33 most-recruited-jobs in 2018 According to LinkedIn Talent Solutions
- 1. The33most recruitedjobs and how to proactively grow your talent pipeline
- 2. Tableof contents 2 The most recruited jobs overall 04 The most recruited jobs across industries 06 Tech 07 Finance 08 Retail 09 Professional services 10 Education, government, and nonprofits 11 The most recruited jobs across functions 12 Engineering 13 Sales 14 Operations 15 Marketing 16 HR 17 How to proactively grow your talent pipeline 18 Sourcing: Tap into non-traditional talent 20 Assessing: Screen for skills, not schools 23 Developing: Upskill existing employees 26 Conclusion 29 Introduction 03
- 3. Certain roles attract incredible interest from companies around the world. The sky-high demand to fill these jobs drives countless recruiters to search for the right candidates on LinkedIn. And thanks to that aggregate data, we can get a clearer picture than ever of the world’s most in-demand, heavily recruited roles. By looking at who gets the most InMails from recruiters and what job titles they hold, we’re able to see which roles receive the most attention from talent acquisition teams. Whether you’re a recruiter curious about where you’ll face the fiercest competition, an HR or TA leader analyzing trends to inform your workforce planning, or even a job seeker wondering what career path to take, these insights show the most sought after job titles. This isn’t a simple ranking of the 33 most recruited jobs overall. To offer a broader perspective, we decided to explore the most in-demand jobs across industries as well as job functions. While this list is by no means exhaustive, it aims to paint a fuller picture of the positions sought by companies across different sectors of the global economy. The second half of this report offers long-term strategies and helpful tactics to grow your talent pipeline—particularly if you’re struggling to win over the same slice of “top talent” that everyone else is after. Expanding your talent pool, screening for skills, and investing in employees can help you find and develop the right talent. Introduction 3
- 4. Themostrecruited jobsoverall DevOps Engineer1 Front-End Engineer3 2 Enterprise Account Executive 4
- 5. DevOps Engineer Enterprise Account Executive Front-End Engineers The second-most in-demand role, Enterprise AEs specialize in maintaining business relationships with enterprise accounts— typically a company’s largest, most important customers. With account-based sales models increasing in popularity, salespeople who can strengthen relationships and personalize sales approaches are in high demand. While the biggest supplies of Enterprise AEs are found in San Francisco, New York City, and Boston, you should also consider sourcing in Austin, Los Angeles, and Washington D.C.—those are three hidden gem locations with high supplies and relatively low demand, according to LinkedIn Talent Insights.1 Few knew the term “DevOps” five years ago—today, DevOps Engineer is the most recruited job on LinkedIn. While many engineers argue that DevOps is more of a culture than a single job, the title commands immense interest from recruiters. Since the title is new and somewhat nebulous, the exact role may differ across companies—and go by different names. If you’re looking to hire DevOps Engineers, you should strongly consider searching for adjacent and overlapping titles, like Site Reliability Engineer, as well. Front-End Engineers, the third-most recruited job on LinkedIn, focus on coding the visual, interactive elements of a website or web app. The high demand for Front-End Engineers reflects greater shifts in business: virtually every major business is expected to have a website, and companies are increasingly using web apps for internal processes. Beijing has the largest supply of Front-End Engineers, followed by San Francisco—but demand is relatively low in Beijing, while it’s very high in SF. Work-life balance is the most important factor for Front-End Engineers when considering a job opportunity, according to LinkedIn’s Employer Value Propositions Survey, so be sure to hit on that point when making your pitch.1 5
- 7. Themostrecruitedjobs intechnology Two of the three most recruited roles in tech are sales positions. And when it comes to finding sales talent, soft skills tend to outweigh hard, technical skills. Here are three interview questions to screen for soft skills in sales:2 • For adaptability: Tell me about a time when you were asked to do something you had never done before. How did you react? What did you learn? • For culture add: What’s the most interesting thing about you that’s not on your resume? • For growth potential: Can you describe a time that you volunteered to expand your knowledge at work, as opposed to being directed to do so? Enterprise Account Executive1 Sales Development Rep3 2 DevOps Engineer 7
