Digitalization & Change Management. Simone Janson

are becoming more and more important. He even goes so far as to say that only those who bring the corresponding soft skills and adaptability to modern, digital society will do it.

      The Prekariat falls down

      This brings us to the disadvantages of purely competence-based work: there are not a few people who fall behind, the so-called precariat. It is often forgotten that this type of work often leads to insecure, poorly paid jobs.

      Among other things, I discussed with Ursula Engelen-Kefer in a panel of experts about competence-based work at the New Responsibility Foundation in Berlin. Also there was Dr. Stefan Pfisterer from BITKOM. He cited the United States for comparison, where there is a demand for skills that can be used in the short term, which undoubtedly offers opportunities, but also means that there is no long-term investment in an employee.

      Not everyone likes the self-presentation

      Sustainable development, the competence bundle behind a profession, is not seen there. A fundamental rejection of professions towards purely competence-based work is therefore not desirable, according to Pfisterer.

      Another reason I have often experienced in my personal environment: It is just not everyone created for this free, independent entrepreneurial work. Here is a current example of Julia Seeliger, former TAZ editor, former FAZ author, former member of the Greens, now managing director of the Pirate Party Bonn, who wrote in a now deleted post:

      Self-marketing to the last?

       “Hello, my name is Julia Seeliger, I am 33 years old and have no job. For more than a year I tried web design and journalism on my own and it didn't work. I can't work like this for different reasons. First of all because I never wanted to work like that, secondly because I can't work alone, and lastly because I can't and don't want to market myself to the smallest detail. ”

      It addresses a problem that results from competence-based work: the constant need to market itself - and the question of whether that is desirable. I remember an event in Berlin, where excellently PR consultant called Facebook the end of humility.

      11.000 euros via Facebook like?

      Some time ago, the international university in Bad Honnef / Bonn started a campaign worth discussing. As part of a competition, a full scholarship of 11.000 euros was awarded for distance learning. Participants collect “votes” by posting friends, family and acquaintances via Facebook, eMail or invite a contact list and ask to vote for it. The IUBH clearly declares the ability to self-market as the goal of the competition.

      A further danger of self-marketing in the smallest detail is that the boundaries between work and private life are becoming increasingly blurred. Friends on- and offline are also colleagues, one is, if one is not careful, around the clock in the employment, and the high personal identification with the job entails the danger of overwork and burnout. With these dangers it is important to learn how to deal.

      The company can not deal with the new work

      In addition, however, Annuity insurance plans by Ursula von der Leyenhow little the legislator and society know how to handle these new forms of work. This leads to absurd situations in the social security - for example, because health insurance and pension insurance are calculated for self-employed not after the actual income, but according to certain, unfair minimum rates.

      And this is precisely the reason for the structure of our (educational) landscape, whose certificates and certificates are still directed to the search for knowledge rather than the transfer of basic skills.

      The Solution: Competence Measurement with Large-Scale Assessments?

      The problem is so said Dr. Agnes Dietzen from the Competence Development Department of the Federal Institute for Vocational Training states that the development of reliable methods for measuring competence (term: Large-Scale Assessments or LSA) is still in its infancy. A major problem is the lack of comparability of skills acquired in different education systems such as higher education or vocational training.

      In addition, services from other areas such as honorary offices, social services or family care services should be included in the competence assessment, said Dietzen, but at the same time made it clear that much remains to be done, as the lack of valid, objective and practicable standards has made it difficult Comparison.

      Actively shaping change

      In Germany, work is currently very slow to implement a qualifications framework on the recommendation of the European Parliament and the Council to set up the European qualifications framework. Dietzen also sees one reason for the lack of permeability for various professions in professional interests. "We think too much in small categories and should think more in professional families," said Dietzen.

      In essence, I believe that flexible working forms, as we already know from the digital field, will also extend to other areas. There is nothing to keep in old ideas; one has to deal with this change in the working world and actively shape it, so as not to end up negatively in the end. However, one should also see the disadvantages of this new form of work and counteract them as much as possible.

Kevin Spacey and digitization in the middle class: regional jobs on the rise?

      // By Simone Janson

      Digitization does not stop at German SMEs and in recruiting. The multiple Oscar winner Kevin Spacey also sees future potential here.

      Hollywood star and German middle class

      Hollywood star Kevin Spacey had a message for entrepreneurs in Munich: “Use the opportunities of digitalization, take risks. Find out what's in the black box! ”

      The fact that the two-time Oscar winner even came to the Bits and Pretzels start-up festival shows how important digital change is. And yet there are reservations, especially in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) - although it is precisely these that could benefit in particular.

      Trend-Topic Robot Recruiting

      For example, Robot Recruiting is one of the big topics at Zukunft Personal in October in Cologne. It discusses how algorithms can support the selection of new employees - for example, matching jobs with applicants in social networks, automated writing and distribution of job advertisements Reading in CVs, so-called parsing, and even in telephone interviews.

      "Almost 20 percent of companies with fewer than 500 employees already distribute job advertisements to job portals automatically," explains Wolfgang Brickwedde, Director of the Institute for Competitive Recruiting in Heidelberg. "And 82 percent of SMEs find parsing important when choosing applicant management systems."

      43% prefer to search in the region

      The medium-sized companies don't even have such bad cards with applicants. Because we should be mobile and flexible on the job market, in reality many don't want to leave their region. A Forsa survey shows that 43% of the employees surveyed are unwilling to change their place of residence for a job.

      Almost every fourth (24%) would move within their own region (200 km), only 8% would change their place of residence all over Germany. For the overwhelming majority (75%), the idea of ​​unlimited flexibility ends at the German border at the latest.

      Finding regional jobs

      But how do you find regional jobs? Regional job and recruiting fairs are one possibility: For example, 4.000 to 7.000 companies exhibit at the best-known regional fairs, the Personal Nord and