The #1 Skill Employers Can't Find — And It's Not Engineering Anymore

The #1 Skill Employers Can't Find — And It's Not Engineering Anymore

Author: Harrison Painter March 3, 2026 Duration: 12:07

For the first time ever, AI skills are the hardest to find globally — beating engineering, IT, and everything else. ManpowerGroup's 2026 Talent Shortage Survey of 39,063 employers across 41 countries just made it official.

In this episode, Harrison breaks down what the data actually says, what most coverage missed, and what leaders need to do right now.

What we cover:

  • Why 72% of employers worldwide can't fill roles
  • AI literacy vs. AI engineering — and why both are scarce
  • What Germany (83%), France (74%), and the US (69%) tell us about the global gap
  • The stat almost no headline covered: human skills still top the list
  • 3 lessons leaders need to act on today

Sources:

Subscribe and leave a review if this helped you think differently about AI and your organization.


Harrison Painter hosts the AI for Everyone Podcast from a rather unique vantage point. After building and selling a company, he found himself in the Hollywood Hills, an experience that sharpened his perspective on what real influence means in a world saturated with mere attention. He translates those hard-won lessons into practical guidance for any professional feeling behind on the AI wave. This isn't a theoretical discussion about machine learning models. Instead, each episode focuses on actionable strategies for integrating artificial intelligence into your daily workflow to reclaim hours, operate with greater assurance, and ultimately improve your financial outcomes. The premise is right there in the title: this is about making powerful tools accessible and immediately useful. You'll hear concrete examples, straightforward advice, and perhaps a few stories from the other side of a successful exit, all aimed at demystifying the technology that's reshaping every industry. Tune in when you're ready to move from knowing AI matters to making it work decisively for your career and business. The AI for Everyone Podcast is built on the idea that these tools should serve you, not intimidate you.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 92

AI Ready Podcast with Harrison Painter
Podcast Episodes
If a Dog Can Make a Million Dollars a Year, So Can You [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:26
Jay Samit has held senior roles at Sony, Universal Studios, EMI, LinkedIn, and Deloitte Digital. He has raised hundreds of millions for startups and been called on by the Pope and the President. His book "Disrupt You!" h…
Your Robot Vacuum Is Watching You (7,000 Homes Exposed) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 14:59
A robot vacuum just exposed 7,000 homes across 24 countries, and nobody got hacked. One guy with a PS5 controller stumbled into live camera feeds, floor plans, microphone audio, and device locations for complete stranger…
Sony Can Now Tell If Your AI Music Stole From The Beatles [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 13:45
Sony just built a tool that can look inside any AI-generated song and tell you exactly which artists it borrowed from — down to a percentage.Think outputs like: 30% Beatles. 10% Queen. For any AI-generated track.Most peo…
What AI Is Doing to Your Brand - A Conversation with Cat Holt [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:00:51
AI is already inside your brand whether you planned for it or not. Cat Holt has spent 26 years watching brands get this wrong — and she's here to break down exactly what's happening and what leaders need to do about it.C…
Token Anxiety: The AI Obsession Taking Over San Francisco [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 12:51
A San Francisco insider just described a city where people leave parties early to check on their AI agents, where the first thing you do in the morning is grade overnight homework your AI did while you slept, and where t…
Spotify's AI Just Replaced Their Entire Coding Team? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 14:21
Spotify’s co-CEO Gustav Soderstrom dropped a bombshell during their Q4 2025 earnings call: "Some of our best developers, some of our most senior engineers have not written a single line of code since December. They just…
Your AI Content Could Get Demonetized Tomorrow. Here's How to Stop It [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 25:14
This podcast breaks down "The 7 Deadly Patterns of Automation" that can lead to demonetization, even for high-value channels, by triggering AI pattern detection. We'll explore the latest youtube update and how to avoid d…
The AI Workload Paradox: A Harvard Business Review [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 16:17
A new Harvard Business Review study confirms what I’ve been saying for months: AI does not reduce your workload. It increases it. But that’s not the whole story.Researchers from UC Berkeley spent 8 months studying how ge…