Top Skills

What are the top skills that employers look for?  This is a very valuable question to answer and can help you to research and possibly obtain new skills to make you a more sought after prospect to a searching employer.  Luckily, LinkedIn provides some information from their site to identify and compile a list of top skills and top hard skills that employers value. 

 

 

LinkedIn analyzed data from employers, recruiters, and job postings from April 2022 - October 2022.  Comparing the demand of skills from employers with the skills that were possessed by LinkedIn members who were hired, produced LinkedIn's most in-demand skills overall and the most in-demand hard skills. 

 

         (Southern, 2023)

Having management skills and demonstrating the ability to successfully oversee diverse teams, projects, and operations is becoming increasingly important to employers.  Likewise, communication is key to promoting teamwork and collaboration across diverse teams that are communicating and interacting remotely at an increasing rate.  Customer service rounds off the top three skills, which demonstrates the value companies place on the ability to increase and promote brand loyalty and long-term growth (Southern, 2023). 

 

(Southern, 2023)

Hard skills refer to a worker's expertise in carrying out job-specific tasks.  Typically, these are comprised of technical skills or specialized capabilities required to complete specific work or tasks.  As you can see from the list, computer skills are at the forefront of today's hard skills.  Software development, cloud computing, data analysis, and several coding programs nearly comprise the entire list (Southern, 2023).

The data provided by LinkedIn's analysis suggests that the current job market places high value and emphasis on soft skills (management, communication, customer service, leadership, etc.) and technical skills (data analysis, software development, cloud computing, programming/coding, etc.)(Southern, 2023).

 I fully expect that we will see this type of blended value of hard and soft skills required or preferred for high-level jobs in the short-term.  Long-term, I imagine the proverbial pendulum will increasingly swing towards hard (technical) skills being of higher value.  While the soft skills will still be of some value, employers will likely be implementing more automation, AI, and machine learning models for forecasting from big data, identifying trends and projections, increasing efficiency, etc.  Having the familiarity, experience, and technical skills required to implement, interface, service, and manage these systems will only increase your value as a prospective employee.  Hopefully this list was as helpful for you as it was for me!  This analysis from LinkedIn was informative and motivational for me personally to explore classes and tutorials to help me acquire more of the top skills that employers are looking for.

Until next time, 

Cited Sources: 

1.    Southern, M. G. (2023, February 16). LinkedIn: Top 10 In-Demand Skills In 2023. Search Engine Journal. https://www.searchenginejournal.com/linkedin-top-10-in-demand-skills-in-2023/479879/#close