Skills-based hiring, tech advancements, and social value: Reflections from our APAC, EMEA and UK&I Leadership Offsite

Without a doubt, one of my favourite milestones during the year is bringing our leadership team together, in one room, for two days of thought-provoking discussions. Thanks to a combination of outstanding speakers and an extremely engaged and collaborative team, earlier this month we had a phenomenal time together. 

So, which topics came up again and again and really left me thinking about their impact on the future of TA and what we need to focus on for the rest of this year and beyond? 

Skills-based hiring is essential to business success 

Skills shortages continue to be a significant challenge for organisations globally and a move to skills-based hiring and innovative approaches are essential to business success. Companies must put emphasis on skills and abilities over qualifications, in turn resulting in more efficient and inclusive hiring. 

Bridging the green skills gap, in particular, is of critical importance as 82% of talent leaders feel that hiring talent with green skills is moderately or extremely challenging. We address these issues in detail in our recent whitepaper on tackling the skills crisis for a sustainable future. 

Data, data, data

If you’ve read our Talent Climate Series, you’ll know that everything comes back to data. Being able to analyse and interpret data and translating our findings with our clients will allow us to elevate conversations and ensure our solutions are relevant to their specific needs and solving their pain points. 

And this goes hand in hand with my next point..

Tech advancements are a key disruptor for how we do things

The buzzword of the moment – AI. It’s no surprise that generative AI is fundamentally revolutionising the talent acquisition world, from improving candidate experience to reducing time to hire. 

We must stay ahead of the curve in every aspect of our talent acquisition lifecycle by continuing to implement more efficient and effective AI powered solutions for a competitive edge. 

Incorporating a social value strategy is no longer a ‘nice to have’ 

We were delighted to be joined by our Crown Commercial Services client who brought to life how we’ve stayed ahead of the curve to stand out from our competitors, overcome challenges, and drive outcomes for our clients. 

Not only did our client discuss the importance of technology in our framework, but they highlighted the significance of working together to create an impactful social value strategy and how this is essential to attract and hire diverse talent. 

Our Diversity & Inclusion Alliance has been instrumental in supporting the social value agenda for our clients as we’ve tapped into the expertise and insights of our hub of DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging) focused partners to inform talent strategies, weave this into company culture, and in turn improve diverse representation across our clients’ workforces. 

At the end of the two days, I asked the team to describe the offsite and these critical conversations in one word - inspired, insightful, excited and collaborative are just some of the words that stood out to me. I used the word ‘proud’ after something that our client said during the event really resonated with me: ‘it’s a real honour to be part of the AMS agreement, and that’s down to the people’.

With key market insights underpinning everything we do, our ‘One AMS’ mentality and the unrivalled expertise and passion of our people, I truly believe we are unstoppable.