Scroll through job postings today and you’ll see the usual technical requirements: software proficiencies, domain expertise, maybe some AI experience. But that’s not all. These days, another set of skills continue to crop up in job descriptions across the country.

That’s according to new research from Indeed Hiring Lab that found “HR skills” have become part of the core skill set employers expect across the business, not just in HR.

In an analysis of U.S. postings, economist Sneha Puri and her team found that “business operations” skills, which includes administrative, project management and human resources capabilities, appeared in over 70% of job ads in Q4 2025, by far the most of any skill group. Within that, human resources skills alone were mentioned in more than a quarter of postings, 27.3% during the same period.

“HR skills go beyond what we typically associate with an HR person,” Puri said. They include “employee management, retention, training and development,” and are now required across sectors.

That demand isn’t limited to HR roles, either. In fact, it’s showing up in retail, project management, hospitality, and administrative jobs too.

In broad terms, the report’s findings suggest that the skills once associated with HR are becoming part of the baseline expectation for the wider workforce.

Why ‘people skills’ are having a moment

For Puri, the widespread presence of HR-related skills reflects the realities of modern work. Many of the capabilities that sit under the HR umbrella are, in practice, essential to running any team or function.

“Training and development, for example, is required across sectors,” she said. “You need to train your staff that is in computer science, or the staff that is in marketing.”

At the same time, the rise of AI is changing how organizations think about skills more broadly.

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