These 5 Skills Will Give You an Unfair Advantage
- By DWFTrends editors
- December 13, 2022
The learning company and provider of training courses, Pearson, analyzed more than 21 million job ads globally. It found five 'power skills' that now power the world's economy and individual careers.
According to Pearson's Skills Outlook, the skills are not technical. Instead, those most in demand are communication, customer focus, leadership, attention to detail, and collaboration.
In 2026, Pearson's predictive AI modeling tool also suggests that some of these skills ream in demand. According to the results, collaboration and customer focus will continue to be most sought after. But joining these are other soft skills such as personal learning, achievement focus, and cultural and social intelligence.
"Swift investment is needed, as a strong foundation of human skills is essential for success for employers and employees. As the adoption of new technologies continues, the importance of non-technical skills such as the ability to learn and cultural and social intelligence is only becoming more important," explained Dr. Richard George, Pearson’s vice president for data science in workforce skills.
The Pearson study suggests that finding employees with these five skills will remain challenging as demand will only soar.
Southeast Asian countries like Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia are likely to be affected by the threat of recession in countries like the U.S. and Australia. Studies show that this will put more pressure on local businesses and employees.
In this period of economic uncertainty, businesses will look for employees who can stay relevant and versatile and prioritize these human skills. Those who fail to upskill will get left behind by the more prepared and adaptable, creating a job market where only the fittest survive and thrive.
Instead of searching for the right fit person, Pearson suggested companies train their current employees for these human skills instead. A study by the World Economic Forum indicated that over a billion people worldwide will need reskilling to remain relevant in their field and keep up with the evolving demands of the workforce by 2030.
“Organizations that recognize this and invest in helping employees build transferable and flexible capabilities are the ones that will thrive in our changing world," said George.
Image credit: iStockphoto/lerbank