{"id":"f-73cd9b4b27-e3e92415-879f-5695-96b7-54a604da1d93","title":"38% of Indian job seekers feel unprepared: LinkedIn reveals top skills for 2026","description":"LinkedIn’s Skills on the Rise 2026 report reveals that 38% of Indian job seekers feel unprepared for rapidly changing skill demands, while 74% of recruiters struggle to find qualified talent. The report highlights five critical skill stacks AI & Automation, Data & Analytics, IT & Cybersecurity, Business & Growth, and People & Leadership as essential for career success.","timestamp":1771933164,"category":"business","headline":"38% of Indian job seekers feel unprepared: LinkedIn reveals top skills for 2026","modifiedHeadline":"38% Indians feel unready for job shift: LinkedIn","subCategories":["scid_9e96283c"],"subcategoriesName":["Work Culture"],"region":"IN","bundleMetaData":{"bundleId":"f0174910-1006-4696-b0a0-c46669d6afc7","bundleTitle":"Boost your career","cardData":null},"iabCategoryId":"125","fcSummary":"a linkedin report highlights a growing skills gap in india, with many job seekers feeling unprepared for rapid technological changes while recruiters struggle to find qualified talent. employers now prioritize \"skill stackers\"—professionals combining ai, data analytics, it, business acumen, and strong interpersonal skills. key skills include cybersecurity, prompt engineering, and stakeholder management, emphasizing flexibility and teamwork for career advancement. linkedin offers free learning resources to support upskilling.","summary":"38% of Indian job seekers feel unprepared, LinkedIn reports. Top skills for 2026: AI, data, cybersecurity, leadership. Recruiters struggle.","ctaUrl":"https://trends.glance.com/newz/astrology/IN/en/news9/f-73cd9b4b27-e3e92415-879f-5695-96b7-54a604da1d93","sourceUrl":"https://www.news9live.com/technology/tech-news/38-of-indian-job-seekers-feel-unprepared-linkedin-reveals-top-skills-for-2026-2935329","bannerImage":"https://g-mob.glance-cdn.com/public/fc/image/Z7MGIOM92g40.webp","content":"

New Delhi: As technology rapidly reshapes the job market, many professionals are struggling to keep up. According to new information provided by LinkedIn,

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38 per cent of job seekers in India do not believe they are ready to keep up with the rapid pace of changes in skills. Simultaneously, 74 per cent of the recruiters in India report that they are finding it more difficult to locate competent talent.

In order to fill this widening divide, an annual report published by LinkedIn, the Skills on the Rise 2026 report, shows that there are five high-growth skill stacks that are factoring in hiring decisions in industries. The message is understood: employers are no longer interested in single, sought-after expertise. They desire workers that are technologically powerful and those with business knowledge and good people skills.

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AI & automation: Productivity is the new standard

The AIs are migrating out of the technology departments into the operations of the business. Such skills as timely engineering, automation of workflows, LLMOps, AutoML and API integration are also perceived more and more positively. Quick designing as it used to apply to engineering jobs is applicable to HR, marketing, sales and consulting.

Those professionals who have the ability to integrate AI into the daily work processes are perceived as quick and efficient contributors.

Data & analytics: Turning insight into action

Employers prefer professionals that can do more than data collection. It is aimed at the interpretation of insights and their translation into the actual judgements. The queries and database optimisation are becoming more common in engineering and IT careers.

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Data storytelling and ethical uses of data are also becoming significant in the realm of business development, consulting, HR and marketing. A coherent transfer of knowledge is emerging as a significant factor in technical analysis.

IT & cybersecurity: Stability in a scaling digital world

In the expansion of digital operations by organisations, resilience of systems is imperative. IT professionals still rank cybersecurity high. The skills of cloud infrastructure are also becoming demanded, particularly in consulting activities that aid in digital transformation.

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The other rapidly developing skills are IT automation, incident management, real-time monitoring and detection of threats. Organisations would desire experts who are capable of securing and enhancing AI-based systems.

Business & growth: Efficiency drives results

Operational efficiency is directly related to growth in the present world. The revenue-orientated roles, such as relationship management and negotiation, are important. Centralisation in sales, finance, consulting and IT is being focused on process optimisation.

Marketing, design and education are also becoming popular in visual storytelling. Employers appreciate professionals who are capable of communicating ideas effectively and, at the same time, enhance the way of doing work.

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People & leadership: The multiplier effect

It is no longer possible to rely just on technical skills. Teamwork has become one of the hottest skills in the fields of engineering, information technology, sales, human resources and marketing.

Stakeholder engagement, team management, budget management and project management are becoming important leadership skills. As AI allows more cross functions to work together, team alignment and producing results as a unit are becoming a primary differentiator.

Nirajita Banerjee, Career Expert and India Senior Managing Editor at Linked It was remarked that professionals should not stay in a small specialisation. The applicants who are being picked up this time around are not simply experts. They are skill stackers. They merge AI expertise, information insight, operational consciousness and teamwork. ‘Flexibility is what they hire you for and advance you for,’ she said.

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The report also gives the top 10 emerging skills in Indian IT professionals. The ones are cybersecurity, process optimisation, collaboration, programming, AI development, prompt engineering, API expertise, large language models, data storytelling and data reporting.

Towards upskilling In support of upskilling, LinkedIn has rendered some LinkedIn Learning courses free through the end of March 31, 2026. They consist of AI agents to support professionals, data analytics training and stakeholder management software.

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The results are determined by the skill acquisition and hiring success from December 2024 to November 2025 in comparison to the same period last year. One of the main themes supported by the data is that, in 2026, the successful professionals will develop robust and flexible skills sets instead of focusing on individual competencies.

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38% of Indian job seekers feel unprepared: LinkedIn reveals top skills for 2026

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