The post of chief human resources officer has seen the biggest growth in share of hires out of all C-suite roles over the past year, with chief people officers also in high demand.
Research by LinkedIn found that as companies sought executives to chart a course through the Covid crisis and to implement hybrid and flexible working systems, demand for HR leaders strongly rose in relation to other C-suite jobs.
The top 10 C-suite roles in the UK with the largest growth in hires were:
- Chief human resources officer
- Chief revenue officer
- Chief people officer
- Chief communications officer
- Chief growth officer
- Chief innovation officer
- Chief product officer
- Chief sales officer
- Chief compliance officer
- Chief marketing officer
According to Becky Schnauffer, senior director at LinkedIn, the rankings reflect significant changes in business brought about by the past 18 months of upheaval: “This list highlights how business priorities are changing and the C-suite leaders needed most to help companies adapt to and thrive in a new world of work.
“CHROs and chief people officers have demonstrated the highly strategic role they play in businesses over the past 19 months, and their impact has been clear. It’s positive to see them elevated to the top of this list as companies bolster hiring of these leaders to help their businesses introduce new ways of working, and transform culture and behaviours as they define what the future of work looks like.”
Leadership and management skills
The share of CHRO hires grew by 56% over the past year, LinkedIn found, as CEOs sought to get to grips with the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the demands of homeworking, then hybrid working. Demand for chief revenue officers grew by 48% as companies looked for new ways to generate revenue while chief people officers saw a 45% rise in hires as companies rethought their cultures and future working spaces.
The need to build trust and defend corporate reputation saw a 35% increase in chief communications hires.
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LinkedIn said it had witnessed a 55% increase in time spent by leaders taking LinkedIn Learning courses globally over the past 12 months, compared with the previous year. Leaders across the world tuned into 1.3 million hours of learning courses on topics such as building executive presence, resilience, critical thinking and coaching, to help improve their essential soft skills at a time when they needed them the most.
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