Leadership, communication skills twice more in demand than AI/ML: Report

Demand for human skills such as leadership, communication and emotional intelligence is twice more in demand than the knowledge of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), finds a report on Wednesday.

The report by workforce agility solutions maker Cornerstone OnDemand, provides a comprehensive overview of skills demand on the rise, an analysis from the past five years and indicators for future trends and demand forecasting.

The report highlights that AI, ML job postings are on the rise -- increasing by 65 per cent since 2019, and GenAI-related job postings have seen a 411 per cent surge.

Yet, the demand for human skills, or soft skills, such as leadership, communication, and emotional intelligence was found to outpace the need for digital skills globally. Human skills were found two times more in demand than digital skills, revealed the report.

Communication, interpersonal collaboration and problem-solving were the top human skills-related job postings, the report said.

“Keeping a close watch on changing skills and workplace trends in real-time across the market is essential for forecasting and staying competitive,” said Mike Bollinger, Global VP, Strategic Initiatives at Cornerstone.

“This report not only reveals the workforce readiness gap, that skills are evolving faster than organisations and individuals can keep pace with, limiting innovation and adaptability, but also emphasizes the importance of retaining critical human or ’soft’ skills within your organisation,” he added.

The report showed that job postings in Augmented Reality (AR)/ Virtual Reality (VR) soared by 154 per cent in the past 5 years.

Further, India was found to lead with 4.1 per cent of its job postings focused on AI/ML, reflecting its growing role in the global AI landscape. Germany and Japan follow with 2.5 per cent and 2.2 per cent respectively.

While GenAI skills are concentrated in industries like software development and IT consulting, there is a rising demand in financial services, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and banking.

The demand for remote and flexible work has seen a 39 per cent increase. Australia has the highest number of job postings looking for remote or flexible workers (22.8 per cent), followed by Germany (21 per cent), New Zealand (20.3 per cent), the UK (18.8 per cent), the US(15 per cent), Spain (11.6 per cent), Japan (9.7 per cent) and India (6.3 per cent). France (4.9 per cent) and Italy (1.4 per cent) ranked among the lowest.

The report covered data from more than 200 countries and territories, including job postings, resumes, government data, and other data points in 11 languages.