A new report uncovers the abilities most sought-after by employers—and predicts the most coveted skills of the future.
Power skills are increasingly important at work
At the rate the world is changing, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that you will probably need to update your work skills more than once in your career. Upskilling should no longer be viewed as a milestone, but rather a mindset every worker must embrace.
And it isn’t just hard skills that you’ll need to stay on top of. According to Pearson’s first Skills Outlook: Power Skills report, the most in-demand skills today fall in the range of what has traditionally been known as soft skills.
“All the skills employers seek revolve around human skills—or ‘Power Skills’,” says Mike Howells, President of Workforce Skills at Pearson. “Hard skills require constant retraining to stay up to date with the latest version of solutions and tools. What makes a difference in employee skills are the soft skills, like problem-solving or personal learning, which showcase individuals’ eagerness to continue growing and learning new skills throughout their career.
“Employers will be looking for these skills as they showcase a workforce that can remain competitive and expand with a company.”
I connected with Howells for an email interview to talk about the report’s findings—as well as how the workforce can prepare for a future that looks more and more like a moving target. Here’s what we discussed.
Powering up your skills for today
Power skills—also known as human skills, soft skills or my preferred term, professional skills—are in high demand today. According to Pearson’s report, employers today are focused on finding five vital abilities in their workforce:
1. Communication: “The ability to express thoughts and ideas clearly, and to listen to, understand, and respond to others' ideas.”
It seems this is the professional skill that we can never get enough of. It leads almost every list of skills most coveted by employers, and with good reason: we have so many avenues to communicate today, but still seem to lack the clarity, precision and force to convey our thoughts most effectively. Workers who deepen this ability will position themselves well for the future.
2. Customer Service: “The provision of service to customers before, during, and after a purchase.”
We’ve all had poor customer service experiences, and these experiences can make or break a brand. One bad encounter can go viral overnight—but the reverse is also true. A warm, gracious, customer-centered mindset is a valuable asset in any role, whether you’re directly customer-facing or not.
3. Leadership: “The ability of an individual, group or organisation to ‘lead’, influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organisations.”
Without strong leadership, teams and organizations flounder. Leaders are in short supply these days, but younger workers are motivated to develop their skills in this critical area.
4. Attention to detail: “The ability to be precise and accurate in tasks, taking care to notice small details and ensuring that all aspects of a project are completed accurately.”
Mistakes, even seemingly small ones, can prove costly. Workers can strengthen their attention to detail to both improve their performance and build a stronger competitive edge at work.
5. Collaboration: “The ability to develop constructive and cooperative working relationships with others.”
Most of us can’t do our work in a silo. We must communicate, negotiate and build rapport with others to move the project forward—and this aspect of work will only increase as the world becomes more interconnected. The ability to collaborate productively with others is a power skill that is important today and in the future.
Preparing your skills for tomorrow
As if those five skills weren’t enough, it turns out you will need more to thrive over the long term. Pearson researchers examined census and workforce data using AI and predictive analytics to model how job requirements may change as a result of technological advances.
The result? Several more skills you’re going to need sometime in the near future as the world continues to shift. They include:
1. Collaboration: “The ability to develop constructive and cooperative working relationships with others.”
It’s interesting that this particular skill made both the current and future skills lists for what employers need in their workforce. Our best work is often produced with active participation from others, and the need to bring out the best in your coworkers as you contribute to a joint project is apparently not going away any time soon.
2. Customer Focus: “Actively look for ways to assist customers and clients.”
This skill takes the customer service power skill and supersizes it. While customer service is largely reactive toward the customer, customer focus takes a more proactive stance toward anticipating needs in a way that pleasantly surprises the customer.
3. Personal Learning & Mastery: “The ability to acquire knowledge or skills through one’s study or experience.”
Self-starters have always had an advantage, but if this model holds true, the future is all theirs. While the workforce wants employers to take the lead in providing upskilling opportunities, the truth is that those who seek such training on their own initiative will go further, faster.
4. Achievement Focus: “The ability to take on responsibilities and challenges with little or no supervision, develop one’s own way of doing things, and depend on oneself to get things done.”
This is the flip side of collaboration: the ability to work well without others—specifically, without others having to check that you’re actually, you know, working. If you can collaborate well and possess the ability to work efficiently on solo tasks, you’ll be in the sweet spot.
5. Cultural and Social Intelligence: “Have awareness and understanding of other’s reactions.”
In our globalizing world, the ability to intelligently relate to and connect with others across social and cultural divides will become a highly prized skill. This requires empathy, interest and the ability to forge a real human connection with those we interact with.
Building skills
If these are the skills of the future, how do we go about developing them? Howells believes that in a fast-changing environment, a growth mindset is crucial. “Remaining open to learning ensures young people have greater opportunities to move forward alongside an evolving world rather than play catchup after the fact,” he says.
Additionally, he notes, humans are innately social. “Individuals must start treating learning like they treat sharing on social media or tracking their health and wellness goals—by building a community to support their learning journey,” says Howells. “We use technology to improve everything else in our lives, but we’ve yet to tap into all of that potential in the world of learning.”
Finally, it’s also vital to see tangible progress. “We learn best when we can see the value of our learning,” says Howells, pointing to verified digital credentials as one way individuals can use the power of technology to enhance their sense of community as they learn. “These credentials empower individuals to share their wins, enhance learning opportunities and support each other along the lifelong learning journey.”
Skills: hard, soft and everything in between
In a shifting employment landscape, hard skills may get you in the door—but professional skills make you an invaluable part of the team. “Tech skills are table-stakes,” says Howells. “We will always be updating them, learning new systems and working to keep up with changes in technology. But technology isn’t replacing human workers—it’s augmenting them.”
That’s why other skills—whether you call them soft, power, human or professional skills—are the real currency of the future. “What will separate individuals from other applicants and make them truly valuable to a company? Their interpersonal skills—the way they can solve problems, collaborate, strategize and do all the other things that only humans can do,” Howells says.
Yes, the future is a moving target. The best thing you can do for your career is to take aim at the skills that don’t expire or lose their relevance—no matter what seismic shifts may rock the world of work.
