Among the fastest growing skills in 2025 are AI literacy, process optimization and budget and resource management, according to LinkedIn, which considered factors like hiring success for those who have them and emerging demand for them.

These are fairly technical skills. But companies are still prioritizing "human centric skills" as well, says Andrew Seaman, LinkedIn news editor at large for jobs and career development.

When it comes to entry-level jobs, highlighting these kinds of skills is especially important because applicants might not have accrued as much work experience yet. Here are the top three soft skills for early career opportunities and how to emphasize them on your resume.

When it comes to what skills people early in their careers should be emphasizing, make sure to highlight the following three:

Within communication, conflict mitigation is often highlighted as a top skill, especially in a time when so many generations are sharing the workforce. "Someone who is positioning themselves as a team player" is going to be appealing, says Seaman.

With new tech regularly being implemented into various functions, "you're going to have to show that if your entire work process changes over a series of months," says Seaman, that your attitude would be "hey, I'm going to roll with this." That's adaptability.

And creativity is all about innovative thinking and solving problems on the job to figure out "how can we do what we're doing differently to make this work," he says.

You can showcase these kinds of skills in your resume, on your LinkedIn profile and in a job interview in various ways.

"Willingness to learn is going to be the key," says Seaman. Did you take a course in public speaking or get certified in using a new program? Include these in an "education" or "certifications" section as a way to prove you're honing your communication and adaptability. Is there proof in your professional (or even extracurricular) past that you've solved problems your team came across or resolved a conflict? Highlight that with clear examples in bullets under each title on your resume.

"Don't just say what you did," says Seaman, "show how well you did it."

Seaman's final piece of advice for young people looking for work is to consider "being nimble in the early days and being open to different possibilities," he says. If you don't get hired for full-time gigs, consider doing freelance or contract work on sites like Upwork and Fiverr, or looking for part-time positions on any career marketplace like LinkedIn, Indeed, Monster, etc.

For people early in their careers, "taking that mindset will get them a little bit farther," he says.