Are they are trying to tell us something?

“The half-life of hard skills has already decreased to 2.5 years.” Recruiting Future with Matt Alder, Ep 602: The Skills Mismatch In Hiring

“Companies hire based on hard skills, but promote based on soft skills.” Recruiting Future with Matt Alder, Ep 602: The Skills Mismatch In Hiring

“What’s Wrong with Bias? It Got Us This Far, Didn’t It?” Pathfinder Insights

“85 percent of jobs that will exist in 2030 haven’t been invented yet.” Dell Technologies and the Institute for the Future

“Employers estimate that 44% of worker’s skills will be disrupted in the next five years. Six in 10 workers will require training before 2027.” The Future of Jobs Report 2023, World Economic Forum

“There will be no [human] programmers in five years.” Emad Mostaque, CEO, Stability AI

Let’s try to make sense of that lot!

The “85%” quote is a little past its sell-by date (c2017) but, given what we now know, is it accurate? Perhaps overstated? Or even understated?

When you sit it next to the Mostaque quote, and he knows a lot more about the future impact of artificial intelligence than I do, it seems to still stand the plausibility test. Even if it is half at more than 40%, it would still represent a staggering shift.

The suggestion then is that the half-life of hard skills is trending to zero from the current level of 2.5 years [assumed to be for tech jobs given the WEF state 5 years as the half-life for hard skills across the board].

For the individual, the idea that their well-honed, hard-earned hard skills are becoming obsolete will be hugely concerning and may come as something of a shock. But, surely that will only be the case if they completely rely on their hard skills and don’t deploy and develop their soft skills?

After all, “companies hire based on hard skills, but promote based on soft skills”.

Given the increased volatility and speed of change driven by a myriad of factors in the global economy, and not least by AI, employees need to be able to surf the waves of change and adapt. This means a shift in their focus from hard skills to soft skills.

What does all this mean for Talent Acquisition?

If companies do hire based on hard skills then skills-based hiring would be ubiquitous and I’m not sure it is. Resumés and associated keyword search tools still seem to provide the initial screen (which then introduces bias of one kind or another).

This may change soon. Candidates are now all using ChatGPT and others to help create the best version of themselves in response to specific job postings. This is providing higher quality applications but with less differentiation.

Rather than perform an initial screen based on the cover letter and resumé, why not perform a skills assessment straight off the bat and only review the cover letter and resumé when you’re sure the right skills are in place?

Given also that the half-life of hard skills is declining rapidly (and that success in a role and subsequent promotion is based more on soft skills) shouldn’t the initial skills assessment be much more targeted at soft skills?

If, then, soft skills are taking precedence over hard skills, TA and HR practitioners can broaden their acquisition pool and start looking for “diamonds in the rough”. These would be people who have a better soft skills match than hard skills match and who may already be within the business but working in a different function.

When we started The Right Five, the target market for our Pathfinder assessment was B2B tech founders looking to make their first sales hire. The tag line we wanted to use (but didn’t) was “Sales Needn’t Apply” which is a reflection of the importance of soft skills to that role and that the best candidates are likely to be “diamonds in the rough”.

From a Talent Management perspective, businesses should be investing in training programs that rapidly update the skills of their workforce, recognizing that the ability to learn and adapt is becoming more valuable than any single skill set.

While not every role requires a Pathfinder (someone who, when faced with opportunities and challenges, innovates and does not accept the status quo), it seems that survival in our rapidly changing world requires a number of Pathfinder attributes. These include:

• Practical humility: humility is the seed of growth and humility comes from the awareness that we’re not perfect and have much to learn.
• Curiosity: the willingness and eagerness to explore unknown territories, seek out new experiences, and embrace unfamiliar concepts.
• Self-directed: the ability to identify a need and be motivated to address it, innovating and adapting along the way.

To learn more about the other Pathfinder attributes and our associated assessment for these essential soft skills, please contact us here.