- 8. Themost recruitedjobs infinance Data Scientists care most about a good work-life balance, excellent compensation, and challenging work when it comes to choosing an employer.1 Highlight those aspects of the job and your employer brand as you recruit. Data Scientist Senior Software Engineer Senior Tax Associate 1 2 3 8
- 9. Software Engineer1 Senior Brand Manager3 2 Senior Financial Analyst Themostrecruitedjobs inretail Not only is Software Engineer the most recruited job in retail, but LinkedIn data shows that Software Developer is now the third-most common role in retail, up from the eighth-most common in 2013.3 One of the fastest-growing skills among Software Developers in retail is React.js, a JavaScript library for building user interfaces—which is crucial for creating a great ecommerce experience. 9
- 10. Themostrecruitedjobs inprofessionalservices The most common previous job title held by current Data Scientists five years ago is Research Assistant, with Researcher coming in as a close second—so it may be worth sourcing people in those roles as potential Data Scientists. Senior Software Engineer1 Front-End Developer3 2 Data Scientist 10
- 11. Themost recruitedjobs ineducation, government, andnonprofits System Administrators care most about a good work-life balance, excellent compensation, and job security when it comes to choosing an employer.1 If those are things you can offer, make sure they shine in your pitches to System Admins. Software Engineer Business Analyst System Administrator 1 2 3 11
- 13. Themostrecruited jobsinengineering Software engineers of all stripes tend to be passive candidates: engineers in the U.S. apply to jobs 13% less frequently than the global population.4 That means it’s probably a good idea to reach out proactively. DevOps Engineer Front-End Engineer Cloud Architect 1 2 3 13
- 14. Themostrecruitedjobs insales More than half of Enterprise Account Executives surveyed said colleagues and a culture that inspire them to do their best was one of the most important factors when considering a job opportunity.1 When you’re trying to recruit these salespeople, try to sell them on the power of your people and company culture. Enterprise Account Executive1 Senior Sales Engineer3 2 Sales Development Representative 14
- 15. Themostrecruitedjobs inoperations The largest supplies of Delivery Managers are found in India’s Bengaluru, London, and the Chennai area of India. According to LinkedIn survey data, excellent compensation and benefits were the top factor for Delivery Managers when considering a job—followed by work-life balance and challenging work.1 Senior Quantity Surveyor1 Supply Director3 2 Delivery Manager 15
- 16. Themostrecruitedjobs inmarketing Product Marketing Managers (PMMs) are particularly popular and in-demand in the tech industry and the San Francisco Bay Area, which has the largest supply of them. The best hidden gem locations (high supply, low demand) to find PMMs are Paris, Shanghai, and Singapore1 —so you may want to try sourcing there if you’re looking for experienced talent. Digital Marketing Manager1 Senior Brand Manager3 2 Product Marketing Manager 16
- 17. Themostrecruitedjobs inHR When it comes to recruiting these Technical Recruiters out of college, it doesn’t hurt to cast a wide net: top fields of study for Technical Recruiters were HR management, business administration, computer science, marketing, and psychology. The areas with the most technical recruiters are New York City, San Francisco, and Hyderabad, India.1 Technical Recruiter1 HR Business Partner3 2 Recruiting Coordinator 17
- 19. When everyone is going after the same talent, supply is bound to be scarce. Doing things the same old way may not be enough—you’ll need to go beyond traditional approaches. These alternative approaches aren’t just about instantly hiring the most in-demand talent. Rather than reactive recruiting, these strategies reflect a proactive, long-term plan to expand your talent pipeline and increase your access to otherwise scarce candidates. Only 11% of talent professionals and hiring managers surveyed said they were proactive about hiring in-demand talent—while nearly half (48%) were more reactive, only looking to hire once their need was urgent. These reactive companies were far more likely to lower standards and increase compensation when struggling to hire. Sourcing Tap into non-traditional talent Assessing Assess for skills, not schools Developing Upskill existing employees Here are three long-term strategies to proactively grow your talent pipeline. 19
