China Top Talent Trends For 2026

In 2026, these following trends are set to define the future of work:

1、AI-enabled talent is critical in 2026

Key facts:

The number of AI-adjacent roles (e.g., AI Ethics Specialists, AI UX Designers and Prompt Engineers) is surging globally.
81% increase in LinkedIn members with AI skills since last year.

Deep Dive：

2026 is the year that AI-adjacent talent takes center stage.

These roles don’t build. Rather, they bridge the gap – working alongside AI-enabled technologies to translate technical potential into real business impact. Key skills include interpreting AI-generated outputs, orchestrating new workflows, quality assurance and upholding ethics and compliance.

Demand is surging on both sides of the market. Skills growth has been explosive and appetite for AI-adjacent talent continues to rise, even as overall job postings decline.

Hays Advice:

For company:

Skills-based hiring will become a competitive necessity, not a nice-to-have: Traditional ‘skills-building’ routes, including schools and universities, aren’t adjusting quick enough. Organisations will need to focus on finding talent with strong mental elasticity and a hunger to learn.
Adopt global hiring strategies to access emerging talent hubs: With AI-adjacent skills growing fastest in emerging hubs, organisations must expand their horizons. Cross-border hiring enables you to tap into diverse, rapidly expanding talent networks.

For Talent:

It’s time to stop thinking about AI as something to help you in your responsibilities and decide how it can be fully integrated into your workflows. Candidates who can demonstrate futureproof ways of working (and an aptitude for continuous upskilling) are the ones that employers will bet on.

2、Organisations must tackle the latest mutation of ‘Technostress’: FOBO.

Key facts:

65% of CHROs believe AI can improve performance for ‘most’ roles.
88% are willing to upskill in AI, but only 41% of organisations offer AI training.
Under half (42%) of professionals below director level use AI regularly.

Deep Dive：

Even in 2023, FOBO – or Fear of Becoming Obsolete – was mentioned by McKinsey and the WEF. People were doubting whether they had the skills to thrive in a post-pandemic workplace and generative AI’s rapid evolution only exacerbated those concerns.

By 2026, these individualistic fears will escalate into a defining strategic challenge for businesses. AI has moved beyond automating routine tasks. It’s now reshaping creative and strategic work - coding, writing, design - and augmenting performance across every function.

As we shift from AI experimentation to full-scale integration, workflows will be redesigned and entire functions will shift focus. There’s a real risk that unless proactive upskilling takes place alongside these changes, talent will disengage and the AI literacy gap will continue to grow.

Hays Advice:

For company:

Wellbeing needs a digital lens: Audit your tech stack – does it simplify or overwhelm? Set clear boundaries to protect mental health.
Pursue proactive upskilling: Training is a shared priority. Focus on enhancing AI literacy to build confidence and resilience across your workforce.
Prioritise people: Communicate openly about how roles will evolve and ensure there are clear forums for people to voice concerns, ask questions and shape the future.

For Talent:

Technical training: take online courses to help you learn more.
Hands-on experience: experiment with different tools and understand how they can support you in your existing responsibilities. Search for tips and tutorials that can help you with different use cases.
Staying up to date with industry trends: Subscribe to relevant newsletters or follow thought leaders on platforms such as LinkedIn to keep informed.

3、Authenticity will matter more than ever.

Key facts:

Half of adults have lied on their CV, with 41% exaggerating responsibilities.
LinkedIn has removed nearly 400 million fake profiles in under five years.
Technology is raising the stakes, enabling more sophisticated activities such as deep fakes, falsified documents and fabricated personas.

Deep Dive：

While AI is unlocking new opportunities, it’s also fuelling some of the most pressing challenges for the year ahead. Nowhere is this more evident – or urgent – than in our final trend: the rise of fake and fraudulent workers.

At the same time, organisations facing resource constraints often view compliance as an area ripe for efficiency gains. However, compressing due diligence in this way can create significant vulnerabilities.

For jobseekers, there’s no denying that generative AI tools have proven hugely beneficial. In fact, we’ve already provided advice on several ways that Copilot or ChatGPT can help you with your cover letter or CV. However, there’s a difference between polishing an application, and adding information that simply isn’t true.

