Episode Summary

In this episode recorded at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Marina Mogilko sits down with Ryan Roslansky, CEO of LinkedIn and Executive Vice President of Microsoft Copilot, to discuss how AI is reshaping the global job market, what skills professionals need to future-proof their careers, and why the creator economy is emerging as a legitimate career path.
Roslansky shares exclusive LinkedIn data showing that AI has actually created nearly 1.3 million net new jobs on the platform — including roles like data annotators, forward-deployed engineers, and data center specialists — countering the narrative that AI is primarily eliminating jobs. He explains that the current hiring slowdown is driven more by macroeconomic conditions and interest rates than by AI displacement.
The conversation covers how career paths are fundamentally changing: skills required for roles on LinkedIn have shifted by more than 25% in the past few years, with an expected 70% change by 2030. Roslansky introduces his framework of "Five Cs" — curiosity, courage, creativity, compassion, and communication — as the human skills he believes will be most valuable in an AI-driven economy.
Marina and Ryan also discuss the rise of LinkedIn as a platform for creators, with 4 million members now listing "creator" as their full-time job title, and share practical advice on building a professional presence through content.

Key Takeaways

1. AI has created 1.3 million net new jobs on LinkedIn — data annotators, data center roles, and forward-deployed engineers are among the fastest-growing positions.
2. Skills required for the average role have changed 25% in recent years and are expected to change 70% by 2030, largely driven by AI — making continuous skill development essential.
3. The "Five Cs" framework: curiosity, courage, creativity, compassion, and communication — these human skills will differentiate professionals in an AI-first world
4. 4 million LinkedIn members now list "creator" as their full-time job, and 75 million mention it somewhere in their profile — the creator economy is a real career path, not a side hustle.
5. Recruiters increasingly evaluate candidates by their LinkedIn posts and content rather than just their education or resume — what you publish is becoming your most important credential.

About Ryan Roslansky
Ryan Roslansky is the CEO of LinkedIn and Executive Vice President of Microsoft Copilot and Microsoft Office. He joined LinkedIn in 2009 and became CEO in 2020, overseeing the platform's growth to over one billion members worldwide. Under his leadership, LinkedIn has expanded into AI-powered tools, creator features, and learning products. Roslansky is the author of "Open to Work," a career guide for navigating the AI era. He is a college dropout who built his career through entrepreneurship and technology, and is a father of three daughters.

Marina Mogilko:
Ryan, thank you so much and welcome to Silicon Valley Girl. I am so happy to have you. So you're the CEO of LinkedIn and also Executive Vice President of Microsoft Copilot and Microsoft Office. And we're at Davos today. So what is everyone talking about?

Ryan Roslansky:
Well, it's funny. I mean, you and I live very close to each other and we travel across the world to meet and connect. I think that's what happens a lot here. It's just a great place for people to come and connect and we're kind of in this small ski town and it keeps everyone kind of one place to have these great conversations like this.

It's interesting. I think there's a lot of the things that I'm seeing, but I think one of the things that's probably most interesting to you potentially is — I think if we were here maybe like three years ago, a lot of the conversations we would be having would be with traditional media, and this year it's amazing to see the creator influence, up and down the promenade, and the role that creators are playing in this new economy. And we see it on LinkedIn. There's four million members now that their official job title is creator, and it's just amazing to watch this kind of new industry explode to where it is today.

Marina Mogilko:
That is amazing and I'm happy to be part of it. It's amazing to see starting 12 years ago and being a creator now — it's just a huge, huge difference. What do people say about AI? Do you think people here are more positive or negative?

Ryan Roslansky:
It's interesting. I think people are all over the place because their opinions are based on what they heard from the last conversation. What I love about LinkedIn is that as the definitive labor market platform of the world, we have amazing insights into actually what is happening across the world.

And it's interesting — while we see that hiring is sluggish across most markets, the reason doesn't have anything to do with AI in our opinion. It's actually more due to macro conditions. Interest rates, not AI. As it relates to AI, we see something totally different. There's actually been almost 1.3 million brand new net jobs on LinkedIn for AI — roles like data annotators. Over 600,000 new data center jobs exist on LinkedIn. Forward-deployed engineers, the companies need to understand AI. So at least in terms of what we're seeing in the LinkedIn data right now, AI is a net positive addition to the job market, not something that's detracting jobs.

Marina Mogilko:
That's great. But what about entry-level jobs?

Ryan Roslansky:
So entry-level jobs across the world right now, the hiring rate that we see is down roughly 12%, but they are not disproportionate to any of the other jobs. They're down just as much as all the other jobs in the world. I think a lot of that contraction is due in large part to macroeconomic climate and interest rates, and companies investing less in general.
So then the question becomes — what do professionals, even entry-level professionals, do? And we're seeing two trends emerge. One is micro-entrepreneurship: a rise in creators, which is that if the traditional path doesn't exist, I need to take my career into my own hands. And number two, a real affinity towards trade roles. Especially Gen Z sees those as a much safer option — first-line jobs, typical trade roles, not office jobs. They see those as more resilient in an AI world. These are the types of jobs that AI probably won't take.

Marina Mogilko:
Interesting. Have you seen a huge uptick in creators — like when people put "creator" as their job title?

Ryan Roslansky:
Right now, there are 75 million people on LinkedIn that somewhere in their profile say they're a creator. And there's 4 million people that say their complete 100% full-time job is creator. So it's fantastic. And look at what you started.

Marina Mogilko:
How do career paths change? Because I think I heard you at one of the conferences talking about how a lot of companies are hiring generalists now. So you don't necessarily climb up the ladder — you expand horizontally, acquiring new skills. Do you see that trend as well?

Ryan Roslansky:
So I think first and foremost, the really important thing — since the beginning of LinkedIn, the feature that is requested most from members is "show me what a typical career path is supposed to look like." And the reality is, in the data, there is no such thing as a linear career path. It's all over the place. So the more that people recognize that you have to take your career into your own hands — there's no natural path that exists that you just get on — I think that's really important.

Right now it's more important than ever, because skills are changing. The types of skills that are necessary for a specific role on LinkedIn have changed north of 25% over the last couple of years alone. We expect they'll change by 70% by 2030, largely influenced by AI and new tools and new ways of doing these professions. So when I talk to people about what they should do with their career, it's less about "where do you want to be in five years" and more about "over the next few months, what new skills do you want to learn?" Because to your point, these roles are flattening. Generalists are more and more where people are going these days.

Marina Mogilko:
So what are the top skills people should be adding to their LinkedIn right now?

Ryan Roslansky:
It's funny — there's this huge demand on both sides of the spectrum. Obviously, AI literacy is important. And I think no matter what your role or profession, familiarizing yourself with these tools is a really smart investment in your own career. You don't have to love them, you don't have to use them all the time, but just familiarizing yourself, putting yourself in the mindset that "I'm going to figure out how I can be better at my job through AI" — that's one thing.

But just as important on the other side are human skills. Curiosity, creativity, courage, communication, compassion — the ability to work with other people, to sit down with someone and actually have a conversation. You can't just be mired in using technology in a bubble and be successful. Learning to disagree and commit with someone, to communicate, to help galvanize people to get something done. So I think the key right now is that combination: learn those AI skills, and then if you've got a way to be strong on those more human skills — they're typically called soft skills. I think that's a misnomer. "Soft" feels like it's less important. I think they're more important than ever.