Get hired this year: 2021’s fastest-growing jobs, and the skills you need to get them

The COVID-19 pandemic has permanently changed the jobs landscape so understanding what “comes next” is top of mind for employers and job seekers alike as the global labor market begins to recover. Today, following our joint commitment with Microsoft to help get 25 million people back to work, LinkedIn announced new insights that shed light on what’s next as we enter the new year. 

To help support the millions of people trying to get back into the workforce, we looked at the fastest-growing jobs of the past year and at courses and other tools that can help job seekers take the next step.

There is demand for workers from every background

As we do at the start of each year, we’re taking a look at the most in-demand jobs in the U.S. But this year, we’re also looking at how things have changed over the past year.

Here are the top five fastest-growing job trends based on LinkedIn data over the past year, each reflecting a collection of closely-related roles where demand is expanding quickly. Read more about these and 10 additional trends from LinkedIn editor, Andrew Seaman. 

This is based on an analysis of jobs data by YoY growth and quantity from April-October 2020.  

These are the top 5 Jobs on the Rise right now

1. Professionals on the frontlines of e-commerce

As many sheltered in place this year, retailers and logistics companies onboarded thousands of e-commerce workers to help get products from the store into the hands of customers. Hiring for these roles grew 73% year-over-year — and that demand continues with over 400,000 open jobs right now.

Top Job Titles: Driver, Supply Chain Associate, Package Handler, Personal Shopper | Skills: Time Management, Customer Service, Leadership | Top Locations Hiring: Chicago, New York City, Washington, D.C. | Education: 70% of hires have an Associates Degree or higher | Salary Range: $42,000 - $56,000 | Remote job availability: Low

2. Loan and mortgage experts 

The combination of historically low interest rates and the rollout of the Paycheck Protection Program loans has kept loan experts busy this year — and sent many companies on the hunt for even more. Hiring for these jobs in 2020 increased nearly 59% from 2019. For people looking to work from home, roughly a quarter of loan officer job postings mention remote work options.

Top job titles: Underwriter, Mortgage Loan Officer, Escrow Officer, Loan Closer | Skills: Risk Management, Customer Service, Credit Analysis | Top Locations Hiring: New York City, Dallas, Chicago | Education: 67% of hires have an Associates Degree or higher | Median Salary: $43,700 - $60,000 | Remote job availability: High

3. Health care supporting staff

The coronavirus pandemic caused a sudden and sustained need for doctors and nurses, but it also created the same demand for the people who support health care professionals. These people help usher patients through the health care system, keep records in order for doctors and much more. Since 2019, hiring for these positions has increased more than 34%. (25 titles)

Top job titles: Health Care Assistant, Pharmacy Technician, Dental Assistant, Home Health Aide | Skills: Patient Education, Data Entry, Physician Relations | Top Locations Hiring: New York City, Boston, Chicago | Education: 82% of hires have an Associates Degree or higher | Median Salary: $65,300 - $106,000 | Remote job availability: Low

4. Business development and sales professionals

Businesses were tasked with quickly adapting to an uncertain world and economy. While some jobs were lost, others that could help bottom lines and help businesses navigate through the pandemic were added. Hiring for these roles grew more than 45% between 2020 and 2019.

Top job titles: Sales Consultant, Sales Operations Assistant, Inbound Sales Specialist, Strategic Advisor | Skills: Customer Retention, Sales Process, Team Building | Top Locations Hiring: New York City, Denver, Atlanta | Education: 79% of hires have an Associates Degree or higher | Median Salary: $43,300 - $105,000 | Remote job availability: Low

5. Experts in workplace diversity

Protests sparked by the police-involved shootings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor caused organizations around the world to reckon with systemic racism and a lack of diversity in positions of power. Companies — large and small — turned to diversity experts who could help them bring new voices into their organizations. Hiring for these roles increased more than 90% since 2019.

Top job titles: Diversity Manager, Diversity Officer, Head of Diversity, Diversity Coordinator | Skills: Community Outreach, Teaching, Organizational Development | Top Locations Hiring: New York City, San Francisco, Chicago | Education: 91% of hires have an Associates Degree or higher | Median Salary: $72,900 - $97,000 | Remote job availability: Low

The courses helping professionals get hired now

Skills can be the boost you need to get your next job. Of the millions of professionals who got hired last year, these are the top five hard and soft skill courses they watched before landing that new role. Many corresponded to in demand and fastest-growing jobs, and the courses to learn them are available for free right now. Listing these skills will also make you more discoverable to hiring managers.

