Yahoo Finance LinkedIn reveals its 10 most popular courses of 2020
Australians are eschewing hard or technical skills during the coronavirus crisis in order to double down on their soft skills, new LinkedIn data has revealed.
Strategic thinking was at the top of LinkedIn’s 10 most popular courses for 2020, which featured five other courses on soft skills.
Remote work, time management, emotional intelligence, personal branding and ‘pitching yourself’ were also on the list.
However, it doesn’t mean technical skills have dropped completely; ‘Learning Python’ was the second-most popular course, followed by two Excel training courses.
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According to LinkedIn Asia Pacific senior director Jason Laufner, Australians have essentially tripled the hours they’re spending on LinkedIn Learning courses (over 113,000 hours in July 2020 compared to over 39,000 in July 2020).
“Since entering the era of COVID-19, the way we learn, work and do business has transformed. This is indicative of what the jobs landscape will look like in future — where remote work is the new normal; the digital space takes precedence; and professionals with a diverse skills set are valued by organisations,” Laufner said in a LinkedIn post.
“In order to prepare for this, professionals need to strive for skills diversity. They must pick up the necessary digital and soft skills that will enable them to work, collaborate, and manage teams in a digital space.
“Consider this a ‘top hits’ learning playlist, and your guide to the courses professionals are seeking the most in Australia.”
These are LinkedIn’s top 10 most popular courses for 2020 in Australia:
LinkedIn is making these courses free until 30 September.
Spotlight on remote work
The wholesale shift to work-from-home has also seen a boom in remote jobs: LinkedIn data reveals remote jobs increased by 3.4 times between March and May 2020, according to LinkedIn data.
And it’s what Australians want, too: Australian applicants for remote jobs have also ticked up by 4.26 times.
During the height of the pandemic, LinkedIn’s course on remote work saw an eye-watering 10,925 per cent boom in popularity.
The top remote jobs in Australia were technical support engineers and solutions architects.
Customer success managers were also a popular remote job, followed by administrative assistants and online specialists.
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