AI skills testing soars by 166% globally. But which skills are rising fastest?

The 4 fastest-growing skills tests globally

Our data shows four skills tests growing significantly in popularity. These are:

• Artificial Intelligence: +166%

• Coding: Debugging: +133%

• Computer Literacy (PC): +77%

• Coding: Data Structures - Arrays: +73%

Employers are actively building teams with verifiable AI fluency, and are using skills testing to do so. All four of these skills are highly technical – they want the nuts and bolts, the people who can really understand AI, embed it, and put it to work effectively. But there's a bigger picture.

The most popular skills tests

While technical skills dominate growth trends, a different trend emerges when we look at skills tests by popularity alone. The tests that hiring teams are using most are the ones that capture deeply human skills.

TestGorilla's top five most used tests globally are:

1. Big 5 (OCEAN): Provides insights into a candidate’s behavior, how they relate to others, and their primary strengths

2. Attention to Detail (Textual): Evaluates candidates’ ability to pay attention to textual detail while processing information

3. Critical Thinking: Evaluates candidates’ skills in critical thinking through inductive and deductive reasoning problems

4. Communication: Screens candidates for verbal, written, and nonverbal communication

5. Problem Solving: Evaluates candidates’ ability to define problems and analyze data and textual information to make correct decisions

This paints a telling picture of what employers are looking for today. As our Head of People and Culture, Olive Turon explains: "Every modern recruiter is thinking about AI-first hiring. In other words, how to hire people who can excel in an AI-driven world."

The technical skills required to put AI to work are a must, but, in isolation, they don't fit the bill. AI-savvy candidates need to be critical thinkers and problem-solvers. The requirements go beyond just being able to use AI – employers need people who can think alongside it, challenge it, and solve complex problems with it, too.

Hiring for skills in an AI-first world

A resume alone can't show you how someone thinks. And in an interview, it's almost impossible to tell if a candidate is a genuinely critical thinker or just good at talking. In fact, a recent study found that 93% of candidates weren't even asked about AI skills in their interviews.

"Employers are waking up to the reality that CVs and interviews alone can’t reveal true capability. As our 2025 State of Skills-Based Hiring report found, 71% of employers say skills testing is more predictive of on-the-job success than resumes." – Wouter Durville, co-founder and CEO

Ultimately, hiring for an AI-first world isn’t about choosing between tech skills and human skills. It's about finding the people who have both the technical chops to do the work and the critical mind to do it well.

To achieve this, employers need to adopt a holistic, multi-measure approach to skills-based hiring. Looking beyond the resume is imperative. From now on, the best hiring decisions will be context-rich – accounting for both the technical and human skills required to excel in an AI-first environment.