Double boom: high demand for AI and soft skills

Key insights

• Long before the launch of ChatGPT, companies in Germany were already looking for experts in artificial intelligence. Demand increased by 104% from 2020 to 2021.
• Soft skills are becoming increasingly popular with companies. Demand increased by 190% in 2023 compared to 2019.
• Companies should focus on a balanced mix of hard and soft skills for new hires and continue to promote these through customized trainings.

Companies are increasingly looking for AI expertise

Since the introduction of ChatGPT at the latest, the world of work has been feverishly following developments in artificial intelligence. Our internal analyses show that the demand for employees with AI skills was already booming long before autumn 2022. Compared to 2019, an average of 86% more AI-related jobs were advertised in 2021, 2022 and 2023. What the public experienced as revolutionary at the end of 2022 was made possible by the previous work of people with AI skills. From January 2021 to January 2022 alone, one year before the release of the chatbot, we recorded an increase of 93% in job advertisements. Since the first quarter of 2021, after a pandemic-related slump, we have also seen consistent growth, which emphasizes the increased importance of AI skills in companies. Demand is therefore far from being met. On the one hand, companies should familiarize their employees with the topic – especially outside of typical AI sectors such as IT – in order to promote curiosity and willingness to use AI, as this is already high, as our AI study shows. At the same time, they should also invest in the training and further education of employees in this area to set themselves apart from the competition. After all, it is the employees themselves who are helping to shape at least the beginning of the AI revolution.

Soft skills are becoming increasingly popular on the labor market

Although AI is already revolutionizing work in many areas, this in no way means a loss of importance for the human factor. On the contrary: the importance of skills that machines cannot perform has been steadily increasing since mid-2020. Compared to 2019, companies were looking for 190% more soft skills in 2023. The most sought-after soft skills in 2023 were flexibility, communication skills, creativity and willingness to learn. The top 3 soft skills with the strongest increase in demand by companies over a five-year period are patience, communication skills and problem-solving skills. Factors such as digitalization and internationalization mean that people are increasingly faced with challenges that can be overcome with soft skills – for example, working in intercultural teams, with many collaborative relationships and the creative use of AI tools such as ChatGPT to achieve the best possible results. Last but not least, due to demographic factors, there will be fewer and fewer people on the labor market in the future. As a result, the need for soft skills will increase in order to fill as many jobs as possible. Soft skills are therefore future skills. The already high demand from companies will therefore remain high and is expected to continue to grow. As early as 2021, 8 out of 10 recruiters (78%) stated that the fit between job seeker and job will be determined primarily by soft skills in the future.

AI and soft skills – no contradiction!

The analysis of our internal data shows that AI skills and soft skills are experiencing a similar boom. Although this is not new, more and more companies are recognizing that their future success on the labor market does not depend solely on a primary focus on hard skills. The right combination of hard and soft skills will be even more crucial in the future to fill a position successfully and sustainably. Hence, companies should increasingly recruit according to potential and promote hard skills through internal training in view of the labour shortage. After all, soft skills such as adaptability and flexibility are indispensable in times of increasingly rapid transformation in the world of work. AI-supported programs can also be useful for the (pre-)selection of applicants to achieve the highest possible person-job fit based on skills.

About the analysis

To analyze internal platform data, the entirety of all job advertisements from 2019 up to and including October 2023 were examined using extensive keyword lists on the topics of artificial intelligence and soft skills. More specifically, the requirements stated by employers to be able to perform the advertised job were analyzed.