WORK SMARTER: The most in-demand job skills may not be what you think

Welcome readers! The Sunday edition of Fast Company Daily is dedicated to Work Smarter: a weekly newsletter of career, leadership, and productivity advice, curated by Fast Company’s Work Life editors, Kathleen Davis, Lydia Dishman and Julia Herbst.

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By Lydia Dishman

Raise your hand if you’ve gotten so familiar with some of your tasks at work that you can do them practically without thinking. Some rote tasks become this seamless nearly instantly, yet others require certain skills to start with and that muscle develops over time, the more you complete each one.

This became so clear to me this week when training two new team members on parts of our system. The good news is that it forced me to slow down and think through how best to explain each step and what skills are needed to tackle each project. The mix of technical skills and soft/creative ones were thrown into high relief and I couldn’t help but wonder: What are the most basic skills anyone could use to accomplish the most mundane items on a to-do list as well as the more amorphous aspects of teamwork and collaboration?

For example, as early career expert Anna Homayoun noted, “Because Gen Z members saw daily routines completely upended during key developmental years, many could benefit from more time, structure and support to build workflow strategies, manage distractions, and develop professionalism older generations might take for granted.”

There are myriad ways to develop new technical skills, some even at your current employer. According to Indeed, AI-related skills are helping workers who have them make bank.

But new research from business school professor Peter Cardon indicated that as AI is evolving at a rapid clip, companies are placing more of an emphasis on those kinds of soft skills Gen Z might not have developed yet.

Sitting at the top of Andrew Fennell’s list of most in-demand skills of 2024 is (unsurprisingly) adaptability. “Adaptability also shows that you can keep an open mind and be innovative, choosing to see these changes or challenges as new opportunities for growth. This could be what sets you apart from other candidates,” the founder of StandOut CV wrote.

I’d argue that critical thinking is just as important as an adjacent skill. Heide Abelli, the cofounder of SageX finds this true. Abelli noted that it’s particularly valuable when working with AI. “Critical thinking must be applied to evaluate AI responses,” she wrote, “Not all responses will be valid, unbiased, factual, or error-free. It’s in the evaluation of prompts where human logical reasoning, reflective thinking, rational thought, and unbiased evaluation come into play.

But even the best critical thinkers can’t solve every problem alone. That’s why Judith Humphrey maintains that the ability to leverage connections is tantamount to success. A report for Fast Company on essential skills for any stage of your career stated, “People with this ability are good at observing the strengths of others. They might notice that a certain person in their network would suit a particular position perfectly and possesses the skills necessary to build a super team of collaborators.”

There’s an opportunity to hone this skill even (and perhaps especially) in informal settings. Psychologist Michelle King underscores how “informal networking occurs when we go for a coffee with a colleague or take a few minutes each morning to make small talk on Zoom with teammates.” She wrote, “These small acts help nurture the connections we need at work.”

The skills you need to do this successfully relates to the indisputable importance of emotional intelligence. In an era of layoffs, RTO debates, political upheaval, and general economic uncertainty, one thing is for sure: EQ can help you make stronger connections with others.

Deeper Dive:

• The highest-paying skill in tech may not surprise you
• The invisible handbook of skills Gen Z employees lack
• New study finds AI makes employers value soft skills more

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