Skills on the Rise in 2025
Jobs are evolving. LinkedIn data suggests that from 2015 to 2030, some 70% of the skills used in most jobs will change, with AI emerging as a catalyst. That’s why it’s becoming increasingly important for professionals to understand and use AI tools in their roles. The people who can harness this technology will be able to make a bigger impact in their organization and stay ahead in an evolving world of work.
LinkedIn’s Skills on the Rise list shows that people are taking notice: AI literacy is among the fastest-growing skills across regions and job functions. More and more, professionals are adding it to their profile and companies are increasingly hiring for. As well, large language models (LLM) proficiency, which applies to more technical roles, has also emerged as one of the fastest-growing skills in 2025.
Learn these skills: Discover More About Everyday AI Concepts and Learn to Maximize AI to Boost Your Productivity (these LinkedIn Learning courses will be available for free until April 18, 2025).
Talent leaders have an incredible opportunity to help team members prepare for the future of work by enabling and encouraging them to learn these emerging and in-demand skills.
The fastest-growing skills by country
While there are several recurring themes found in the emerging skills data, there are also some in-demand skills that are unique to each country. For example, trade policy rounds out the top five list of skills in Brazil and code review is near the top of the list in India. These differences represent different areas of job growth within each region.
Check out the five fastest-growing skills in each of the eight countries LinkedIn examined:
Australia
- AI literacy
- Communication
- Strategic thinking
- Large language models (LLM) proficiency
- Adaptability
Brazil
- AI literacy
- Communication
- Strategic thinking
- Customer retention
- Trade policy
France
- Customer service management
- Data analysis
- Communication
- AI literacy
- Adaptability
Germany
- Client management
- AI literacy
- Strategic thinking
- Large language models (LLM) proficiency
- Stakeholder management
India
- Innovative thinking / creativity and innovation
- Code review
- Problem-solving
- Prescreening
- Strategic thinking
Spain
- Communication
- Customer service
- AI literacy
- Strategic thinking
- Image editing
United Kingdom
- Relationship building
- Strategic thinking
- AI literacy
- Communication
- Large language models (LLM) utilization
United States
- AI literacy
- Conflict mitigation
- Adaptability
- Process optimization
- Innovative thinking
Soft skills are universal
Aside from AI-related skills, the skills that showed up most often in the analysis — strategic thinking, communication, and adaptability — are soft skills that are applicable across different geographies and job functions. That means they’ll be relevant as job responsibilities and qualifications evolve, making them worthwhile to learn.
Strategic thinking
Your organization needs to innovate to stay relevant, but your team likely doesn’t have the resources to pursue every idea. Strategic thinking helps your team identify the ideas that can set your organization apart and lead to long-term success.
Dan Shapero, chief operating officer at LinkedIn, explains that “you want to pursue opportunities that are big and that you are uniquely positioned to solve for your customers.” These opportunities are key to winning your market and creating value for your organization.
Team members who develop strategic thinking skills are better equipped to navigate their careers, make informed decisions, and contribute meaningfully to their organizations.
Learn this skill: How to Think Strategically (this LinkedIn Learning course will be available for free until April 18, 2025).
Communication
The best ideas don’t typically come to life in a silo. They’re brainstormed and implemented by a team. That’s why communication is so important: Team members need to be able to effectively share their perspectives in order for others to benefit from them. Employees need to be able to clearly communicate both in-person and across a variety of channels including email, instant messaging, project management software, and video.
Communication is also a key skill for managers as they navigate sometimes difficult conversations with their reports. LinkedIn Learning’s new AI-powered coaching feature can help here, as this tool gives managers an opportunity to practice how to deliver performance reviews, have conversations on work-life balance, and give feedback through interactive scenarios.
Learn this skill: Get to Grips with the Foundations of Good Communication (this LinkedIn Learning course will be available for free until April 18, 2025).
Adaptability
Between the ongoing return-to-office push and technological advancements, the workplace is quickly transforming. Shadé Zahrai, cofounder and director at Influenceo Global, says this is an opportunity for growth. “When we are unsure,” she says, “the prefrontal cortex, our decision-making hub, buzzes with neural activity.” Shadé continues: “This is where learning thrives.”
Adaptability has become essential because change is constant. Continuous learning and resilience are key to staying ahead of the curve and turning challenges and changes into opportunities for growth and innovation.
Learn this skill: Learn How to Thrive in Uncertainty and Embrace Change (this LinkedIn Learning course will be available for free until April 18, 2025).
Emerging jobs require new skill sets
Some of this year’s fastest-growing skills closely align with emerging jobs in each country. For example, customer service is the fastest-growing skill in Spain, where travel advisor is the fastest-growing job. In France, data analysis is one of the fastest-growing skills and accounting analyst is one of the fastest-growing roles. It’s clear that in-demand jobs are driving professionals to upskill and reskill.
Staying on top of the fastest-growing skills can help your team members prepare for in-demand and emerging roles.
Here are some of the fastest-growing skills in each job function:
- Business development: Customer engagement and lead qualification
- Education: Instructional design and training delivery
- Engineering: Large language models (LLM), code review, and technical documentation
- Finance: Investment strategies and retirement planning
- Healthcare: Health information management and regulatory compliance
- Human resources: Relationship management and HR software
- IT: Large language models (LLM) and technical documentation
- Marketing: Budget management and social media marketing
- Program and project management: Stakeholder engagement, technical project leadership, and resource management
- Sales: Lead qualification, growth strategies, and account planning
Final thoughts: In-demand skills are shifting
Most L&D professionals (91%) agree that continuous learning is more important than ever for career success. The skills professionals need to perform their current and future roles are constantly changing and entirely new skills are being introduced. Of course, HR professionals should remember to invest in their own upskilling as well. LinkedIn has also published a list of the top skills HR professionals should be investing in to stay ahead, including employee communications, AI literacy, and relationship development.
Offering upskilling and reskilling benefits your team members — and it benefits your organization.
List Methodology
LinkedIn measures the growth of skills based on three pillars: skill acquisition, hiring success, and emerging demand. Skill acquisition counts the rate at which members are adding new skills to their profile. Hiring success is measured by the share of a skill possessed by members who have been hired in the past year. Emerging demand measures the increased presence of a given skill in paid job postings. Growth rates for all metrics are measured by comparing LinkedIn data from January 1 to December 31, 2024, with the same period in the previous year (January 1 to December 31, 2023).
Data is normalized across all skills. Language skills, basic digital literacy skills, and overly broad skills are excluded.
Skill Insights
Additional data points for each of the skills are based on LinkedIn profiles of members possessing the skill in the country. Most common industries measure the industries most prevalent among members who held that skill on LinkedIn from January 1 to December 31, 2024. Most common job titles represent the occupations that are most common among members holding that skill from January 1 to December 31, 2024.
Methodology and insights by LinkedIn’s Economic Graph and Scaled Insights teams
