Engineering competences: A content analysis of job advertisements

In many areas of the German industry exists a shortage of engineers. A challenge is the demanding education and the competences required for engineers, depending on the specialist area. Thereby an increasing importance of soft skills is visible, e.g. in the key qualifications published by the Association of German Engineers (VDI). This paper contributes the understanding of the professional requirements set on engineers by analyzing 60 job advertisements in the German machinery and plant engineering industry. One major result is all advertisements request professional expertise. Besides technical competences in about 72 % of the vacancies the ability to communicate and in about 58 % of the vacancies the ability to work in a team is required. Completing the top three soft skills individual responsibility is required in about 48 % of the vacancies. It illustrates that social skills are on the advance regarding requested competences for engineers.