Top five hard skills (and free courses to learn them)

1. Software development 

Python for Data Science Essential Training

Programming Foundations: Object-Oriented Design

Programming Foundations: Algorithms

1. Project management

Cert Prep: Scrum Master

Cert Prep: PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)®

1. Data analysis

SQL Essential Training (2019)

Data Science & Analytics Career Paths & Certifications: First Steps

Six Sigma: Green Belt

1. Digital marketing

Marketing Tools: Digital Marketing

1. Product management 

Becoming a Product Manager

Top five courses to help you nail the interview process

1. Expert Tips for Answering Common Interview Questions with Jenny Foss, LinkedIn Learning Instructors, and Linda Raynier—Learn how to confidently tackle interview questions, explain employment gaps, and negotiate salary. Recent hires watched this course 5x more than the average learner!

2. Resume Makeover with Jenny Foss—Turn your lackluster resume into a “you had us at hello” resume and gain insights into how the hiring process works to help you land an interview.

3. Creating Great First Impressions with Vanessa Van Edwards—Learn research-backed strategies to make the first few seconds of any interaction count, from body language to vocal cues to the best opening lines that spark a great conversation.

4. Communicating with Confidence with Jeff Ansel— Learn simple communication tools, strategies, and tips that are easy to use to sound more confident, use body and language to better express ideas, and overcome anxiety.

5. Complex Negotiation Tips with Caroyln Goener— Learn ways to manage the toughest negotiations whether its managing multiple negotiation partners, building and maintaining relationships, planning for complicated situations, or developing your professional demeanor.

More tips for taking the next step in your career

• Send the right signals to recruiters. Using LinkedIn’s Open to Work feature on your LinkedIn profile, you can share your career preferences - like if you’re looking for remote jobs - and indicate that you’re open to new opportunities either privately to recruiters or to the broader LinkedIn community through an #OpenToWork profile photo frame. LinkedIn data shows that you’re 2X more likely to hear from a recruiter when you indicate that you’re Open to Work. Don’t forget to set up Job Alerts to stay updated on new job postings that match your preferences. Applying within the first 10 minutes of receiving a job notification increases your chances of hearing back by up to 4X.

• Get ready for your (virtual) closeup. When it comes to the interview, more than 50 percent of people say they lack confidence. LinkedIn interview preparation tools can help you prepare for some of the most common questions that are asked in the screening process, with access to quality videos and tips by experts and hiring managers, immediate AI-powered feedback, and specific interview tracks for in-demand roles like sales, engineering, and marketing.
• Explore your career path. LinkedIn’s Career Explorer can uncover new opportunities looking for the skills and experience you already have. We’ll show you roles people like you have transitioned into, the skills you may need, with LinkedIn Learning courses to build them; connect you with open jobs on LinkedIn; and find members who have those jobs and can help support you.

Methodology

Jobs on the Rise are defined as the career categories that have seen the highest year-on-year growth rates in hiring, looking at the April 2020 to October 2020 timeframe. LinkedIn’s Economic Graph data scientists looked across 15,000+ job titles to uncover the jobs that have grown the most compared to 2019 levels, those titles were then grouped into overarching career trends that capture as many as 25 job titles within each category. Each trend summary above calls out the three largest job titles within that trend. Career trends are ranked using a combination of year-over-year growth rate combined with the raw size of the job demand. Salary ranges reflect the 25th percentile and 75th percentile levels within that career trend, using LinkedIn Salary data. 

To identify the “top courses,” we looked at LinkedIn members who were hired at a new company between Nov 1, 2019 - Oct 31, 2020 and were also “active learners” in the 12 months before being hired (watched at least 5 minutes of content or logged in at least 5 times). We then compared the top 100 courses watched by this group to the learning behavior of all learners, to identify courses where new hire learners “over-index”. The courses highlighted here are thus the courses that recently hired members are more likely to watch than the average learner.