Process improvement skills play a significant role in two of the fastest growing jobs in the country, and business process improvement ranks among the top five skills employers want in new hires.
That information comes from the LinkedIn 2018 Emerging Jobs Report, which offers a look at what are the hottest jobs and most desired skills for professionals across the United States. The report is designed for “U.S. professionals” with a goal of helping people make more informed choices about their careers.
One of those choices, in terms of return on investment, could be developing expertise in process improvement.
Top Emerging Jobs
Among the top 10 emerging jobs in the LinkedIn list is business support consultant, while project manager ranked 6th among jobs with the largest hiring growth.
Companies can hire a business support consultant for a variety of reasons. Typically, it involves overseeing projects that an organization does not have the resources to accomplish in house. Some companies focus on applying Lean Six Sigma to make organizations more efficient and effective, such as Boston-based global business consulting firm Bain & Company.
Federal government projections agree that growth in the field is expected to continue. The number of management consultants, referred to as “management analysts,” is projected to increase 14% nationwide between 2016 and 2026, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Outlook Handbook*. The BLS also reports the nationwide annual mean salary in the occupation reached $93,440 in May 2017.
The connection between success in project management and having skills in process improvement is well established. Earning certification in methodologies such as project management, Agile and Lean Six Sigma can help in many areas, including the development of soft skills.
The BLS does not track job numbers in project management. However, the Project Management Job Growth and Talent Gap report from the Project Management Institute (PMI) projects that the number of project management-related jobs will grow 33% between 2017 and 2027, equating to approximately 22 million project-oriented jobs.
Skills Employers Need
One of the other interesting aspects of the LinkedIn jobs report is that it looked at skills employers want in job candidates, but have difficulty finding – what the report called “skills with the biggest skill gaps.” The report found that people with these skills are hired faster than those without.
The top 10 skills are a mix of technical and soft skills:
- Oral communication
- People management
- Development tools (such as Java and Linux)
- Social media
- Business management
- Time management
- Leadership
- Graphic design
- Data science
- Web development
Many of these areas are supported in learning about Lean Six Sigma, Agile and other business process improvement methodologies. On business management, the LinkedIn report specified “management, strategic planning and business process improvement.”
Both time management and leadership skills also are improved with expertise in process improvement strategies.
For example, a 2017 thought-leadership report from PMI and KPMG, called “Achieving Greater Agility,” pointed out that one of the main advantages of process improvement is that it creates better trust within an organization, including that between employees and organizational leaders.
While technical skills and mastery of job details are clearly important in all professions, so are the process improvement skills found in Lean Six Sigma.
