, skills, open innovation, company innovation culture

Publication based on the results of: Monitoring of the behavior of the innovation process participants: scientific organizations and highly qualified R&D personnel (2017)