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Blockchain Is the Most Wanted ‘Hard Skill’ on LinkedIn in 2020

A report released by the professional social networking platform LinkedIn has put blockchain as the most sought-after “hard skill” for 2020. According to LinkedIn, being skilled in blockchain technology will ensure that such a person chased by recruiters.

In 2018, LinkedIn rated “Blockchain Developer” as the top emerging job of the year.

The report differentiates specifically between hard and soft skills. Hard skills are skills that have to do with specific knowledge about a certain field. They are specialized skills and usually require some technical know-how to perform these duties. Hard skills could include accounting or specific medical knowledge like surgery or physiotherapy.

For soft skills, these deal with the way the hard skills are carried out. They mostly revolve around a person’s thought processes, creativity and cognitive abilities.

LinkedIn says there is no hard skill more desired on its platform than blockchain. The report focuses on specific areas including the U.S., France, Australia, the U.K. and Germany.

The report further mentions that today, blockchain is a lot more than just the underlying framework of several cryptocurrencies. The technology has now become so widespread that several non-finance industries are finding far-reaching applications for blockchain. Highlighting the “promise of blockchain”, the report includes some advice for recruiters. 

“Recruiters should start becoming familiar with how blockchain works, what its perceived benefits are, and who are the people best suited to help your company explore where this budding technology might have a role.”

As sought-after as blockchain technology is, the report adds that there is some skepticism. Regardless of blockchain’s disadvantages, skeptics believe that low scalability and heavy energy consumption are big deterrents to full blockchain adoption.

The report suggests that many companies need more people with tech skills. Other tech skills on the “Top10 Hard Skills” list include cloud computing, artificial intelligence, UX design and scientific computing. Non-tech skills still in the top ten include business analysis, affiliate marketing and sales.

LinkedIn says the most needed soft skill is creativity. Even after acquiring necessary blockchain knowledge, a more creative person will be chosen over someone whose creativity struggles. Other soft skills include persuasion, collaboration, adaptability, and emotional intelligence.

The report further stresses emotional intelligence, a new entrant to the LinkedIn top soft skill list. It says that recruiters prefer individuals who can recognize emotions from themselves and others. These people can then use the “emotional information” to make performance considerably more effective.

Recruiters select emotional intelligent candidates in the interview stage, based on their response to some specific questions. They are sometimes asked about what they consider good enough motivation or how they handled a previous crisis. Job-seekers should not just learn how to answer those questions, but also learn to implement emotional intelligence with daily tasks.

The report also advises recruiters and managers to lead by example, by regularly displaying emotionally intelligent behavior as often as possible.

Blockchain Is the Most Wanted ‘Hard Skill’ on LinkedIn in 2020

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