乍看上去，眼下的美國就業市場跟一年前頗為相似。比如說，招聘信息搜索網站Indeed.com上的大量招工信息表明，卡車司機和注冊護士依然短缺，保姆也供不應求。

另外，美國計算機行業協會發布的新報告顯示，IT行業繼續迅猛增長，新創造出了20萬個就業機會，使總就業人數達到670萬個（該行業占GDP的比重也達到創紀錄的7.1%）。

然而，在這樣的表象之下隱藏著兩項巨大的挑戰。

首先，盡管各個收入層次的就業機會層出不窮，但技術水平最高的職業和普通職業之間的差距越來越大。Indeed.com高級副總裁保羅?達西指出：“公司對高薪員工的投資比以前還要多?！迸e例來說，科技行業普通勞動者目前的年薪為10.54萬美元，是所有勞動者平均年薪（5.16萬美元）的兩倍以上。達西認為：“也就是說，我們的經濟呈兩極分化狀態。擁有恰當技能的人春風得意，其他人卻像是遇到了沒有盡頭的衰退?！?/p>

同時，用人單位對“恰當”技能的定義正在發生改變，而且變的很快。最近找過工作的人可能已經發現，在幾乎所有的白領行業，只擅長某項工作已經不夠了。

“以前各個專業彼此互不相干。以前由不同部門的兩個、甚至三個人干的活，現在被糅合成了一項工作?！比R恩?莫里森把2016年稱為“混合型職位之年?！蹦锷潜咎乩髮W本科就業服務辦公室負責人。

這個結論的依據是本特利大學和就業市場數據公司Burning Glass對2450萬條招聘廣告的分析。這項研究指出，“71%的技能要求都跨越了兩個或者兩個以上的工作類別，”這讓研究人員很吃驚。同時，“此前的一些熱門工作正在減少，原因是它們需要的技能已經不再屬于創新能力，而是成了主流技能，并且整合到了其他職位中?！?/p>

以社交媒體策略分析師為例。五年來，對此類人才的需求量幾乎下降了三分之二（64%）。但作為技能要求之一，“社交媒體策略”在人力資源類招聘廣告中的增幅達到了令人側目的376%，在招聘銷售和公關人員的廣告中也分別增長了115%和117%。

對于現在（或者曾經）的業務開發人才來說，他們最近找工作的時候也許會注意到，招聘業務開發經理的廣告比以前少多了，大約是2011年的一半。這并不是說企業不再需要業務開發這項技能。68%以上的營銷工作和29%以上的IT工作依然有這項要求。

Burning Glass的研究顯示，所有用人單位都需要應聘者能從大量數據中理出頭緒來。和五年前相比，包含“大數據”這個詞的招聘廣告爆增了3977%。

與之類似，如今要求應聘者熟悉某些軟件的廣告遠多于以往。就在不久之前，大多數經理還可以把這樣的事留給IT部門去做。Indeed.com的保羅?達西說：“我們發現軟件正在取代一些管理工作。此外，應聘者至少得能順暢地使用軟件，而且還得掌握一些軟件無法取代的軟技能?！?/p>

萊恩?莫里森指出，隨著對混合型人才的需求不斷增長，“要說有什么不同的話，那就是軟技能變得以前任何時候都更重要?！痹谒磥?，主要的軟技能就是求知欲。莫里森說：“要真的具有學習欲望，也就是說要承擔‘有難度’的任務，而且盡可能地獲取各種不同的經驗。求知欲也包括承認自己的知識缺陷，有了很高成就的人確實往往很難做到這一點?！?/p>

他認為，對IT專業人士來說，不斷地把新技能合并到原有技能中是一種司空見慣的做法，“他們已經習慣于在職業發展過程中取得各種各樣的證書，參加各類培訓，并且緊跟下一個熱點?！彼a充說，要跟上不斷變化的就業市場，“現在我們都必須這樣做?！保ㄘ敻恢形木W）

譯者：Charlie

校對：詹妮

At a glance, the U.S. job market right now looks a lot like it did a year ago. Judging by the sheer numbers of job postings on career site Indeed.com, for instance, there still aren’t enough truck drivers or registered nurses to go around, and child care workers are in short supply as well. Meanwhile, information technology continues to soar, adding 200,000 jobs for a total of 6.7 million (accounting for a record 7.1% of GDP), according to a new reportfrom computer trade group CompTIA.

But beneath the surface there have been two huge changes.

For one thing, although the economy is creating jobs at every income level, the gap between the most highly skilled and everybody else is getting bigger. “Companies are investing even more in the people who are already well paid,” says Paul D’Arcy, a senior vice president at Indeed.com. The average tech industry worker, for example, now makes $105,400—more than double the annual pay of $51,600 for the workforce overall. “So we have an economy that is split in two,” D’Arcy notes. “For people with the right skills, these are the glory days. For everybody else, it’s as if the recession never ended.”

At the same time, how employers define the “right” skills is changing—and it’s happening fast. If you’ve looked for a new job lately, you’ve probably already noticed what is happening in almost every white-collar field now: Being good at just one thing is no longer enough.

“Areas of expertise that used to be separate from each other, and jobs that two or even three people in different departments used to do, are now being combined into one role,” says Len Morrison, who runs the undergraduate career services office at Bentley University in Waltham, Mass. He calls 2016 “the year of the hybrid job.”

That’s based on an analysis of 24.5 million job postings, by Bentley and labor market data firm Burning Glass. The researchers were startled to find that “71% of in-demand skills are required across two or more job categories,” the study says, and that “some previously popular jobs are in decline as their once-innovative skills have become mainstream and [are now] integrated into other roles.”

Take, for example, the job of social media strategist. Demand for people with this title has dropped by almost two-thirds (64%) over the past five years. But “social media strategy” as a required skill jumped an eye-catching 376% in postings for human resources jobs, 115% in sales, and 117% in public relations.

Or maybe you are (or were) a specialist in business development. If you’ve looked for a job lately, you may have already noticed that there are far fewer ads for business development managers—about half as many as in 2011. That doesn’t mean business development as a skill requirement has gone away. It shows up in descriptions of 68% more marketing jobs, and 29% more IT listings too.

A knack for making sense out of enormous amounts of data is in demand just about everywhere, says the Burning Glass study, noting that he words “Big Data” appear in a whopping 3,977% more job ads of all kinds than five years ago.

Likewise, many more jobs now call for the kind of familiarity with software that, until recently, most managers could leave to the IT department. “We’ve seen some management jobs being replaced altogether by software,” says Paul D’Arcy at Indeed. “But at the very least you have to be comfortable with using it, and you also need to develop the soft skills that software can’t replace.”

As demand keeps growing for people who can fill hybrid jobs, “soft skills are, if anything, more important than ever,” says Len Morrison. Chief among them, in his view, is intellectual curiosity. “Be authentic about wanting to learn, which means taking on ‘stretch’ assignments and getting as many different experiences as you can,” he says. “Part of it is admitting that you don’t know what you don’t know, which is often really difficult for high achievers to do.”

Continually combining old skills with new ones, he points out, is old hat to IT professionals. “They’re used to picking up certifications throughout their careers, going after more training, and staying current with the next ‘hot’ thing,” he says. To keep up with the job market as it’s evolving, Morrison adds, “we all have to do that now.”