Time as a Challenge for Higher Education Institutions and Employers

Answers and discussions on the subject of skill gaps have established that young Higher Education Institutions (HEI) graduates display high rates of job-hopping and strong resistance to signing long-term contracts with companies. These graduates are part of a generation with increasing access to online and/or freelance work, as well as working simultaneously for several companies. However, local companies, particularly in the North region of Portugal, are still strongly dependent on people able to make a long-term commitment due to the nature of their operations. This text seeks to shed light on the implications of this mismatch between an increasingly mobile, nomadic labour force and long-term recruitment needs among companies. This working in progress shall analyse data obtained through interviews held with 20 employers in the Northern region of Portugal, shedding light on this disparity as both a great source of instability and of new opportunities for local entrepreneurs to develop innovative firms able to respond to HEI graduate profiles.