In 2026, there will be greater focus on anything that seems AI-generated, since it increases the likelihood of fake information.

Hays Advice:

For company:

Pace, complexity and uncertainty keep organisations on the back foot. Unfortunately, there is no ‘silver bullet’. Robust, practical and varied safeguards that span people, processes and technology may mitigate some risks.

For Talent:

Making yourself stand out as the ideal recruit is no longer about a perfectly-written cover letter – AI tools have empowered everyone to do this, so how does it make you special? Finding the right balance between a human, authentic application and an optimised CV will make you the candidate of choice.

4、Life Sciences is leading global growth

Key facts:

Denmark, Sweden, Malaysia, Spain and Belgium are forecast to have the highest annual compound growth.
AI is accelerating progress, shortening clinical trial timelines and supporting scientific breakthroughs.
Less than 15% of talent within the sector is considered ‘AI-ready’.

Deep Dive：

From personalised treatments to adaptive clinical trials and regulatory modernisation, 2026 will see the Life Sciences sector enter a phase of explosive growth, driven by global demand for smarter, faster healthcare solutions.

Historic capital inflow over the last five years have laid the groundwork. Now, momentum is building.

For James Nyssen, Global Head of Life Sciences at Hays, this is hardly surprising, given the speed at which new technologies enable us to accelerate:
“In the last year, we’ve seen quantum leaps. AI is now identifying new compounds and accelerating them into clinical trials in less than two years. This shift - from process improvement to scientific breakthroughs - is a game-changer. It’s knocking days off delivery timelines. And in this industry, 24 hours can equate to millions in savings.”

But with growth comes complexity. And the sector’s biggest challenge? Skills.
Demand is rising for talent that blends scientific expertise with digital fluency, “particularly in applying AI and data analytics to clinical research and regulatory compliance.”

Our recent report with Everest Group shows that 63% of global enterprises view skills gaps as the “biggest barrier” to organisational transformation. 2026 will reward those who move early.

Hays Advice:

For company:

New talent strategies for new talent challenges: Keeping pace with innovation demands both scale and agility. Contract workers will offer instantly deployable expertise; while outsourcing and offshoring will offer access to global skillsets.
Specialist skills must be built, not just bought: Niche specialisms require targeted training. Hire-train-deploy models enable organisations to build and deploy talent for custom requirements.

5、“Re globalization” under the backdrop of “de globalization”

Key facts:

According to data from the General Administration of Customs, in the first half of 2025 China’s cross-border e-commerce imports and exports totaled approximately 1.32 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.7%; of this, exports accounted for about 1.03 trillion yuan, up 4.7%.
According to a related McKinsey report, Europe’s two major strategies — the “Digital Decade” (2021–2030) and the “Green Deal” — have created significant opportunities for Chinese enterprises to expand abroad. Europe has become the largest destination region for China’s new energy exports.

Deep Dive：

Whether to cope with overcapacity, seek new growth opportunities, drive technological innovation, access lower cost labor and raw materials, or support lead firms with overseas supply chain services in response to rising trade protectionism and increasing global trade barriers, going global has become a critical pathway for companies to expand their business footprint.

Currently, some leading Chinese enterprises already generate 30%–40% of their revenue from non domestic markets, while this share can reach 80% for mature globalized companies. The trend of Chinese enterprises expanding overseas therefore remains firmly on the rise.

Reports and market data show that certain emerging markets (such as Southeast Asia and some smaller European countries) are experiencing rapid growth in high‑skilled and digital talent, making them preferred destinations for companies to establish remote teams, technology hubs, and service centers.

Hays Advice:

For company:

To thrive in modern economies, organisations need to apply a broader lens – one that recognizes how different markets bring distinct strengths to a modern workforce strategy. It’s not just expanding into new locations, but also better understanding the ones you’re already in; how they compare, what makes them valuable, and which moves will best support your strategic ambitions.

For Talent:

Build transferable skillset. For example: analytical skills, project management, cross-cultural communication, and rapid learning — all of which are applicable across different countries and industries.