By: Leanne Lambert

Well, it looks like we are in luck! LinkedIn has launched a new “Future of Skills” interactive tool. The new tool enables you to dig into the latest skill trends for any job role, to get more insight into what employers are looking for, and what people are listing on their LinkedIn profiles for each position.

The new tool, which you can try out on Linkedin, enables you to select a country, industry, and job title, each of which can be searched for by entering keywords into each of the respective fields.

Based on how LinkedIn members list their skills on their profiles, you can get an overview of key skill trends from each selected field.

You can view each trend using the new tool and check out similar skills which may have changed names, by hovering over any listed skill. It will then indicate how it has changed over time. That is a great tool to have if you want to track how a particular skill trend has morphed. That way you can check to see if you have that skill, but that it’s now being called by another name.

It is worth noting that the skills listed are based on what LinkedIn members display on their profiles, not on job listings. It’s not necessarily a direct indicator of what’s in demand. But then again, you would assume that people in each industry would also be updating their profiles over time, reflecting how trends shift either way.

Overall, this seems like a smart addition to the LI app, especially since so many people are using Linkedin to job search. And the new tool can help us learn what new skills we should brush up on! As well, the tool is great for any marketers that are doing research projects tied to trending job skills.

Looks like we all will be learning more with this new app’s “Future of Skills” capabilities! Happy researching.

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