There is now one job for every two applicants applying for a role, and almost 40% of core skills are expected to change within the next five years. On top of that, two-thirds of HR leaders say AI is already reshaping talent acquisition.
Those numbers alone are enough to make any of us pause. They helped set the stage for our latest HR leaders roundtable discussion, which was a lively, honest conversation about how we adapt our talent strategies for the future.
We asked some big questions:
- How do we move beyond the CV?
- How can we fairly identify the traits and potential that make people thrive?
- And how do we future proof hiring when AI is already changing what “work” looks like?
Below are some of the ideas that really stood out us and what they mean for professionals seeking to address the evolving landscape of HR and recruitment.
Moving beyond the CV
Traditional CVs tell us what someone has done, but not always what they can do next. More and more organisations are starting to explore skills and traits-based approaches to talent. This shift encourages us to look at what drives success across changing roles such as curiosity, adaptability, creativity, resilience, rather than just experience.
It’s harder to measure, but it’s far more powerful. The challenge for HR now is how to fairly identify and assess those deeper traits without bias, building processes that give people the opportunity to show them.
We’re seeing more teams experiment with psychometric tools such as Adept-15, which helps uncover individual preferences and behavioural strengths, or skills-based situational judgment tests (SJTs) that present candidates with real-world work scenarios to reveal how they think and respond. These approaches move hiring beyond credentials, which allows candidates to show who they are and how they approach challenges, not just what’s listed on their CV.
AI can enhance recruitment but not replace it
AI is transforming recruitment: from screening thousands of applications to identifying potential matches faster. However, while technology can help us work more efficiently, it can’t replace human judgment. There is also – quite rightly – a wariness amongst many HR leaders about inadvertently bringing bias into a recruitment process when AI is involved.
The best hiring decisions take context, nuance and empathy into account. They rely on conversation, not just data. The opportunity for HR is to use AI as an enabler, as a way to free up time, reduce admin, and surface new insights while keeping the final, most human parts of the process firmly in our hands.
Recruitment should always be a deliberate decision, made with intention and care. At the same time, how we use technology directly shapes the candidate experience and by extension, our employer brand. Candidates today expect transparency, speed and fairness, but they also want to feel seen as individuals, not data points.
The Mobley v. Workday case is a stark reminder of the risks: a federal judge recently allowed a class action to proceed on allegations that Workday’s AI hiring tools may have disproportionately rejected applicants over age 40, even those with the right skills and experience. That case underscores how, when screening technology lacks guardrails, it can lead to perceptions (or realities) of unfairness and erode trust in the hiring process.
HR teams that use AI thoughtfully, pairing automation with authentic communication and feedback, are finding it strengthens their Employee Value Proposition (EVP). It signals that the organisation values both efficiency and empathy, and that sets the tone for the kind of culture people want to join.
Designing roles for the future
As automation continues to reshape what work looks like, many roles are evolving, and some will even disappear. That means that instead of recycling the same job description or team structure, we need to start thinking of the problems we are trying to solve and designing roles around outcomes, not tasks. Thinking in outcomes helps us focus on what we need to achieve as an organisation, and how skills can be combined at a team level rather than just an individual one.
When we build around outcomes, we unlock agility and the ability to reconfigure, reskill and respond quickly to change. That’s what future-proof workforces will need over the next five years. In recruiting people that have these traits, businesses are more likely to adapt to the evolving needs over that same time period.
