LinkedIn just published its annual “Top Skills” list, which analyzes data across the professional social network in order to rank which skills are both in high-demand and low-supply.
The Microsoft-owned brand happens to be releasing the news at the turn of the new year as employees often start the year with resolutions to learn new skills and establish better work habits.
Specifically, these latest rankings address hard skills and “soft skills,” the latter of which can be translated to skills that cannot be replicated or performed via artificial intelligence. (So maybe your job isn’t prey to the robots just yet.)
Framed another way, these are the skills that employees could consider the most worth learning in 2019. LinkedIn Learning editor Paul Petrone wrote in a blog post this week that 57% of senior leaders on the platform today say soft skills are more critical to their businesses than hard skills.
At the same time, there are definitely spikes in job postings recruiting for prospective hires with specialized training and skills revolving around A.I. and cloud computing. That’s just the reality of the business world today. But LinkedIn suggests that digital workplaces are producing new needs and uses for “old” skill sets. Podcasts are a prime example of a digital medium growing exponentially relying on a number of established verticals, from audio production to marketing.
Here’s a rundown on the top five for each category, as defined by LinkedIn based on internal data.