Ep 799: Growing the Talent You Can't Hire
Recruiting Future with Matt Alder - What's Next For Talent Acquisition, HR & Hiring?Show Notes
In some industries, aging workforces and deepening skill shortages mean companies can no longer rely on hiring the experienced workers they need. The only realistic option is to grow their own, and that puts apprenticeship schemes right at the centre of workforce planning.
Running a programme at that scale raises questions that go well beyond recruiting. Culture shapes whether people stay, mentoring determines whether skills actually transfer, and long-term success often depends on governments understanding how to direct support towards the future talent that industries actually need.
So what makes an apprenticeship scheme genuinely effective for high-skilled talent, and what has to be in place around it to make it work?
My guest this week is David Dart, Chief People Officer at Caliber Holdings. In our conversation, David shares what he's learned building a skilled-talent pipeline at scale.
In the interview, we discuss:
The unique talent challenges in recruiting auto body technicians
Skills shortages and an aging workforce
Culture and retention
The importance of mentoring
The impact of AI on jobs
The importance of trades careers and the need for government support
What does the future look like?
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A full transcript will appear here shortly.
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AI is moving from a specialist technology to something employees in large parts of the organization are increasingly expected to be using. Skills, mindsets, and long-established habits are much harder to change than software, which is why meeting that expectation is proving difficult. If the challenge is mainly a human one, AI readiness is as much a matter for HR and talent leaders as for technology teams. So what does it take to get a workforce ready for AI, and what opportunity does that create for talent leaders?
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There is a lot of pressure on talent acquisition to adopt AI, and the discussion about how to do it tends to focus on tools and skills. With layoffs attributed to AI in the headlines, the people in TA teams have good reason to feel anxious about the technology they are being asked to use. That anxiety makes people less willing to experiment, and addressing it has less to do with the technology than with how leaders handle uncertainty.
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