Here Are the Hottest Hiring Trends in the U.S.

LinkedIn has just released its 2018 Emerging Jobs Report, and while much of the data isn’t terribly surprising, there are a few unexpected nuggets of information that should provide a degree of context and reassurance–especially when it comes to all the endless hype about the impact of artificial intelligence.

The report, based on data from LinkedIn’s Economic Graph and its new Talent Insights product, finds that AI is indeed here to stay. Six out of the 15 emerging jobs in this year’s report are related to AI in some way. AI skills are among the fastest-growing skills on LinkedIn and saw a 190-percent increase globally from 2015 to 2017.

However, the report also finds that basic operational functions which (so far, at any rate) can only be performed by humans are also on the Emerging Jobs list. These include titles such as administrative assistant, assurance staff and sales development representative. Meanwhile, some of the fastest-growing roles in the country have been growing steadily for years, including software engineer, account executive and recruiter.

Skills related to blockchain are, not surprisingly, in very high demand. Yet, this year’s report notes that some of the most sought-after skills have nothing whatsoever to do with the particulars of software design: oral communication, leadership and time management make up almost half the list of skills with the largest skills gaps. In other words, if organizations can find professionals who have these skills in addition to the training and experience for a particular job, then grab ’em quickly.

Below are the key findings from this year’s report:

Top Five Emerging Jobs

  • Blockchain Developer (33x growth)
  • Machine Learning Engineer (12x growth)
  • Application Sales Executive (8x growth)
  • Machine Learning Specialist (6x growth)
  • Professional Medical Representative (6x growth)

Top Five In-Demand Skills (Biggest Skills Gap)

  • Oral Communications
  • People Management
  • Social Media
  • Development Tools
  • Business Management

Top Five Majors for Professionals in Emerging Jobs

  • Business Administration and Management
  • Psychology
  • General Studies
  • Accounting
  • Marketing

Top Five Fastest-Growing Job Titles (by hire)

  • Software Engineer- Current Job Openings: 80,000
  • Account Executive- Current Job Openings: 16,000
  • Realtor- Current Job Openings: 2,000
  • Account Manager- Current Job Openings: 17,000
  • Recruiter- Current Job Openings: 8,000
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Andrew R. McIlvaine
Andrew R. McIlvaine is former senior editor with Human Resource Executive®.