The hybridization of the American job market is in full swing, even if most of us don’t realize it. This trend is influencing what employers look for in job seekers in ways that not many have adapted yet. The rapid expansion of technology over the past fifteen years has made it so many previously non-technical jobs now have one or more technological elements attached to them.
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Hybrid skills are a combination of both technical and soft skills. Now, what can be considered a hybrid skill will vary depending on several factors, including the actual job, company, or industry, among others.
Take, for instance, administrative assistants. Traditionally, this position revolved around answering phones, taking memos, maintaining files, greeting clients, etc. Today, however, an administrative assistant will also need to possess a hybrid skillset that may include some digital skills such as designing presentation materials, handling database programs, generating reports and spreadsheets, using social media, updating websites, etc.
On the other end of the spectrum, people in highly technical jobs, like IT networkers or security specialists, will also need to make use of soft skills (communication, decision-making, teamwork, critical thinking, time management, etc.) to adapt and thrive in today’s competitive job market.
What Are Hybrid Jobs All About?
Research indicates that around one in four jobs today show strong signs of hybridization. What’s more, about one in eight positions has a high degree of hybridization. Also, the skills that drive this trend were shown to fall, more or less, into five major areas. On the one hand, we have entirely new skills, while on the other are traditional skills applied in new ways. In any case, these areas include the following:
- Sales and Customer Service
- Evolving compliance and regulatory systems
- Emerging digital technologies
- Design and Development
- Big Data and Analytics
The benefit for those looking to develop their hybrid skills should not be understated. People who have traditionally held soft skill-oriented jobs will benefit from cultivating hard skills by showing their employees they can adapt and keep pace with the technological developments of today.
Workers and job seekers with technology-oriented backgrounds, however, will be able to distinguish themselves more by enhancing their soft skills. These will enable them to add more value, beyond just the narrow applications of their tech specializations.
When Hard and Soft Skills Come Together
Recently, LinkedIn has released a report highlighting some of the most important hard and soft skills that are most sought-after in 2019.
These soft skills include:
- creativity
- persuasion
- collaboration
- adaptability
- time management.
In terms of hard skills that employers are on the lookout for include:
- cloud computing
- artificial intelligence
- analytical reasoning
- people management
- UX design
- mobile applications development
- video production
- sales leadership
- translation
- audio production
- natural language processing
- scientific computing
- game development
- social media marketing
- animation
- business analysis
- journalism
- digital marketing
- industrial design
- competitive strategy
- customer service systems
- software testing
- data science
- computer graphics
- corporate communications.
Each of these hard skills, of course, includes a variety of specializations and subspecializations. These can be mixed and matched with the aforementioned soft skills to create a wide variety of hybrid jobs.
At MyComputerCareer, we train you for a career in IT in as little as four months. With in-demand certifications from Microsoft, Cisco, CompTIA, and EC-Council, and with our job placement services, we help you start your career fast. For more information, contact us today!
