In 2017, the sector of cultural and creative production in Italy recorded an income of 92 billion euros: a value equal to 6% of GDP, and that compared to 2016 recorded a growth of two points. The cultural and creative industries also employ 1.5 million people in Italy, 6.1% of total employment. These figures reveal the sector’s potential.
Based on this premise was born “The first White Paper on the Professions of Communication” (Eugeni-Vittadini, 2017) which provides a systematization of the roles and tasks required by companies of communication and culture.
Today, a second edition of the “book” has been prepared with the aim not only to understand how the sector of cultural and creative production has evolved and changed, but also to give an overview of the labor market connected to it.
The professions of web communication: the search for WollyBi
In relation to this area, WollyBi intervened with its expertise and know-how, contributing to the document and elaborating a research conducted ad hoc by Anna Clara Gatti and MariagraziaFanchi, in order to understand the needs and expectations of companies, typologies through ATECO codes, in relation to the professions of communication on the basis of job advertisements published on the web.
We worked within a database that counts more than 1.3 million ads downloaded from the web and, specifically for the area of reference, 59,198 ads were collected over 2018.
On the other hand, there are four areas of the professions in which the research was carried out, taxed based on the European classification ESCO:
– Business Communication – professions related to digital communication and the sale of advertising space;
– Culture and Publishing – professions related to creative writing (including the web) and related to the information sector (publicists and journalists);
– Creative Industry – professions related to the creative world, advertising and public relations, media centers, agencies and the organization of events and exhibitions;
– Culture and Audiovisual – professions that are linked to specific skills in the production, management, and communication of audiovisual products.
Job offers in communication professions: where is the highest demand?
The concentration of job advertisements for professions related to the world of communications is undeniably concentrated in some specific areas of Italy and especially in Lombardy.
It is useless to deny that the Lombardy region and its capital, Milan, are the main pillars of attraction of these figures and historically rooted, to define it as a real district.
But there is also another aspect and that is a potential for the development of the labor market of communication in all other areas of Italy, where there is precisely no saturation and demand is less energetic and the widespread of professionals working in different areas of communication for business, institutions, territories and Cultural Heritage. A consolidated reading also by some indicators such as the trend of the demand for work in the audiovisual professions and with specific references to the professional profiles of those who produce audiovisual products.
However, this is still a small and unstable labor market, but it is still showing signs of vitality.
Which professions are required?
The imbalance in the communication professions at the service of companies (of the almost 60,000 vacancies examined, 86% are attributable to the Business Communication sector) is compensated by the articulation of skills enhanced in ads, which use knowledge and skills related to marketing and strategic management of communication flows, and creative skills and talents, or writing or even managing complex content and languages, such as those of the audiovisual industry.
In other words, the journalistic profession is not only spent on Culture and Publishing but also Business Communication; and so also the skills related to the organization of events or the enhancement of Cultural Heritage.
This also means that communication professionals must reconcile specialization in certain areas with a series of traversal skills.
What is the type of the proposed contract?
About the type of contracts proposed in the job offers on the web related to the professions of communication, the research and results conducted by WollyBi led to two considerations.
First of all, it emerges that the preferred contractual form is the fixed-term one, in particular for creative professions such as those linked to Culture and Publishing (journalistic and non-journalistic writing activities), to Culture and Audiovisual and in general those with the highest rate of creativity (such as directors, producers and authors).
The sector that, on the other hand, offers a greater number of fixed-term positions is that of Media Relations and Public Relations. Considering the Business Communication sector, 40% of the contracts for Media and Public Relations activities are temporary.
Another reflection that emerges in the light of the data is the seasonality with which certain figures, always with a fixed-term employment contract, are sought. There is an increase in the incidence of web vacancies at certain times of the year, which generally coincides with the approaching Christmas holidays. The professions that are most affected by this trend are certainly those related to audiovisual and the organization of events.
On the contrary, the professional profiles that are constantly searched during the year are more related to the field of Advertising and also to Media and Public Relations.
Communication professionals: which companies need them?
It is easy to imagine how the companies that are most looking for these figures are linked to the service sector. They include companies linked to the world of information and communication, including both publishing and entertainment companies and companies linked to the world of advertising, media centers, the media, and public relations. It should be noted that demand also comes from companies related to trade, commerce, and sales.
The composition of competences
The composition of the required skill highlights, as already written, a complex profile that balances strategic knowledge (for example, the demand for knowledge in the field of marketing, transversal to all sectors); hard skills, such as knowledge of software for data management, also widely transversal; and skills that relate to the ability to manage group dynamics or identify innovative solutions. Problem-solving is, for example, the most requested competence for audiovisual professionals, directors, and authors.
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