Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

CompetenciesCoronavirusLatest NewsRecruitment & retentionSelection interviews

Pandemic has changed the skills employers desire

by Ashleigh Webber 24 Jun 2020
by Ashleigh Webber 24 Jun 2020 Shutterstock
Shutterstock

There will be a shift in the skills and behaviours employers will be looking for in job candidates as organisations emerge from the coronavirus pandemic.

Rather than looking for the traditional skills or experience needed for specific roles, employers will increasingly need staff who behave like entrepreneurs and can adapt when organisations need to change their focus, a group of HR leaders said during a webinar hosted by HR recruitment consultancy Frazer Jones.

Charlotte Forsyth, chief people officer at money transfer service World Remit, said she believed the pandemic had narrowed the skillset the company was looking for in job candidates, despite success of remote working during the lockdown potentially widening the pool of talent it can draw from.

Future skills needs

Future jobs will require the human touch, says Amber Rudd

L&D budgets grow to facilitate future skills needs

She said firms that had a customer-first or digital-first mindset would likely emerge the strongest, and that these traits would be sought in future recruitment activity.

“I think we will start to be more selective in terms of the mindset of people. I think we need to really focus on what’s important [for recovery]. So I think the skillsets and behaviours of people will change in accordance with what we need to do as an organisation,” she said.

Annette Bergknut, chief HR officer at cleaning and hygiene technology firm Diversey, said employees with entrepreneurial skills will become vital as businesses emerge from the crisis and refocus their activity to maximise success.

“Over the last couple of months we’ve let go of our traditional roles, capabilities and responsibilities – it all became much more entrepreneurial and people put task forces together to grab opportunities in their markets,” she said.

“At the moment we have somebody in IT leading a massive global demand programme and somebody in HR looking at demand and supply and manufacturing capabilities… so [HR should look at] at where you have the right skills, rather than which capabilities you have in functions like HR or in finance.

“Talent needs to fit into a flexible organisation and have flexible skills to fit in where needed.”

However, although the crisis had given many HR teams an opportunity to think about future capabilities and ways of working, Forsyth warned against becoming too complacent about the present – particularly as the time away from the office had prompted many employees to think about whether their job was right for them.

“There are fewer jobs for people to move to… but as soon as there is an uptick in the jobs market, people will want to leave depending on how we’ve treated them now,” she warned.

“It’s how we respond, it’s how we understand what’s needed, it’s how we put our arms around our critical talent and try to really understand what is important to them.

“One thing that’s worth remembering is that after the last financial crisis more start-ups were set up than ever before, so I think people will start to look at ‘how do I make work work for me?’. It might be changing careers; it might be changing working hours or practices; it might be stepping off the corporate ladder altogether.”

Talent needs to fit into a flexible organisation and have flexible skills to fit in where needed,” – Annette Bergknut, Diversey

Location will no longer be an issue when recruiting talent, said Serena Truong, a senior HR director at a technology firm, and organisations should look at the skills they have across locations, rather than ensuring they have the right skill mix in a single location or business area.

The shift towards skill-based hiring will also likely require HR to think about remuneration, said Truong “There will be a change in the way we pay people – do we pay people for the role they do, or is it market driven compensation we’re looking at?”

Truong said employers and HR teams needed to “start thinking about things very differently, in terms of how we are structuring roles, what we are expecting each role, how we are helping individuals and the organisation move forward and how we’re recruiting”.

“I think this is a fantastic opportunity for HR – you’ve wanted a seat at the table, well here’s your seat at the table. This is an opportunity to really partner with the business,” she said.

Latest HR job opportunities on Personnel Today

Browse more human resources jobs

Ashleigh Webber
Ashleigh Webber

Ashleigh is editor at OHW+ and HR and wellbeing editor at Personnel Today. Ashleigh's areas of interest include employee health and wellbeing, equality and inclusion and skills development. She has hosted many webinars for Personnel Today, on topics including employee retention, financial wellbeing and menopause support. Prior to joining Personnel Today in 2018, she covered the road transport sector for Commercial Motor and Motor Transport magazines, touching on some of the employment and wellbeing issues experienced by those in road haulage.

previous post
Apprenticeships ‘not delivering’ social mobility
next post
Government publishes guide on safety for businesses due to re-open

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

You may also like

Employees resigning in 2022: Survey shows ‘great resignation’...

24 May 2022

NHS should upskill admin staff to reduce waiting...

23 May 2022

City firms pledge to improve social mobility in...

20 May 2022

One in five employers planning ‘no jab no...

19 May 2022

Nurses leaving due to pressure and workplace culture

18 May 2022

Number of working people with disability up 1.3...

17 May 2022

Wages fall 1.2% behind inflation as cost of...

17 May 2022

Lack of flexibility pushes half of women to...

16 May 2022

EasyJet joins battle for cabin crew with £1,000...

16 May 2022

How to build a compelling talent attraction strategy...

12 May 2022
  • Strathclyde Business School expands its Degree Apprenticeship offer in England PROMOTED | The University of Strathclyde is expanding its programmes...Read more
  • The Search for Talent: Six Major Employer Pitfalls PROMOTED | The Great Resignation continues unabated...Read more
  • Navigating the widening “Skills Confidence Gap” in 2022, and beyond PROMOTED | Cornerstone OnDemand conducted a global study...Read more
  • Apprenticeships are the solution to your recruitment problems PROMOTED | Apprenticeships have the pulling power...Read more
  • What it really means to be mentally fit PROMOTED | What is mental fitness...Read more
  • How music can help to ease anxiety at work PROMOTED | A lot has happened since March 2020, hasn’t it?...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2022

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+