LinkedIn Learning, an online educational platform created by LinkedIn revealed the list for the most demanded hard skills and soft skills by companies in Australia 2020.
First, let’s understand what are hard skills and soft skills.
What are hard skills?
Hard skills are traits that are teachable and easy to be measured. It’s not something we born with, it’s something that a person learned throughout their life experience, either someone’s career or education.
Here are some of the example:
- A person who took a major in design may have known how to use design tools such as Adobe Illustrator or Corel Draw.
- A person who took cooking class may have been able to cook dishes without looking recipe.
What are soft skills?
Soft skills are more related to habits and behaviors. It’s the skills that affect and shape how a person works with themselves or with others. Therefore, it’s typically harder to be measured then hard skills. Professionals need soft skills to succeed as organizations are looking for the well-rounded skill sets.
Here’s an example:
You might be looking for a job in a data marketing area but lack prior knowledge of marketing strategy. If you can prove the effectiveness of your soft skills such as eager learner, open-mindedness, and good communication, an employer may look more into you than someone who’s good at marketing, but lack of such soft skills.
Top 15 Most In-demand Job Skills in Australia 2020
LinkedIn recently posted its annual list of the most demanded job skills of the year. From 660+ million professionals and 20+ million jobs, LinkedIn concludes to 15 most demanded job skills in Australia in 2020:
Hard Skills | Soft Skills |
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For hard skills, the top 10 are dominated with technology-related skills. Surprisingly, blockchain, who’s not even on last year’s list rises to become the top hard skills in 2020. It shows how significant the usage development of blockchain in today’s business.
The soft skills, on the other hand, are still lead by creativity. Creativity can be defined as the act of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality and solve problems. It is a skill that will always rise and is looked strongly by employers in the past year.
If you’re a student and wondering… how can I suit myself to obtain skills on the list mentioned above? Well, you can start by choosing the right education-both the course and subject. Here, we provide suggestions on what courses and universities in Australia you should choose to prepare you with skills that you need for your future:
Read also: How to Choose the Right Course for You
1. Computer Science
On the list mentioned above, some of the skills involve a lot of computer-related knowledge, such as Cloud Computing and Scientific Computing. There are also some skills that mixed computer with other areas such as UX Design, a combination of computer and design, and Artificial Intelligence, a combination of computer and engineering.
Here’s our recommendation for the best universities that offer computer science/IT:
University | Program | 2020 Fee (annual) | |
1 | The University of Melbourne | Bachelor of Science (Computer Science) | AUD 41,912-45,944 |
2 | Monash University | Bachelor of Information Technology | AUD 42,800 |
3 | The University of New South Wales (UNSW) | Bachelor of Science (Computer Science) | AUD 47,760 |
4 | University of Technology Sydney | Bachelor of Computer Science (Hons) | AUD 42,700 |
5 | Edith Cowan University | Bachelor of Computer Science | AUD 32,650 |
2. Business
With a lot of majors/minors that you can choose in the business area, you can explore which one suits you the most. Two of business branches that manage to produce top skills for this year comes from marketing and information system areas.
Here we provide the list of the best universities in Australia to study business marketing/ business information system:
University | Program | 2020 Fee (annual) | |
1 | The University of New South Wales (UNSW) | Bachelor of Commerce/Bachelor of Information Systems | AUD 44,880 |
2 | University of Technology Sydney | Bachelor of Business | AUD 38,060 |
3 | Griffith University | Bachelor of Business (Marketing) | AUD 28,500 |
4 | Kaplan Business School | Bachelor of Business (Marketing) | AUD 18,000 |
5 | Edith Cowan University | Bachelor of Marketing, Advertising, and Public Relation | AUD 30,750 |
Read also: Study Business in Australia 2020
3. Communication
Taking a degree in communication will not only improve your knowledge about communication itself but also improving your soft skills in terms of working with others. A degree in communication is perfect to balance both of your skills. For hard skills, majoring in communication can really improve your investor relations and customer service syste
These are the recommended and well-reputed Universities in Australia to study communication:
University | Program | 2020 Fee (annual) | |
1 | The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) | Bachelor of Communication | AUD 38,060 |
2 | Queensland University of Technology (QUT) | Bachelor of Communication (Digital Media) | AUD 31,400 |
3 | Deakin University | Bachelor of Communication (Digital Media) | AUD 30,600 |
4 | Griffith University | Bachelor of Communication and Journalism | AUD 28,500 |
Read also: Study Communications in Australia 2020
4. Graphic Design
Graphic design is a major that will require a lot of your intuition and creative ideas. If you want to pursue a more in-depth area of design, such as UX Designer, taking a degree in graphic design can really kick start your career.
Here’s our universities recommendation to study graphic design:
University | Program | 2020 Fee (annual) | |
1 | University of Melbourne | Bachelor of Design | AUD 34,112 – 44,632 |
2 | University of Technology Sydney | Bachelor of Design in Visual Communication | AUD 38,060 |
3 | Griffith University | Bachelor of Design | AUD 29,500 |
4 | Western Sydney University | Bachelor of Graphic Design | AUD 28,080 |
5. Language
Taking a degree in any language focuses on not only the language itself, but also its history, structure, literature, and also the culture of the people. This major provides sufficient academic and creative opportunities that allow students to study key figures, whilst also improving as playwrights, poets, novelists, or even one of the top skills in the list above which is translation.
Below are the recommended universities for you to take a major in language:
University | Program | 2020 Fee (annual) | |
1 | Edith Cowan University | Bachelor of Art (English) | AUD 29,950 |
2 | Macquarie University | Bachelor of Linguistics and Language Sciences | AUD 31,500 |
3 | Western Sydney University | Bachelor of Arts (Interpreting and Translation) | AUD 28,080 |
4 | Griffith University | Bachelor of Languages and Linguistics | AUD 29,000 |
That’s it for our universities recommendation in Australia that suits the subjects for the skills on the list! If you need more information regarding universities mentioned above or other university, don’t hesitate to contact us!
Read also: International Scholarships for A-Level and UEC students in Australia 2020
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Amanda Kaffah
I am a part-time content writer, a part-time Computer Science student, and a full-time dreamer. Likes to munch some food while doing some work or watching Netflix.