The Most In-Demand Jobs on LinkedIn: Hiring Heats Up in Hospitality and Food Service
Greg Lewis
Sr. Content Marketing Manager @ LinkedIn | Data-driven storytelling, content strategy, and actionable insights
Housekeepers are in high demand — and not just for houses and homes. The job title is broader than some might guess, including workers in places like hotels and hospitals who keep things clean and orderly.
Demand for housekeepers more than tripled in the final quarter of 2021, according to new global data from LinkedIn, with 3.2x more jobs posted than in the preceding three months. That’s the fastest-growing demand of any job during that time — followed closely by roles in food service and pharmacies, which saw hiring demand more than double.
See below for the full lists of jobs with the fastest-growing demand and the most in-demand jobs overall — and for more a detailed analysis and methodology, check out the whole story on the LinkedIn Talent Blog. These lists are refreshed quarterly to help talent leaders and professionals make hiring decisions, manage expectations, and better understand the competitive talent landscape.
Jobs with the fastest-growing demand
Roles with the greatest increase in LinkedIn job posts, from Q3 (July, Aug., Sept.) 2021 to Q4 (Oct., Nov., Dec.) 2021
- Housekeeper: 3.2x more job posts in Q4 of 2021 vs. Q3 of 2021
- Food Specialist: 2.6x more job posts
- Pharmacy Specialist: 2.5x more job posts
- Tax Consultant: 2.4x more job posts
- Python Developer: 2.3x more job posts
- Deli Clerk: 2.2x more job posts
- Service Supervisor: 2.2x more job posts
- Kitchen Staff: 2.2x more job posts
- Back-End Developer: 2.2x more job posts
- Editor: 2.1x more job posts
Jobs with the most demand overall
Roles with the greatest number of LinkedIn job posts in Q4 (Oct., Nov., Dec.) 2021
- Software Engineer
- JavaScript Developer
- Salesperson
- Registered Nurse
- Java Software Engineer
- DevOps Engineer
- Project Manager
- Full Stack Engineer
- Driver
- Retail Salesperson
Demand for hospitality and food service jobs is surging
The spike in demand for housekeepers speaks to larger trends we’re seeing across the hospitality industry in particular and in-person service roles in general. After so many months of pandemic-driven difficulties (and before the sudden surge of the Omicron variant), brick-and-mortar businesses became a lot busier in the final months of 2021.
The fact that demand for housekeepers tripled might surprise some — but not hospitality businesses like Omni Hotels and Resorts, whose story we covered in detail last month. To tackle this challenge, Omni dramatically streamlined their hiring process — boiling it down to a single “One and Done” in-person interview and an on-the-spot offer before the candidate walks out the door.
Food service roles also saw big spikes in demand last quarter, when the number of job posts for food specialists, deli clerks, and kitchen staff more than doubled. Quit rates are particularly high for these frontline jobs, and recruiting and retaining workers will be the biggest challenge for restaurants in 2022, according to a recent survey by the U.S.-focused National Restaurant Association.
Pharmacy workers are also in high demand, and not just because extra people are needed to administer vaccines. Many long-time pharmacy technicians are also quitting the industry, feeling burned out by long hours and difficult customers.
As the labor shortage continues for these in-person roles, look for companies to continue to raise wages, improve benefits, and cultivate work-life balance to bring employees back.
The most in-demand jobs overall have stayed relatively stable
Most of the jobs with the highest overall demand today (roles in software engineering and sales) were in high demand well before COVID. Nursing jobs, however, only started showing up at the top of these lists once the pandemic hit.
In fact, out of the top 10 most in-demand jobs this quarter, there’s only one new job that wasn’t on the list in the previous quarter: driver. Job posts for drivers grew by 70%, pushing the title into the top 10 and replacing the role of product manager (which is still in very high demand, but fell to 14th overall).
Holiday shopping and e-commerce likely fueled this spike in demand for drivers. Just before the start of last quarter, delivery company UPS announced plans to hire over 100,000 workers for the holiday season.
Final thoughts
The tight labor market hasn’t shown any signs of slackening, so talent professionals can expect to stay busy throughout 2022 — whether they’re focused on retaining existing employees or enticing new candidates to join their organizations.