Embracing New Recruitment Trends to Build a Strong Workforce
In a conversation with Higher Education Review, Sonal Kapur Sinha, Head of Human Resources, Esme Consumer, explained how students and early-career professionals can navigate the shifting dynamics of today’s job market driven by artificial intelligence, automation, and skill-based hiring. She highlights the critical need for students to build practical skills beyond the classroom, develop emotional intelligence, and prepare for virtual and behavioral assessments. She also talks about self-development, continuous learning, self-evaluation, and mentorship.
How do you think AI and automation are reshaping the hiring landscape?
AI solutions and technologies are reducing the bias in talent evaluation and the fatigue that comes from repeat hiring, large or mass hiring. The key advantage of technology is ensuring every candidate and each talent for a particular role is evaluated with the same amount of fairness. Another advantage is candidates can be assessed in surroundings that are familiar and comfortable for them. Since the assessment is technology-driven, it can help reduce the stress and discomfort some candidates may experience when speaking with a stranger about a potential opportunity during the interview process. Thus, technologies enable candidates to show their true potential. Furthermore, CV parsing and technology's ability to detect plagiarism in CV saves the recruiter’s time and allows the hiring teams to concentrate on the candidate and their cultural fit during the hiring process.
How important is skill-based hiring today? How can students demonstrate their practical skills effectively?
Students must go beyond what is taught in classrooms and textbooks. The skills in the market are evolving rapidly, hence it is not feasible for the academy to keep changing their curriculum and assessment patterns. Thus, the responsibility now lies with the students to proactively seek out additional learning opportunities and resources. This enables them to develop the relevant skills required when they enter the job market. When they face interview panels, they are often evaluated not just on their academic coursework, but also on the additional skills they have acquired independently.
Earlier skills would shift frames over a decade. Nowadays, skills can shift frames over months or a year. Due to this rapid shift, students particularly those attending universities must engage in self-evaluation by asking questions such as, what are the new skills I need to know? How do I learn these skills if they are not offered in my curriculum or institution? Students must also take into consideration how to make the best use of the resources they have. Many institutions now offer mentoring programs and industry immersion platforms. Students should actively engage with these mentors to learn the skills they need to develop to remain relevant upon graduation.
How can students prepare for virtual assessment and behavioral interviews that are becoming more common in the recruitment process?
In any conversation, several aspects such as speech, vocabulary, posture, and tone of voice make a significant to the listener. Each of these was historically evaluated as part of the personal interview. Today, many hiring processes rely on virtual assessments. For a campus candidate, the assessment may begin with a video interview recorded and assessed by an AI system or, the candidate may engage in a virtual interview with an interviewer through a virtual screen.
One key area where today’s campus placement cells should focus is providing students with exposure to such virtual assessment experiences. Students need to understand what it feels like to be evaluated virtually and to become familiar with the various formats these assessments may take. Modern video assessments are often designed using psychological studies of body language - for instance, tracking how many times a candidate blinks or glances away. These systems make judgment calls based on such observations, drawing inferences about the candidate’s self-confidence and knowledge of the subject matter.
Moreover, it is also important to note that many organizations now use platforms that filter CVs based on behavioral attributes. Academic institutions need to assist students in preparing for such evaluations or students need to connect with mentors to know what they may potentially be evaluated on during the recruitment process. Companies today are looking for candidates who have strong critical thinking abilities, collaborative agility, and ability work with diverse talent. This includes being able to interact with colleagues in a physical office setting while simultaneously managing remote teams. As a result, there is an increasing focus on behavioral profiling, conducted through both standardized tests and virtual, on-screen assessments. Hence, campuses must equip students with the knowledge and experience necessary to navigate these interfaces confidently.
How can students develop and demonstrate Soft skills such as emotional intelligence and resilience during internships or interviews?
Emotional intelligence and critical skill like resilience are primarily cultivated through exposure to complex human situations. Every student should proactively pursue as many of these relationship-oriented activities as possible, either as a leader or as a team member contributing to a committee. On premise summer internships, live projects also offer an unparalleled opportunity to get exposed to a mix of stakeholders. Involvements in human interactions build their ability to respond to those human emotions. Interpersonal interactions can be complicated, however, the process of working through these experiences and learning to rise above them ultimately creates emotional resilience.
In addition, it is important to build and prepare narratives based on personal experiences for a job interview. Take note of any significant moments in your internship or school experience, notably those that include struggles and failures, and how you responded to each. It is far better to answer questions about difficulties and setbacks honestly with confidence rather than to avoid the issue or say you have never failed.
What learning strategies or platforms would you recommend to students to remain relevant in today's talent economy?
One of the most valuable habits students need to adopt today is the habit of reading. Simply obtaining a certification on an online platform may indicate to a recruiter that a student has a skill, but it does not indicate their ability to demonstrate that skill in a real-world context. If students want to gain a practical understanding of a topic, they need to read and analyze multiple case studies available online, most of which are free and often summarized operationally in tools such as ChatGPT, and other generative AI platforms, or their school's learning management system.
The key is to engage in deep work in at least one or two skills beyond the core academic subjects. Students should focus on additional skills and commit to thorough in-depth learning. Engaging in this process not only enhances professional growth but also aligns with the general expectation of learning agility. Learning agility is becoming a more valuable trait for both students and working professionals.