- 20. 70% of recruiters and hiring managers surveyed say the biggest challenge they face when hiring in- demand talent is finding the talent in the first place. When the most in-demand talent is scarce, you may want to look beyond standard short-term approaches. Sourcing non-traditional candidates can give you a competitive edge. By non-traditional talent, we mean candidates who often get overlooked: those without a formal four-year degree, elite credentials, or spotless work histories. This can include veterans,4 parents returning to the workforce,5 and candidates with criminal records,6 among others. Making your talent pipeline more inclusive can help you hire the talent you need—all while improving diversity and increasing retention.7 Sourcing Tap into non- traditional talent 20
- 21. Tacticstosource non-traditionaltalent Explore alternative talent pools Encourage non- traditional referrals Partner with organizations dedicated to non-traditional talent Hiring managers care about whether candidates have the skills—not how they got them. While university recruiting is a tried-and-true strategy, your organization may want to explore alternative talent sources, like accelerated training programs or boot camps, local community colleges, and community organizations. Referrals are one of the most effective, popular sourcing methods. In our survey of talent professionals and hiring managers, employee referrals were the single most common hiring tactic for in-demand talent. When soliciting referrals, ensure your employees know that you embrace non- traditional candidates and that a perfect pedigree isn’t a prerequisite for success. You don’t have to start from scratch. There are dozens of nonprofit organizations and initiatives that can help you ramp up your non-traditional recruiting efforts—including Opportunity @ Work, Year Up, and Skillful. You can find a more complete list of nonprofits here, compiled by Opportunity Onramps, a community launched by Workday in collaboration with LinkedIn, Walmart, Symantec, PwC, Okta, and Salesforce. 21
- 22. • Non-traditional candidates can outperform conventional ones • Non-traditional training can often impart greater soft skills • Investing in less experienced talent can pay off Takeaways Spotlight HolbertonSchool A two-year program that turns students with no programming skills into full-stack software engineers. Holberton School resists easy definition. “We’re not a boot camp, and we’re not a traditional university,” says co-founder Sylvain Kalache. With no formal teachers, no lectures, and no upfront tuition, he says “we define ourselves more like an accelerated university.” The school boasts a diverse student body and an impressive track record for graduates, who consistently get jobs at top tech companies like Apple, Google, and Facebook. Not only do Holberton students gain top-notch technical skills, they also build superior soft skills through project- based learning—solving problems together in small groups, similar to the modern tech workplace. Sylvain believes companies do need to be more open to less-experienced talent. “Senior talent doesn’t grow on trees,” he says. “Sometimes you need to take people under your wing and help them develop. Investing in talent like that can be beneficial in the short-term and long-term.” 22
- 23. Assessing Years ago, screening by schools made sense. With limited information on candidates, employers saw an education from a prestigious university as a reliable indicator of skills. Even back then, it was the skills that truly mattered: schools were just an imprecise way to detect them. Excluding candidates based on their education hurts employers in two big ways. First, academic success simply isn’t a reliable predictor of job performance, the firm EY found in an 18-month analysis.6 Secondly, screening by schools filters out a huge swath of the talent pool—which can be a big mistake when competing for in-demand talent. Fortunately, today it’s much easier to assess for skills directly, allowing you to better predict job performance and vastly expand your talent pool. Screen for skills, not schools 23
- 24. Tacticstoassessskills, notschools Reexamine which skills actually matter for the job today Let candidates get their hands dirty by doing the job Take advantage of tech-driven assessment tools As roles evolve over time and the shelf life of skills shrink, it’s easy to find yourself looking for skills that simply aren’t so relevant to the job anymore. It’s important to calibrate often. Hiring managers and recruiters can create a precise list of specific skills by walking through the job’s day-to-day tasks and overarching goals. While only 16% of recruiters and hiring managers surveyed said they use assignments or work auditions to assess hard skills, this approach is one of the best ways to see how well candidates can do the job. Take-home assignments and job auditions give candidates a taste of the job’s day-to-day tasks while letting their skills speak for themselves. Platforms like HackerRank and Codility measure candidates’ coding chops through challenging exercises, while tools like Koru and Pymetrics assess soft skills like grit, curiosity, and ownership through quizzes and neuroscience-based games. Crucially, many of these tech tools allow you to fine-tune the skills criteria to your company’s needs. 24
