3 Takeaways for Recruiters from LinkedIn’s New AI Research

By now, you already know that generative AI (GAI) is one of the buzziest topics in business and talent. But just 12 months ago very few hiring professionals could have predicted that: Since November 2022, there’s been a 21x increase in the share of English-language job postings around the globe that mention new AI technologies like ChatGPT.

That’s just one stat from two new reports that LinkedIn released in August 2023: Future of Work: AI at Work and Preparing the Workforce for Generative AI. And while we highly recommend reading those reports in full — they’re absolutely packed with fascinating findings — we know that recruiting pros lead busy lives. 

For those of you short on time, here are three of the top takeaways for recruiters from LinkedIn’s latest research on generative artificial intelligence and how it’s impacting the world of work. 

Takeaway No. 1: It’s not at all limited to tech

If you think only tech recruiters at tech companies need to get up to speed on GAI, think again — GAI will affect virtually the entire workforce, at least to some degree.  

The latest research revealed that 84% of U.S.-based LinkedIn members are in occupations that could leverage GAI to increase productivity by automating at least a quarter of routine tasks.

For a large majority of members, a solid chunk of their skills are “GAI-replicable” — meaning the work that previously required skilled labor can likely be done by leveraging generative AI. On the flip side, “GAI-complementary” skills are those that, currently at least, can only be done by people and that typically serve as complements to GAI technologies. 

With these two terms in mind, we can group jobs into three broad categories:

• Insulated from GAI: roles whose core skills include a small share of GAI-replicable skills and a large share of GAI-complementary skills
• Disrupted by GAI: roles whose core skills include a large share of GAI-replicable skills and a small share of GAI-complementary skills
• Augmented by GAI: roles whose core skills include large shares of both GAI-replicable skills and GAI-complementary skills

While it’s true that the tech industry will be the most impacted — 77% of workers in the industry fall into the “disrupted” or “augmented” categories — other industries aren’t far behind.

In the accommodation and food services industry, for instance, 72% of workers will be impacted by GAI, while the financial services industry will see 71% impacted. That said, when you take a closer look, you can see these two industries are facing very distinct challenges and opportunities. 

A majority (54%) of U.S.-based members in accommodation and food services are expected to be “augmented” by GAI, with just 18% “disrupted.” In stark contrast, 50% of U.S.-based members in financial services are expected to be “disrupted.” By way of example, both cashiers and finance officers have a high share of GAI-replicable skills — but cashiers have a much higher share of GAI-complementary skills, while finance officers have a low share of complementary skills, which means cashiers fall into the “augmented” category and finance officers fall into the “disrupted” group. 

To be sure, not all workers will feel the impact as strongly as those in the three industries discussed above — but virtually all workers will feel the impact to some degree. So, if you’re not a tech recruiter, you can’t afford to ignore the effects that generative AI will have on the workforce. 

Takeaway No. 2: GAI is accelerating the speed of skill changes 

LinkedIn’s 2023 Workplace Learning Report cited data showing that since 2015, skill sets for jobs had changed by around 25%. The newest LinkedIn research predicts how this metric may change in the future, and finds that the advent of GAI has significantly accelerated the speed that skill sets are changing across jobs. 

Before accounting for GAI, the previous rate of change suggested that by 2030, job skill sets would shift by 60%, compared to 2015. But when LinkedIn’s Economic Graph Research Institute accounts for emerging GAI technologies, they now predict job skill sets will shift by 65% by 2030 — a modest but significant increase that showcases the potential impact of GAI. 

“This underscores how GAI is both transforming the core skills required for many jobs and accelerating the pace of transition in the workforce,” the new report states. “Implicit in the acceleration is the idea that productivity gains will be realized as workers rotate away from certain tasks and redeploy toward more productive, challenging areas.” 

That means the skills that are GAI-replicable will now be a smaller part of the worker’s job — freeing an employee up to focus on more high-value tasks, which in turn might require a new set of skills. With that idea in mind, let’s turn to how certain skills are more GAI-complementary. 

Takeaway No. 3: Certain skills can complement generative AI more than others 

It’s easy to focus on the skills GAI may soon be able to replicate. But as we’ve already seen in the “augmented” category of jobs, other skills are more complementary to GAI and will remain crucial in the job market. Recruiters should recognize and prioritize these GAI-complementary skills in potential candidates.

According to Preparing the Workforce for Generative AI, “GAI-complementary skills [are those] which can (currently) only exclusively be performed by people, and that typically serve as complements to GAI technologies.” 

Skills that fall into this category include things like oral presentations, influencing, entrepreneurship, innovation, leadership, negotiation, problem-solving, people management, relationship building, creativity, and emotional intelligence. These are subtler “soft skills” that are increasingly important yet notoriously difficult to assess. 

When looking for these complementary competencies, hiring pros should be sure to stick to a skills-first approach — that is, actually evaluating those skills, rather than relying on outdated and potentially biased proxies, like an elite education or experience with a blue-chip brand.

Final thoughts

The meteoric rise of generative AI has been one of the most unexpected stories of 2023. But as LinkedIn’s newest reports reveal, it’s not a simple story that’s neatly confined to one sector or demographic. As the business world prepares for an AI-driven future, recruiters will need to keep a close eye on how new technology is reshaping the workforce.