What is like to work in... the health sector

Emilia-Romagna is the first region in Italy for efficiency of the health system and has always been on the top of the list for quality of universities, number of researchers and quality of the training system.

Alongside these public excellences there is a strong and mature industrial system, which boasts the most important biomedical district in Europe, large companies in the pharmaceutical sector and emerging technological niches, such as those of regenerative medicine, which push the region to the top of the world industry innovation (fonte Clust-ER Health)

Analyzing the data of Skills Intelligence Emilia-Romagna of the Health and wellness sector it is interesting to observe that, from April 2023 to March 2024, 27.276 online job advertisements were published, i.e. 4,77% of the total online advertisements offered in the regional territory, with an increase of 1,6% compared to the previous year.

It immediately catches the eye that the most sought after profiles, considering the ESCO level 1 categories, belong equally to Professionals (35,9%) and Technicians and associate professionals (28,2%) followed by Service and sales workers (18,2%).

Let’s delve into the most sought-after skills and profiles at specialized levels.

The five most sought after professional profiles (ESCO level 4) of the Professionals (ESCO level 1)

Taking into consideration only the group of Professionals (ESCO level 1), the top five most sought after professional profiles (ESCO level 4) are:

1. Engineering professionals – 15,6% of the total ads in E-R
2. Pharmacists – 12,9%
3. Specialist medical practitioners - 9,7%
4. Technical and medical sales professionals (excluding ICT) – 7,3%
5. Environmental and occupational health and hygiene professionals – 7,2%

Of all of these profiles, the engineering professionals and the environmental and occupational health and hygiene professionals are of high difficulty of finding according to the Excelsior classification, the technical and medical sales professionals (excluding ICT) are of medium high difficulty of finding while the rest of them appear to be easier to find.

This means that in Emilia-Romagna there is a high need for engineering professionals and for environmental and occupational health and hygiene professionals in the health sector, but the profiles necessary to fill this gap are lacking.

In the province of Forlì-Cesena, specifically, the most sought after professional profiles (ESCO level 4) are:

1. Pharmacists – 65 from April 2023 to March 2024
2. Environmental and occupational health and hygiene professionals
3. Technical and medical sales professionals (excluding ICT) 
4. Social work and counselling professionals
5. Physiotherapists

So, if you have a professional profile that falls within those listed above, the province of Forlì-Cesena could offer great opportunities to you.

If, however, your profile is not yet among the most sought after, but you would like to delve deeper into the health and wellness industry, you can find in Emilia-Romagna many training opportunities, these are the best in the region:

ITS Biomedicale Mirandola Formazione e innovazione – 4 free two-year post-diploma courses;

Corso di formazione manageriale per Direttori Generali delle aziende sanitarie locali, delle aziende ospedaliere e degli altri enti del SSN – managerial training course.