Professional Skills and Profiles in Journalism Demanded by Companies: Analysis of Offers at LinkedIn and Infojobs

Abstract

The goal of this research is to analyze whether the profiles and professional skills in journalism demanded by companies in Spain correspond to those compiled in the Libro Blanco of the ANECA, or whether they have been modified over a decade later by the impact of the digital era and emergence of new employment needs. In the current setting of rapid and unpredictable changes, periodic analyses and research like this study are necessary. The methodology chosen was the analysis of the content of job offers directed to journalism graduates on the two most used job portals in Spain, Infojobs and LinkedIn, in September 2017. All the information in the offers was organized into two categories related to descriptive data about types of contracts and data over required skills. The results led to the conclusion that the professional skills currently demanded of journalism graduates differ qualitatively and quantitatively from the professional skills described by the ANECA in 2005. The skills most demanded by companies respond to the emergence of new professional profiles related to Web 2.0. However, it is also the case that companies do not seem to know precisely what skills a journalism graduate must have.