Photo by Eric Prouzet on Unsplash
Following what has been a roller coaster year, with global political shifts, significant employment reform announcements, ongoing skills shortages and increasing costs of living, 2025 is being touted as a more optimistic time for talent pools and employers alike. That’s not to say it will all be plain sailing, though.
With the NICs increase further stretching employment budgets and the Employment Rights Bill set to radically change the compliance landscape for HR and talent acquisition teams, there will no doubt be a lot of transformation and complexity to navigate.
But there’s also a lot of promise in the world of talent acquisition and a wealth of opportunities to drive change for good. Here are some of the top areas that HR practitioners and talent leaders can capitalise on in the New Year.
The rise of AI
Artificial Intelligence is perhaps one of the most hotly debated topics in the HR community at the moment. From difficulties sourcing AI skills given the infancy of this remit itself, through to exploring how these tools can support the HR and talent functions, there’s a lot to discuss on the topic. What I would say, though, is that AI is both the problem and the solution, particularly in relation to skills shortages.
Given how new some of these tools are, there is an understandably limited supply of experts in this area to tap into. However, AI has huge potential to streamline engagement and attraction with potential new recruits. It’s important to stress at this point that I’m not talking about automation in relation to HR systems – that’s an entirely different topic and opportunity in itself. However, AI is vastly intuitive and can achieve things many humans can’t in such short timescales. That includes monitoring and assessing behaviours of talent pools both internally and externally to better map out where there’s the potential to attract, or even lose, high performers.
Any discussion around artificial intelligence does need to also address the issue of candidates using these tools in their job searches, which is a contentious issue in today’s environment. While we may have seen a number of brands banning the using of AI in the job hunt (and in some cases, in work itself), there is a strong argument for allowing it.
When we consider that this is an emerging technology, with a handful of ‘experts’ available to hire in this remit, having individuals that demonstrate an ability to use AI sufficiently and appropriately is, in fact, a promising sign in the hiring process. Yes, there will need to be clear boundaries and transparency around its use, but it’s a sign of strength, not necessarily a weakness.
Perhaps the greatest benefit that can be achieved by allowing greater AI usage, though, is the positive impact it can have on diversity. There are some under-represented groups that struggle with the writing element of the job process for absolutely no fault of their own, but are dismissed as a result, even though this particular attribute isn’t always necessary for a role. If individuals are allowed to use AI to support their CV or cover letter creation, it can aid social mobility and diverse recruitment.
Skills-first will become more critical
Of course, much of the above requires a shift towards skills-first hiring in order to be successful. Where HR and talent teams are looking to improve diversity and attract individuals that show potential over technical attributes, existing rigid hiring structures become less relevant.
This shift towards skills-first hiring has been gaining momentum for much of this year, but with the demands of the workforce evolving at pace, there is a growing recognition across the business communities that how the attract talent needs to change. And they are looking to the HR function for guidance.
This is a prime opportunity to capitalise on the new world of work and reshape hiring practices to drive inclusivity, equity and diversity. Arguably, the changes to employment legislation also provide the chance and motivation for a rethink, but there does need to be authentic buy-in to talent acquisition reforms companywide to make them really work.
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