By Andrea Bossi ·Updated February 25, 2026 Getting your Trinity Audio player ready…

Jobs have long hired their employees based on experience. Generally, the more, the better, especially for senior level positions. Today, however, hiring managers are changing how they find talent, meaning it’s getting a little more complicated.

According to a new report by LinkedIn, experience alone might not carry the weight it used to in the job search. Nearly half of recruiters using LinkedIn globally “explicitly use skills data” to help >report, released late February 2026.

“Fueled by AI, traditional career >wrote when sharing the report. “Employers are following suit, increasingly evaluating candidates based on their capabilities — not just where they’ve worked or studied.”

What’s powered this shift? A rapidly changing world, especially with AI, has made this change in needs more pertinent. Today, employers are seeking out those with AI literacy or who are open to learning, in addition to those with people skills. According to LinkedIn, this intensified skills-focused approach might do some good for those who haven’t had a linear career track, like those without college degrees and women on career breaks to raise children, to name a couple. Skills have always mattered during hiring, but they carry more weight in 2026.

“Recruiters who consider candidates by skills rather than qualification or previous experience are 12% more likely to make better-quality hires… and also make more hires overall. A skills-based approach could increase companies’ talent pipeline by 8.2-times globally if we just look at recruitment in AI,” LinkedIn vice presidents Sue Duke and Meg Garlinghouse wrote in a June 2025 memo flagging the early stages of the skills-focused hiring trend.

This shift comes amid a weakened U.S. labor market, which has seen heightened job cuts and concerning trends about Black unemployment, especially for Black women who lost jobs three times faster than all women in 2025. According to the 2026 report, 66% of Black professionals in the U.S. surveyed by LinkedIn say the job search has become harder. In other words, skills-focused hiring may be taking over how employers think, but fewer are hiring right now regardless.

According to LinkedIn’s report, those with five or more skills listed on their profile receive up to 5.6-times the profile views from recruiters. So, what can someone looking for a job do right now? Don’t leave your skills off the table. List them on your resume and where you can online. Upskill and learn where you can, especially around AI. The employment platform also flagged key skills on the rise across 12 different industries, from sales to education, in its report.

The job market will remain uber competitive in 2026, and maximizing relevant skills is just one way to better position yourself.

The post Experience Isn’t Enough Anymore—Here’s What Employers Actually Want In 2026 appeared first on Essence.

Author: Kimberly Wilson

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