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By Matt Alder

For many employers, how and where work happens continues to be significantly disrupted by the pandemic and its economic implications. With the pace of digital transformation in businesses radically increasing as companies review their products, services and business models, it is likely that many of the changes we see in work and employment patterns will be permanent ones.

If companies want to survive and thrive, then new ways of thinking about business need to be matched by new ways of thinking about talent. Unfortunately, far too many employers allow their recruitment process to be dictated by outmoded beliefs about skills and experience.

This stereotyped thinking manifests itself in a number of different ways. For example, many of those looking for a new job in 2020 will have been told they are not being considered because of past career breaks, a lack of a degree, not having relevant industry experience or being over-qualified for the role.

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In their recent Future of Jobs Report, the World Economic Forum estimates that half of all employees will need to reskill by 2025 as the adoption of technology accelerates the pace of change within companies. It is not surprising then that some of the most desirable skills and attributes employers need from their employees are resilience, the ability to learn continuously, creativity, innovation and critical thinking.

Filtering candidates out of a recruitment process based on inaccurate and outmoded assumptions about previous experience, while ignoring future potential, means that employers are in grave danger of missing out on the skills they desperately need.

Companies mustn’t think just about the skills a potential employee currently has, but must also consider their potential to adapt and learn new skills in the near future. There is no way of future-proofing your workforce if your hiring is based solely on the needs you have right now, assessed through the lens of what a potential employee has done in the past.

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One of the biggest inhibitors in re-thinking approaches to recruiting talent are the systemic limitations of traditional recruitment processes, particularly an over-reliance on CVs and unstructured interviews. New methods of assessment are continuing to emerge, and employers would do well to keep themselves up-to-date with the latest thinking.

We are currently facing a very uncertainly future, and employers need to review, re-think and redefine their philosophies on talent. It is critical to embrace recruiting methodologies which are effective in our era of digital transformation, rather than persisting with traditional approaches which should have been discarded decades ago.

Matt Alder is the producer and host of The Recruiting Future Podcast