The No. 1 soft skill you need to get hired right now, according to LinkedIn–and how to mention it in an interview

The No. 1 soft skill you need to get hired right now, according to LinkedIn–and how to mention it in an interview

The difference between landing a job offer or a rejection can come down to how well you adjust to a fast-paced environment and interact with your colleagues.

Communication is the top skill companies are hiring for right now, while adaptability is a soft skill that’s “increasingly in demand” across a wide range of industries, according to new research from LinkedIn.

LinkedIn’s 2024 Most In-Demand Skills list, published Thursday, determined the hottest skills in the job market based on which skills appeared most in job listings on the platform between May 2023 and October 2023, as well as how many members who have been hired recently possessed this skill. For the second year in a row, communication topped the list.

The job search and networking platform also looked at which skills were popular from May 2022 to October 2022 and compared it to the same period in 2023 to explore which competencies saw the biggest spike in demand, crowning adaptability as the “skill of the moment.”

Here are the 10 most in-demand skills employers want to see on your resume right now, according to LinkedIn:

1. Communication
2. Customer service
3. Leadership
4. Project management 
5. Management
6. Analytics
7. Teamwork
8. Sales
9. Problem-solving
10. Research 

“Communication is one of the most widely needed, transferable skills, relevant to almost every job and industry,” LinkedIn career expert Catherine Fisher tells CNBC Make It.

The need for better communication in the workplace, she adds, is the direct result of changes to the post-pandemic workforce: the rise of AI, the widespread adoption of remote and hybrid work as well as five generations, each with different communication styles and workplace jargon, now working together.

Employers want to hire people who can quickly adapt to these ongoing changes, says LinkedIn vice president Aneesh Raman. “Adaptability is the best way to have agency right now,” he notes in the report. “At the core of managing change is building that muscle of adaptability.”

Now that hybrid work is the norm in offices across the U.S., employees are expected to communicate effectively with leaders, colleagues, customers and employees across an expanding range of channels and platforms, adapting to new tools and processes, Fisher explains.

What’s more, as a growing number of employers experiment with AI, Fisher points out that they’re also recognizing its limitations, underscoring the need for workers that possess “uniquely human skills” such as communication to compensate for the shortcomings of of emerging technologies.

“At its core, communication is essential for connecting, inspiring, building trust and getting work done effectively,” she adds.

In addition to adding these skills to your resume and LinkedIn profile, you can show a hiring manager that you are adaptable and a strong communicator by mentioning specific examples of how you’ve used these skills in your past experiences during an interview. Or, if you’re angling for a promotion or raise, be sure to practice these skills in team meetings, group projects and interactions with your manager.

Effective communication can include asking detailed questions during meetings, providing feedback or leading presentations, says Fisher, while adaptability can include learning new tools to improve productivity or reprioritizing tasks to help your team meet their goals.

Want to land your dream job in 2024? Take CNBC’s new online course How to Ace Your Job Interview to learn what hiring managers are really looking for, body language techniques, what to say and not to say, and the best way to talk about pay.