#ISE23: my top SIX takeaways

I had the joy of being at the Institute of Student Employers last week (June 12-13th). I was there to network, learn and debate the future challenges and opportunities happening across the landscape and what employers, employees, educators, and assessment providers must think about.??

The Early Careers space is such a key area to get under the skin of.? It is important for so many facets of society e.g., young people need jobs, jobs that stimulate and inspire, employers need innovation from their workforce and governments need a working population, paying into their coffers to run the country and invest.? If this does not work, history tells us younger generations will push harder than most for change.? And today, I would argue it is not working. I speak to people younger than me, and they share the challenges they have, and how they are x10 what I encountered 20 years ago when I entered the workforce as a graduate. Yes, every generation has it tough, yet the cost-of-living crisis and the pandemic has really hit hard.??

I will not pretend to have all the answers. As no one does.? Yet I will share my top six takeaways and how I can help employers tackle some of the challenges ahead.??

ONE: Demographics across the UK are changing, we have an aging population, and this will only drive the skills shortages we are experiencing

First of all, there is nothing new here – just do a Google search and you will see for yourself.? However, the key “so what” for me is the fact that the Early Careers talent pipeline will not be your best source of talent for the future in 5 years time – there simply won’t be enough talent in the market with a 14% decrease in birth rates expected over the next 10 years across the UK (source: Office for National Statistics – National population projections). So, the imperative to be better than the competition in the Early Careers space is key, doing that in a fair and transparent way and aligned to predicting performance.? Yet being open-minded to assess and measure potential, strengths, motivations, personality PLUS cognitive abilities in a way that offers a fantastic candidate experience.? If you do not you will lose talent.??

TWO: It is predicted there will be a shortage of 1m skilled workers by 2035 across the UK

The lever to pull if you are not already, is the over 50’s.? They are skilled, know what work is and need to be welcomed back to the workforce post covid. With the over 50’s, you need to think more open-minded about what they can do and do not let them pigeonhole themselves, or you pigeonhole them!? Assess them on their behaviour, learnability, resilience, and cognitive ability to take on a new role, aligned to where you have opportunities within your organisation. They can be a super source of talent.???

THREE: Internal mobility is also important - do more than you are

If you are not already doing this, you need to and if you are, you need to do more. The starting place is always the data.? If you do not have any data, assess people, get under the skin of your people, understand them, what drives them, motivates them and what transferable skills they have.? This data helps you plan and look at gaps. Without the data, you are simply blind-sighted and cannot make any good decisions.??

?FOUR: ChatGPT4 and all things AI

?There was a lot of talk about this and rightly so. Yet, before you take things at face value, reflect.? Take a step back, talk to the experts and understand what this means today, tomorrow, and beyond.? Plus remember, it will all change when the next iteration of AI hits us.? For now, decide on the data and the full picture.?

Be aware the knight in shining armour who only tells you 15% of the story.? ?

?Talk to the experts like Charles Handler, Ph.D. and Alan Bourne who know this topic inside out and know what the key questions to ask are on?the pros and cons of this within the assessment space. ?

A MUST READ: Read Talent Insights blog on AI Charles's topic tips here are worth repeating: ?

1. Ensure compliance with existing guidelines and frameworks.???
2. Ensure you are aligned with an AI ethics framework.??
3. Get advice from experts.??
4. Hold vendors accountable.??

FIVE: DE&I remains a challenge?

DE&I remains a constant challenge given the progress society & organisations need to make. No surprise there again. You need to have fair, unbiased data on talent, with the right tech to remove the bias from the process. At all times you need to use data to make informed talent decisions. You need to talk to people who can help you here, look at the data and ensure your processes are open to all talent pools.??

Any assessment provider worth their salt will help you and we at Sova of course are no, being data-driven, being scientifically robust and ensuring we help you bring in diverse talent into your organisation and keep them.??

SIX: Candidate Experience?

This also remains a constant challenge given the competitive landscape for top talent. You need to move away from those clunky processes, with multiple bits of tech to a provider who offers one platform. Yes, one platform for all stages of the assessment process and one platform to hold all the data.???Why, as that is where the ROI is.?

A bit about the author: Thomas Lucas works across the Assessment and Talent landscape for Sova Assessment as an EMEA Growth Director, helping identify client problems and recommend solutions to solve these, then actually solve them - that's the hard bit. Tom has worked across this space for 20+ years (yes he hardly looks old enough hahaha), having worked with firms like John Lewis Partnership , Vodafone , 凯捷咨询 , Prudential plc , Veolia UK , 法国巴黎银行 , 德勤 to name a few. Tom has run graduate recruitment programmes and delivered graduate training programmes so understands what it is like to sit in the hot seat. Tom is also a big supporter of and has his own reasons to support his - and is always open to share his story if of interest.