The most in-demand skills 2020

Every year, the career network LinkedIn publishes a list of the most in-demand skills. In other words, skills that were listed by relatively few of the 660 million members compared to the demand on the labour market.

A distinction is made between so-called hard and soft skills. Hard skills are the professional qualifications of a person and their ability to perform certain tasks. Soft skills, on the other hand, tend to be understood as personal characteristics and how a person performs a job. Compared to hard skills, it is therefore also more difficult to clearly define and measure soft skills. Both sides find their place in LinkedIn’s list of the best. This can be a good indication of which professional and interpersonal skills are worth investing in.

Which skills are in high demand in 2020?

The list of the top 10 hard skills is headed by blockchain technology, followed by cloud computing, analytical thinking, artificial intelligence and UX design. The strong demand for new technical skills is visible. While Cloud Computing or Artificial Intelligence were already at the top last year, Blockchain is a newcomer. The hopes placed in Blockchain are high: it should offer a secure and efficient new way of transparently tracking transactions of all kinds. It is high time that HR and recruiters take a closer look at the topic.

The top 5 soft skills

The soft skills that employees bring with them are less job-specific but just as important. Soft skills are gaining momentum as a result of digitalisation and the rapid change in numerous work processes. The skills needed to deal with the rapid changes are becoming important, and the “human factor” is moving more and more to the forefront. Accordingly, creativity, persuasiveness, teamwork, adaptability and emotional intelligence are in the top 5 soft skills.