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25 Skills that are most likely to get you hired in 2018

  • It can be difficult to discern which skills companies need most in 2018.
  • LinkedIn used billions of data points from its 500+ million members to determine which hard and soft skills are most actively being sought by employers and getting LinkedIn members hired in 2018.
  • You’ll find the 25 hard skills listed below, as well as affordable online courses you can take to support your aptitude.
  • Find the top soft skills employers will look for in 2018 here.

With the introduction of far-reaching and robust technology, the job market has experienced its own exponential growth, adaptation, and semi-metamorphosis. So much so that it can be difficult to guess what skills employers are looking for and what makes your resume - and not another - stand out to recruiters.

Thankfully, LinkedIn created a "2018 roadmap" - a list of hard and soft skills that companies need the most.

LinkedIn used data from their 500+ million members to identify the skills companies are currently working the hardest to fill. They grouped the skills members add to their profiles into several dozen categories (for example, "Android" and "iOS" into the "Mobile Development" category). Then, the company looked at all of the hirings and recruiting activity that happened on LinkedIn between January 1 and September 1 (billions of data points) and extrapolated the skill categories that belonged to members who were "more likely to start a new role within a company and receive interest from companies."

LinkedIn then coupled those specific skills with related jobs and their average US salaries - all of which you can find below, alongside courses you can take (for free or for much less than the cost of a degree) to support claims of aptitude and stay ahead of the curve.

The online-learning options we included - Lynda, Udemy, Coursera, and edX are among the most popular and inexpensive.

Coursera and edX allow you to take classes from the top universities in the world, nearly all of which are free to audit with a fee of $29 - $160 to add a verified certificate that you can include in your resume and LinkedIn profile. Udemy houses over 65,000 courses and 15 million students in areas such as programming, marketing, and data science most prominently and frequently discounts courses worth $200 by up to 90% off. Lynda specializes in software, creatives, and business skills, and comes with a free one-month trial. After that, access is $29.99/month.

All in all, each online course is a much cheaper option than a degree typically runs nowadays.

Below are the 25 hard skills that are most likely to get you hired in 2018:

1. Cloud and distributed computing

Related Jobs: Platform Engineer ($120,000), Cloud Architect ($135,000)

2. Statistical analysis and data mining

Related Jobs: Business Analyst ($72,000), Data Analyst ($62,000), Statistician ($90,200)

3. Middleware and integration software

Related Jobs: IT Manager ($95,000), Systems Integration Engineer ($98,000)

4. Web Architecture and development framework

Related Jobs: Web developer ($65,000), Full Stack Web Developer ($77,000)

5. User interface design

Related Jobs: UX Designer ($85,000), Web Developer ($65,000), UI Designer ($72,000)

6. Software revision control systems

Related Jobs: Web Developer ($65,000), Software Programmer ($64,000)

7. Data presentation

Related Jobs: Graphic Designer ($45,000), Data Scientist ($113,000), Business Consultant ($83,000)

8. SEO/SEM marketing

Related Jobs: Marketing Specialist ($49,000), Online Marketing Manager ($80,000), Advertising Manager ($61,200)

9. Mobile development

Related Jobs: Mobile Engineer ($95,000), Mobile Application Developer ($83,800)

10. Network and Information Security

Related Jobs: Information Security Specialist ($96,000), Cyber Security Specialist ($92,500)

11. Marketing campaign management

Related Jobs: Online Marketing Manager ($80,000), Digital Marketing Specialist ($52,000), Digital Marketing Manager ($77,000)

12. Data engineering and data warehousing

Related Jobs: Software Engineer ($95,000), Database Developer ($85,000), Data Analyst ($62,000)

13. Storage systems and management

Related Jobs: Database Administrator ($91,000), System Administrator ($68,800)

14. Electronic and electrical engineering

Related Jobs: Electrical Engineer ($81,000), Electronic Engineer ($88,400)

15. Algorithm design

Related Jobs: Software Engineer ($95,000), Lead Software Engineer ($120,000), Lead Developer ($109,000)

16. Perl/Python/Ruby

Related Jobs: Software Engineer ($95,000), Data Scientist ($113,000)

17. Shell scripting languages

Related Jobs: Linux System Administrator ($75,000), System Engineer ($90,000), Java Developer ($80,000)

18. Mac, Linux and Unix Systems

Related Jobs: System Administrator ($68,800), Linux System Administrator ($75,000)

19. Java development

Related Jobs: Java Developer ($80,000), Web Developer ($65,000)

20. Business intelligence

Related Jobs: Business Intelligence Analyst ($73,100), Forecast Analyst ($64,000)

21. Software QA and user testing

Related Jobs: User Experience Engineer ($85,000), Software Test Engineer ($80,000), Quality Assurance Engineer ($77,000)

22. Virtualization

Related Jobs: Network Engineer ($82,000), Network Administrator ($65,000)

23. Automotive services, parts and design

Related Jobs: Vehicle Engineer ($96,500), Industrial Designer ($63,600)

24. Economics

Related Jobs: Business Development Manager ($99,000), Auditor ($56,000), Research Analyst ($56,400)

25. Database Management and Software

Related Jobs: Database Specialist ($53,000), Database Administrator ($91,000)

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