REVEALED: The 10 skills you must learn NOW to reap the rewards of Australia's 'workplace of the future' - and they are ALL in tech
- A new report has revealed the skills gaps in the Australian workforce
- More than half of employees struggling to keep up with industry changes
- Misalignment between what employees want and what employers are offering
- Top 10 rising skill employees must have to keep up with changes revealed
- Workforce automation and social media marketing skills in demand right now
- Most rising skills are technology dominated but needed across all industries
The Australian workforce is facing a critical skills gap, where more than 50 per cent of employees are struggling to keep up with the rapid industry changes, according to new research.
LinkedIn launched its Future of Skills 2019 Report on Wednesday, which is based on the responses from almost 5000 employees and employers surveyed from across the Asia-Pacific region, including Australia.
The report revealed some surprising results, including a critical skills gap between the learning and development opportunities employees want and what employers are providing.
Social media marketing is a handy skill for ambitious employees wanting to get ahead
To help employees get ahead and succeed, the report lists the top 10 rising skills they need to keep up with the frantic pace of the ever-changing workforce, regardless of what industry they're in.
Just over half of Australian employees (53 pr cent) surveyed agreed the skills they need to get ahead are changing rapidly while 39 per cent per cent admitted they're daunted by the changes.
What's most concerning is that just under half (49 per cent) of Australian employers surveyed believe their staff currently have the right skills to keep up with with industry changes.
Engaging employees to learn new skills was the biggest skills challenge almost four in 10 (39 pr cent) employers faced.
While most rising skills such as artificial intelligence (pictured) are technology-dominated, they're vital skills that will be eventually used across all industries
'Employees in a lot of industries aren't keeping up to date with skills, which have a shelf life of less than five years,' LinkedIn Asia Pacific learning solutions senior director Jason Laufer told Daily Mail Australia.
'The Australian workforce is at a critical juncture where it's exporting more talent than importing. No industry is immune to change.'
The top 10 rising skills Australians must have in the future to succeed are based on skills data listed by LinkedIn members on its platform and on the exponential growth in the last few years in adoption by professionals.
They include compliance, social media marketing, continuous integration, workflow automation, gesture recognition technology, block-chaining, artificial intelligence, robotic process automation, human centered design and front-end web development.
Front-end web development is a rising skill employees should look to add to their skill set
Continuous integration, workforce automation and social media marketing have been named as the top three rising skills in demand in Australia right now.
There is three times more demand for professionals with these technology-dominated rising skills, which will eventually expand across all industries.
'It's not only professionals adopting these skills, organisations are also vying for talent with these skills, the report states.
'These skills may be nascent now but will potentially see wide-scale adoption in the future.'
'Using rising skills as a signal, you can make decisions and take actions to ensure your business stays competitive in the market.'
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Employees with a mix of hard and soft skills are better placed to cope with the ever-changing workforce, according to LinkedIn Asia Pacific learning solutions senior director Jason Laufer
While most rising skills are technology-dominated 'hard' skills, the human 'soft skills are just as important in the changing workforce.
The best soft skills are creativity, problem solving, critical thinking and adaptability, according to Mr Laufer.
'These skills are pertinent in being able to execute the ever-changing technologies and allows individuals to excel in these areas,' he told Daily Mail Australia.
'A combination of soft and hard skills ensure employability in the future.'
Employees shouldn't doing all the work to upskill.
Employers can also be doing a lot more to address the skills gap.
Gesture recognition technology is another of the top 10 rising skills that employees need
One in three employees have quit a job citing insufficient access to development opportunities while three in five said time was the most biggest hurdle for training in the workplace.
Mr Laufer suggests employers work together with employers to devise individually tailored carer development plans aligned online training.
'Not only does it increases job satisfaction but it also helps grow the Australian economy with a better skilled workforce,' he told Daily Mail Australia.
