During 2025, professionals, especially IT professionals, have experienced significant changes in their jobs due to AI. This technology has changed the demand for skills, in addition to modifying career paths and altering daily operations in virtually all companies, as workflows and processes have changed to incorporate Artificial Intelligence.
Furthermore, last year layoffs made headlines again, in many cases caused by the use of AI, to carry out different tasks that until now were the responsibility of human professionals. However, companies have also begun to hire personnel with the necessary skills to implement, adopt and get the most out of this technology, as well as to ensure its security. They have also chosen to train many of their employees internally to improve their productivity or give them facilities to carry out certain activities.
In 2026, top hiring priorities include skills such as cybersecurity, AI and machine learning integration, data analytics, governance and compliance, software engineering and development, and AI governance and ethics. But there remains a significant skills gap between what companies are looking for and what candidates have.
Already in 2025 there was a change in IT hiring, which went from prioritizing experience, training and background, to the skills of the candidates. Traditional criteria are still relevant, but IT managers look to hire based on the skills the business needs, or those it lacks in whole or in part. In this way, candidates who could have been discarded in the past become valued in the processes, and even hired on many occasions.
According to data from Robert Half, 65% of IT managers had even more difficulties finding qualified professionals in 2025 than in 2024. A difficulty that will not make it easy for them to meet their hiring objectives for 2026: 61% plan to increase their staff of permanent professionals in the first half of this year, and 55% will increase temporary and project hiring in the same period.
Data from the company’s survey of IT managers has revealed that currently, the most notable skills gaps they are experiencing are: AI and machine learning (45%), IT operations and infrastructure (36%), IT governance and compliance (25%), cloud architecture and operations (24%), and data engineering and analysis (22%).
IT and social skills that companies look for among those seeking employment
Regarding the positions that have experienced above-average growth and a constant demand for professionals, there are AI and machine learning engineers, cybersecurity engineers, data analysts, data scientists, DevOps engineers, ERP business analysts, IT project managers, network and cloud engineers, software engineers and systems administrators.
Job offers that require knowledge of Artificial Intelligence, on the other hand, are growing at a rate of more than 70% year-on-year. This is according to LinkedIn’s AI Labor Market Update report, which points to those related to AI agents as those that have grown the most in demand in 2025. In addition, the demand for other AI-related skills, such as prompt engineering, is extending beyond IT environments, to include marketing, sales or design functions.
There are many voices from experts and businessmen who point to the need not only to learn how to use AI and manage its applications, but also how to apply them to today’s world. One of them is entrepreneur Mark Cuban, who encourages students to learn everything they can about AI, but also to delve deeper into how to implement this technology in companies.
Other notable growth AI skills in 2025 were Azure AI Studio, AI productivity, Spring AI, custom GPTs, prompt flow, large language model operations (LLMOps), AI strategy, Open AI API, and automated feature engineering. Therefore, companies are looking to hire skilled workers to get the most out of AI tools, in addition to those who can help develop them.
As AI takes on more technical tasks, the need for professionals to have social skills also grows. For example, to facilitate the supervision and guidance of solutions based on Artificial Intelligence. Among the skills needed to ensure that AI is effective in supporting business tasks are critical thinking and problem solving (72%), adaptability and continuous learning (69%), creativity and innovation (65%), communication (36%) and emotional intelligence (22%).
According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025, 60% of employers say they expect AI to transform their business by 2030, but 63% say a skills gap is undoubtedly the biggest obstacle to business transformation, and 85% plan to prioritize upskilling their workforce.
70% expect to gain skills by hiring new staff, but 40% also plan to reduce staff as skills become redundant, and half say they will shift staff roles from declining to growing ones.
