The next desirable feature of employees? Learnability.

Human beings have an astonishing ability to learn, but our motivation to do so tends to decrease with age, particularly in adulthood. As children, we are naturally curious and free to explore the world around us. As adults, we are much more interested in preserving what we learned, to the point of resisting any information — and data — that challenges our views and opinions. Unsurprisingly, there is now big demand for employees who can demonstrate high levels of “learnability,” the desire and ability to quickly grow and adapt one’s skill set to remain employable throughout their working life. This demand has been turbocharged by the recent technological revolution.

Source: Take Control of Your Learning at Work

I had a conversation with a tech coordinator a couple of years ago about the difficulty in finding employees that were curious. In education, what you know is not nearly as important as what you can learn, and learnability goes hand-in-hand with curiosity.