The Top In-Demand Skills Employers Are Seeking

The COVID-19 pandemic changed how we work—forever.

In fact, a 2021 report by McKinsey found that the pandemic accelerated existing trends in remote work, e-commerce, and automation, with as many as 25 percent more workers needing to switch occupations than before the pandemic.

However, experts say employers aren’t just looking for employees with technical skills. Rather, there’s a need for workers to have critical soft skills too—they type of skills that machines often cannot replicate. In his new book, Future Skills: The 20 Skills and Competencies Everyone Needs to Succeed in a Digital World, Bernard Marr highlights some of the top skills that will be in demand by employers in the next 10 years.

DIGITAL LITERACY

Digital literacy refers to the ability to find, evaluate, and communicate digital content.

“These skills involve the ability to use devices, software, and apps safely and with confidence,” Marr says.

And it’s a skill that, according to Marr, will be essential within the next 10 years.

“People with strong digital literacy skills can communicate and collaborate easily using digital tools, and they keep on top of new technologies and understand how they might impact their job and their business,” he explains.

DATA LITERACY

For businesses, data is king. It helps organizations make informed decisions, improve upon products, and reach core audiences. Employees who are data literate are valuable assets to the team.

“In the average business context, data literacy means being able to access appropriate data and work with it confidently,” Marr says. “To cultivate data literacy, working on extracting meaning from data and communicating data-based insights to others. With data literacy, you’ll also be able to question the integrity and validity of any data you are working with rather than just blindly following the information you are given.”

EMOTIONAL INTELIGENCE

Emotional intelligence is the ability to effectively control and communicate your emotions. It’s a soft skill, Marr says, that is highly in demand in the workforce.

“An emotionally intelligent person is aware of how their emotions influence their own behaviors and impact others around them and can manage those emotions accordingly,” Marr says. “I believe empathy – the ability to see the world from someone else’s perspective – is a key component of emotional intelligence.”

TOP 10 MOST IN-DEMAND SKILLS FOR THE NEXT 10 YEARS