According to a new survey, how workers define career growth is changing.

For Randstad’s 2024 Workmonitor report, the Dutch multinational human resource consulting firm surveyed 27,000 workers from 34 countries and found what Randstad CEO Sander van ‘t Noordende describes as a “split workforce.”

Roughly half of workers worldwide tell Randstad they identify as ambitious, and roughly the same amount say they do not. However, while many workers are not interested in continually climbing the career ladder, the majority of workers (72%) still value learning new skills.

“Despite more complex attitudes to career progression and ambition, there is a continued thirst for training and development in both current roles and for future career moves,” reads the report. “Around a third (29%) would even go as far as quitting a job that didn’t offer adequate learning and development (L&D) opportunities.”

Randstad also found that workers in some industries prioritize training and development more than others. Workers in IT, construction, and financial services were most inclined to say they wouldn’t accept a job if it didn’t offer L&D opportunities to future-proof their skills.

As workers’ priorities have changed, “training, learning, and development has become even more important,” says van ‘t Noordende. “And if you look [at] the skills that people are looking for, technology in general—and AI in particular—[is] very high on the agenda.”

When asked to list their top three most-desired skills, these are the five skills workers worldwide say they are the most interested in learning:

1. Artificial intelligence
2. IT and tech literacy
3. Well-being and mindfulness
4. Communication and presentation skills
5. Management and leadership skills

The skills that are most important to workers vary slightly from country to country. For instance, in the United States, workers say management and leadership skills are the most important. The next most-valued skills U.S. workers cite are well-being and mindfulness; AI, IT, and tech literacy; coaching and mentoring; communication and presentation; and programming and coding.

Whereas in China, workers want training in AI and data science the most. Plus, 81% of workers in China say their employer is already helping them develop future-proof skills in fields like AI—compared to just 52% of workers globally.

When asked who is responsible for training and upskilling workers, 23% of all respondents say workers hold the responsibility and 42% say employers are responsible.

“This means that for companies, it’s now even more important to work with every individual employee to say, ‘What’s your level of ambition? How has your performance been? Where do you want to go? What’s the kind of training you’re looking for?’” explains van ‘t Noordende. “You have to make the whole career experience even more individual, more personal.

“Which is, of course, easier said than done,” he adds.