LinkedIn: skills and abilities upgrades critical in the era of AI

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With skills needed for a job changing by 68% by 2030 due to the impact of AI, 91% of companies in the Asia-Pacific region (APAC) say they plan to enhance their people’s skills and abilities this year.

Last year, technology took centrestage – LinkedIn saw a 21x surge in global English-language job postings mentioning GPT or ChatGPT; this year, LinkedIn said companies are directing their attention towards talent development. Today, the top five skills that hiring managers in APAC consider the most important in the era of AI are a combination of both hard and soft skills – problem-solving abilities (35%), communications skills (27%), critical thinking (25%), AI skills (19%) and IT & web skills (17%).

Feon Ang, VP, LinkedIn Talent Solutions and MD, APAC said: “In the past year, the narrative was dominated by technological advancements, particularly the integration of AI into business workflows. The resulting surge in demand for AI expertise reflected the challenges many businesses faced in navigating this transformative shift and incorporating cutting-edge technologies into their operations. 

"However, we are now witnessing a pronounced shift towards skills – both technical and soft skills – to thrive in the era of AI. Investing in people’s growth is no longer a perk but a strategic imperative, considering that our workforce is the driving force behind companies’ success in an era shaped by both AI innovation and collaboration with AI.” 

Eighty-eight percent of employers have observed substantial changes in the skills and qualifications they prioritise in job candidates due to the pervasive impact of AI and automation in their industries. Companies are placing emphasis on candidates who possess not only AI expertise, but also soft skills and a capacity for learning.

According to LinkedIn’s latest Workplace Learning Report, 94% of learning and development (L&D) professionals in APAC believe that human skills are increasingly becoming the most competitive in our economy. In particular, ‘communication’ has topped LinkedIn’s most in-demand skills list for 2024 across Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines and Singapore. LinkedIn said this is not surprising when AI tools free up time for professionals to excel in jobs only people can do, like build relationships and collaborate with others.

In addition, 40% of APAC hiring managers consider an individual's potential for growth and ability to learn as the most important factor when evaluating internal and external candidates.

Most of the companies in APAC (91%) are also focusing on preparing their employees for the future world of work by enhancing their skills and capabilities, believing that this will lead to increased confidence and job security. In fact, APAC HR professionals are offering online training programmes (44%) and internal learning and development sessions focused on generative AI (43%) to do so.

To empower companies to build the skills they need for the next decade of work, the company has launched AI-powered coaching in LinkedIn Learning – a chatbot experience that offers real-time advice and tailored content recommendations personalised for learners based on their job title, career goal, and skills they follow. 

This is currently available to APAC customers in English-speaking markets. The company has also been expanding its in-demand skill library, including AI courses. AI courses in particular have seen a 5X uptick in learners.

Ang said: "Business leaders recognise that they cannot rely on old talent playbooks in this new era of work that’s being reshaped by AI, and where skills needed for the same job will change by 68% by 2030. Every minute, LinkedIn helps seven people get hired and 140 hours of learning content is consumed. 

"Building on this, we’ve supercharged our hiring and learning solutions to help companies recruit and retain the best talent. Take the National Healthcare Group in Singapore, for example, which is on a journey to foster self-directed learning amongst their employees by nurturing a robust culture of continuous learning. They're looking to incorporate LinkedIn's AI-powered coaching into their learning and development programmes, empowering employees to take charge of their professional growth.”

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View insights from LinkedIn’s Workplace Learning Report for Australia/New Zealand, India and Southeast Asia.

*LinkedIn’s research was conducted by Censuswide, among a sample of 4,323 hiring managers (middle management+) aged 18-77 in the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the US, India, Australia, Singapore, Japan, Indonesia, China, Netherlands, Sweden, MENA, and Brazil. The data was collected between 15 December 2023 and 4 January 2024.