Last year, technology took centrestage – LinkedIn saw a 21x surge in global English-language job postings mentioning GPT or ChatGPT
This year, companies are directing their attention towards talent development. 91% of companies in APAC say they plan to enhance their people’s skills and abilities in the new year, and 44% are looking to provide online training and development programs
Companies are also focused on internal mobility. 48% of hiring managers say their priority is to provide career progression for their people within their organisation
APAC, February 27, 2024: With skills needed for a job changing by a staggering 68% by 2030 due to the impact of AI, 91% of companies in APAC say they plan to enhance their people’s skills and abilities this year. 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, Vice President, LinkedIn Talent Solutions and Managing Director, APAC, says, “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.”
Soft skills, alongside the ability to learn, becoming increasingly important
A staggering 88% 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, an astounding 94% of Learning & 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 all countries in APAC – Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines and Singapore. This is not surprising in a new world of work where AI tools are freeing 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.
Creating a culture of continuous learning to stay relevant
A large majority of 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 programs (44%) and internal learning and development sessions focused on generative AI (43%) to do so.
As companies increasingly invest in learning opportunities, the focus on creating a culture of learning has soared, becoming a top priority for L&D professionals in 2024 across all APAC markets. In fact, 92% of them in APAC say they can show business value by helping employees gain skills to move into different internal roles.
Attracting and retaining top talent through internal mobility
A recent survey of APAC leaders has revealed that internal mobility is becoming an increasingly important factor in attracting and retaining top talent within organisations. The survey found that 48% of APAC leaders identified providing career progression opportunities as their key priority this year.
37% of hiring managers see career growth opportunities as key to retaining top talent, along with competitive salary and benefits (39%). In addition, 49% of APAC employers believe that highlighting opportunities for career advancement and increasing internal mobility are the top two ways to attract talent. These findings suggest that organisations in the APAC region would do well to focus on internal mobility as a key strategy for attracting and retaining top talent in the years to come.
To assist companies in their pivot towards a skills-centric approach, LinkedIn has introduced innovative AI-powered experiences, featuring:
Tools such as Recruiter 2024, LinkedIn’s AI-assisted recruiting experience, enables hirers to quickly access high-quality candidate recommendations by using natural language search prompts and rich data from millions of professionals and companies, ensuring they are able to shortlist talent based on skills they need. These features will ramp to all APAC customers in English-speaking markets from end February.
To empower companies to build the skills they need for the next decade of work, we’ve launched AI-powered coaching in LinkedIn Learning – a chatbot experience that offers real-time advice and tailored content recommendations all 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. We’ve also been focused on expanding our in-demand skill library, including AI courses that have seen a 5X uptick in learners.
In early March, we will be launching new career development and internal mobility features within LinkedIn Learning to help guide employees to critical skills, develop skills that matter to grow, and connect to the best-fit opportunity at their organisation. This will be available in English, Hindi, Japanese, Indonesian and Malay, amongst others.
Ang says, “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 7 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.”
