The New Rules of Getting Hired in 2026 With LinkedIn’s Daniel Roth: ‘AI Isn’t the Job Destroyer’

Work is changing fast, but the bigger story might be how it feels while it’s changing. On an episode of The Intersect, host Cory Corrine sits down with Dan Roth, LinkedIn’s Editor in Chief, to unpack what LinkedIn data reveals about the job market right now, why so many people are quietly looking for a new role, and how AI is simultaneously creating opportunity and raising the pressure.

Below are the highlights, adapted from the episode.

What does the ‘state of work’ look like right now?

“The fact that so many people spend so much time [on LinkedIn] gives us incredible data and it is wild to see what comes out of that—1.3 billion people on LinkedIn and what they’re doing, who they’re connecting with, what jobs they’re applying to, what jobs are available. And there are some real insights coming out of it. One is that AI has not been the job destroyer that I think people thought it was gonna be a couple years ago. We’ve seen 1.3 million new jobs added around AI in the last year, about 600,000 new jobs around just for data centers alone. There are all kinds of new ways of working that are showing up. We’ve seen a 70 percent increase in people adding ‘founder’ to their profile. You’re seeing a lot of people starting their own businesses. But if you take a step back and you ask people like, how do they feel about the state of work? It does not feel like, ‘Oh my God, this is so exciting. I love being part of this.’ It’s kind of nerve wracking.”

What are employers asking for right now—is AI literacy becoming a baseline?

“We know that, on the job side, there has been an increase of about 70 percent of jobs that require AI literacy. So you’re seeing employers saying, ‘I need people who understand AI.’ These aren’t necessarily AI jobs. But they are jobs now that say AI is part of how you do your job.”

How competitive is the job market compared to the pandemic?

“During the pandemic, there [was] about one person applying for every one job…There’s now, on average, two applications for every one job…So you are competing against a much greater pool of people who are also competing.”

What’s happening on the employer side with all these applications?

“Employers are struggling with that because they’re like, ‘Oh my God, there’s so many.’ Every time we open a job, there’s this flood of applications, because it’s now much easier to apply for a job. AI’s made it easier to apply for a job, and so now the employers are saying, ‘How do I use AI to be able to sift through all this?’ And it just becomes an arms race.”

What job trends are you seeing—what’s actually rising?

“So we do this list every year called Jobs on the Rise, which is one of my favorite things to look at. This is where new jobs are being created…And if you look at the top 10 jobs in the U.S., not surprisingly, you see a lot of AI roles at the very top. So like, number one is AI engineer, and then it’s AI consultant. But if you get deeper into it, you start seeing healthcare jobs showing up and revenue. Any job that you can get that is around growing revenue for a company or a nonprofit, those are increasingly in demand. So like Chief Revenue Officer or anything in sales or a head of fundraising, all these companies are saying in a time where we don’t actually understand how we’re gonna compete. If we can hire someone who is in a revenue producing role, that’s great. I’m willing to open that up.”

What skills are most in demand—and what’s surprising about that list?

“The other thing we’re seeing is this increase in demand for obviously AI skills, but also all of these human-centric skills. So if you look at the most in-demand skills, there are a lot of AI tool skills, but there’s also ones like conflict mitigation or stakeholder management…I think what’s going on here is there’s companies who are saying, ‘We don’t know what the future looks like. We have to find a way through.’ There’s all kinds of different people within our company who are saying, ‘we should do this’ or ‘we should do that.’ You want people inside who can bring people together and find a common path.”

What’s the bigger ‘through line’—how do AI skills and human skills fit together?

“What we think is going on is basically you have to be able to know how to use AI to do a lot of the blocking and tackling of business. But then you need the human-centric skills to be able to close deals, to be able to pick a path.”

In a world where everyone has access to the same tools and information, how do people stand out?

“One of the questions was, in a world where everyone has access to the same knowledge base, how do companies even compete? Like if we all have access to ChatGPT, we’re all getting the same answers. How do we compete with each other?…[While] everyone has access to the same knowledge, not everyone has the same wisdom. And I thought that was a really good way of phrasing what is going on in work today, which is, you have to be able to get the knowledge, but we are hiring you and keeping you because of the wisdom that you bring. And it’s the wisdom on picking one way to go or the other, or what new areas to compete in or how to close deals. That’s really what kind of sets you apart in the market today.”

What’s the new way to think about your career?

“Employers increasingly hire for skills, not for diplomas, or where you’ve worked. And if you can get to a point where you think about your job, not as being, again, ‘I’m an accountant,’ but, ‘My job is a collection of skills that I do’…if you can figure out the skills that go into make up your job, any one of those skills could lead you to a new role…It is a change in how you have to think to be able to get ahead.”

What’s your simplest advice for how to ‘do’ LinkedIn without overthinking it?

“I like to think LinkedIn works best if you think about it as being sort of a great place to work…When you go to work, you don’t just show up in the office and say, ‘I’m only gonna talk about this.’ You talk about a bunch of different things. You’re on a bunch of different projects. You talk. That’s the way you should be on LinkedIn. Talk about what you’re working on. Ask questions, leave comments. This is a real superpower of LinkedIn is comments like you can get really far on LinkedIn by just leaving comments…I just think it’s important to not overthink LinkedIn. Don’t overthink it.”

Why do you think commenting matters so much?

“Commenting is like giving back…When you post, sometimes you’re like, ‘Is this resonating with anyone?’ And the comment is someone raising their hand…If you think about commenting as a way of helping the original poster feel better about what they’re saying, that makes it a lot easier…I probably leave four or five comments a day on things.”

What matters most if you’re job searching right now?

“Know your purpose. Know what you wanna get. Know why you are looking for jobs. And then…think about the skills that you have rather than the position you’re in. Focus on your skills. That’s what employers wanna see. That’s what they’re hiring for. So you have to know your values. Know what you want out of life. Know what skills you have and then put that in front of employers.”

What’s the biggest mistake people make on LinkedIn?

“People freezing up and representing themselves differently on LinkedIn than they are in real life, or it’s assuming that every post matters. Every post doesn’t matter. What matters is how you talk over time. You build your reputation over time…I would say think long term and just don’t overthink it.”

Final thought: What do you say to people who feel behind?

“The world of work is changing really fast…it’s all new. We’re all new to this. This has only been around for the most part, for a couple years. There are people who are AI experts, and have only been AI experts for two years. It is not too late for you…it is totally learnable. No matter who you are…I use it at work every single day throughout the day. It is accessible to everyone…so I would just say try it. This is the first revolution where it’s just like, try it and you’ll get it.”

To hear all of Dan Roth’s thoughts on AI, jobs, and LinkedIn, listen to The Intersect wherever you get your podcasts.

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