CNBC Work

If you are in HR, these are the job skills you must have to be successful: LinkedIn

Key Points
  • Job skill requirements for human resource officers are changing fast.
  • LinkedIn data analysis identified four job skills that will grow in importance the fastest over the next three to five years.

Technology is changing at a rapid pace, and so too are the skills needed for HR officers to build a strong talent pool. Shaping the culture of a company is key, and so is staying ahead of the curve when it comes to understanding organizational shifts.

"It's an ever-changing landscape," said LinkedIn's senior vice president of product, Ryan Roslansky, at the CNBC Talent@Work conference on Wednesday. "What we saw as the four fastest-growing skills this year are probably not the same as what we saw last year," he said.

Ryan Rolansky, SVP of Product, Linkedin
Adam Jeffery | CNBC

LindkedIn, the world's largest professional network, has more than 560 million users in over 200 countries and territories worldwide. With its graph updating 5 million times every minute, according to Roslansky, it is able to pull a wealth of information on trends in the workplace. "There's a ton of data that we look at. We can break it down by market, by function, by industry," he said.

Exploring the trends on LinkedIn, Roslansky said these are the four skills for chief human resources officers that will appreciate the most over the next three to five years.

1. Employee benefit design.

"As administration and policies shift, you have to be on top of that. We are seeing that that skill, specifically, is the fastest-growing skill on chief human resources LinkedIn profiles over the last year, either because people are becoming CHROs and have that skill, or people who are currently CHROs are requiring that skill," Roslansky said.

2. Public policy.

"I think that the more that public policy plays a role in how you hire people and how you manage people, we're going to see that continue to grow," Roslansky said.

3. Facilities management.

"There's such a movement toward gig and on-demand work right now that understanding how people are going to work from various locations, as well as ensuring that the facility you are currently in caters to the changing workforce, is very important," Roslansky said.

The fourth, Roslansky said, is no surprise.

4. Big data analysis.

"I feel very confident that's going to continue to rise," he said.

But Roslansky also believes that for the highest performers, most often it's the soft skills, not the hard skills, that count most: the ability to fit in with the culture, work with others and collaborate. "It's typically not what you learn in college," he said.

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