- 25. • Relying on resumes alone is an outdated way to infer skills • The ability to learn new things is more important than past education • Forget “top” talent—it’s about the right talent with the right skills Takeaways HackerRank An assessment platform to objectively evaluate candidates’ coding skills. Until recently, coding assessments were reserved for the later stages of the hiring process, long after the vast majority of candidates had been screened out based on resumes. “Historically, resumes were the best proxies to figure out if you were a good developer or not,” says Vivek Ravisankar, co- founder and CEO of HackerRank, a solution that lets companies screen for skills early on via online coding assessments. “Over 70% of developers learn to code on their own,” says Vivek, citing HackerRank’s recent survey of nearly 40,000 developers. Given how fast technology is changing, an academic education is far less important than the ability to teach yourself new skills. But it’s not just the idea of screening for schools that’s outdated, according to Vivek—the idea of hunting for “top” engineers is also obsolete. “It’s really about the fit with the company,” he says. “A developer at Google might do really, really well there, but bomb at your startup.” Instead of looking for “top” talent with a perfect pedigree, companies should zero in on the exact skills they need. Spotlight 25
- 26. If you can’t seem to hire that “perfect” candidate, upskilling is a smart option to get (and retain) great talent. In fact, 57% of talent professionals and hiring managers surveyed said they turn to upskilling when they’re struggling to hire in-demand talent. Upskilling can fit into your long-term strategy in several ways: you can help employees develop new skills to excel in their current role, hire people internally for new roles, or hire talent with the intent to upskill. Also known as retraining or reskilling, upskilling can cost less and ease some of the pains that come with transforming your workforce. It can also encourage retention: 94% of employees say that they would stay at a company longer if it invested in their career development.7 Today’s technology makes it easier than ever to upskill, from identifying those most equipped to take the next step to delivering training online. Developing Upskill existing employees 26
- 27. Tacticstoupskill employees Partner with educational institutions Help employees put their learnings into action Involve leaders from outside of HR While you can upskill employees through internally created courses, you may also want to partner with local universities, training programs, or online learning resources like LinkedIn Learning. These organizations are often eager to work with employers and may be able to help get a fledgling upskilling effort off the ground. Let employees act on their training as soon as possible. You can formalize an apprenticeship or transitional program where upskilled employees are guided into their new role—but it can also be as simple as giving them a new project where they can immediately apply their new skills. An upskilling initiative may start in HR, but its effects extend to every part of your company. Give leaders from other business units a voice as you shape the program to make sure it meets their needs and wins their support. Without real commitment from leadership and management, even the best upskilling program will struggle to gain momentum. 27
- 28. • Upskilling can be more practical than hiring and preserves company culture • Transparency makes it easier for employees to move into new roles • Continually improve your upskilling program through consistent feedback Takeaways AT&T One of the largest upskilling programs in the world. AT&T is investing $1 billion into reskilling its workforce of 250,000 employees—an initiative that began after the company realized that virtually every part of its business would be transformed by new technology in the near future. Rather than relying on external hires, leadership decided to invest in their employees. “At our size, you can’t find that talent, bring it in, and maintain a culture,” says John Palmer, Senior Vice President of HR at AT&T. Those who engage in the program are 2x more likely to get a new job at AT&T and 4x more likely to get a promotion. On an internal web portal, workers can see how each one of the company’s 3,000 roles have grown or shrunk and how they’re projected to grow. “For each role, you can also see the salary, skills required, and relevant classes in our corporate university, along with contacts you can speak with to learn more about it,” says John. While most of its classes are created internally, AT&T also partners with universities and online learning platforms. The company continually surveys employees about the classes, replacing or improving lower-rated courses. They also provide feedback to educational partners to ensure the upskilling remains relevant. Spotlight 28
