Professional Profile, Education and Labor Market from the Perspective of HR’s Professionals

Abstract

This article presents some results of a qualitative research on the relationship between formal education, professional profile and labor market from the point of view of HR professionals. Semi-structured interviews were applied to 29 recruitment and selection professionals. They were focused on the profile required by the market, on the problems of recruiting and selecting qualified professionals, on the alternatives adopted by the company facing an unsuccessful selective process, and on the gaps between formal education and the labor market. One of the conclusions drawn was that interpersonal abilities are market’s most required skills, and are perceived as the most difficult to be measured in selective processes as well. Another conclusion was that the selective processes are still strongly dependent on recruiting by curriculum. Also, human resource companies ignore the training and qualification politics adopted by their client companies. In hospitals and clinics, for example, where the turnover of people is higher, there was a concern with some form of preventive selection. Finally, the research found gaps that denounce a growing distance between elementary school education, technical education, college education, and the labor market, a problem which points to an impasse due to a dichotomy between theory and practice.