- 29. Today’s most recruited jobs reveal a broader trend. As technology transforms virtually every industry, companies need to hire for new skills and positions—many of which didn’t exist just a handful of years ago. The high demand for these roles can often lead to a scarce supply and serious hiring challenges—and opportunities. “Whenever companies are faced with that changing pressure, they look for solutions,” says Allen Blue, Co-Founder of LinkedIn. “That’s a great driving force,” he says, “it’s the energy behind HR innovation.” Hiring for the most recruited jobs may mean companies have to get creative with their talent pipeline—sourcing differently, assessing differently, and hiring differently. In doing so, they open themselves up to a wider, richer talent pool and redefine what it means to build successful teams. Conclusion 29
- 30. The results of this analysis represent the world seen through the lens of LinkedIn data. As such, it is influenced by how members choose to use the site, which can vary based on professional, social, and regional culture, as well as overall site availability and accessibility. These variances were not accounted for in the analysis. Our insights are based on global LinkedIn data ranging from April 2017 to April 2018. Demand is based on the average number of Recruiter InMails sent to professionals with each of these job titles. The insight on the most common previous job titles held by current Data Scientists is based on aggregated global LinkedIn data of members with a Data Scientist title in 2018 and historical titles held in 2013. Jobs here refer to standardized groups of unique, user-inputted job titles determined based on common job roles (which have many permutations). For example, the “machine learning engineer” job title includes user inputted titles such as “machine learning software engineer.” We also determine members’ functions based on their job titles, which are mapped to Functions (e.g. engineering, sales, operations, etc.) in our “titles taxonomy.” These lists are not exhaustive and reflect editorial decisions to avoid repetition of similar titles and convey the variety of positions among those with the highest demand. All jobs are selected from a list of the top 10 titles with the highest demand in their respective category. In addition to analyzing LinkedIn data as detailed above, we also surveyed 1,630 English-speaking talent professionals and hiring managers around the world. Talent professionals work in Human Resources or Talent Acquisition, while hiring managers are only focused on hiring for their teams; all survey respondents have substantial influence over hiring decisions. These survey respondents are LinkedIn members who were selected based on information in their LinkedIn profile and were contacted via email in May 2018. Methodology 30
- 31. Sources 1 Analysis via LinkedIn Talent Insights in September 2018. All data is global, and talent pools were defined based on the “title” filter in the Talent Pool report. 2 “12 Interview Questions to Ask Every Sales Candidate.” LinkedIn Talent Blog. September 18, 2017. 3 “Data Reveals the Fastest-Growing Job in Retail (And It’s Not Sales).” LinkedIn Talent Blog. April 19, 2018. 4 “7 LinkedIn Data Points That Will Help You Recruit Software Engineers in the U.S.” LinkedIn Talent Blog. January 30, 2018. 5 “2017 Veteran Insights Report: The Types of Veterans Who Are in Highest Demand.” LinkedIn Talent Blog. November 10, 2017. 6 “Gaps In the Resume, But Not In Talent—Reasons to Embrace Women Returning to the Workforce.” LinkedIn Talent Blog. August 3, 2017. 7 “You May Be Overlooking One in Three Candidates—Here’s How to Change That.” LinkedIn Talent Blog. July 16, 2018. 8 “Talent Matters: The case for reaching out to non-traditional IT talent.” Washington Post. March 30, 2016. 9 “EY transforms its recruitment selection process for graduates, undergraduates and school leavers.” EY. August 3, 2015. 10 “New Report shows talent development is playing an increasingly strategic role in today’s economy.” 2018 LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report. Feb 27, 2018. 31
- 32. Join the conversation: About LinkedIn Talent Solutions From growing your pipeline to building your employer brand, LinkedIn Talent Solutions has the data and tools you need to find the talent who will make the biggest impact on your business. Learn more at talent.linkedin.com