In the face of global skills shortages, it is essential that businesses of all stripes have a clear understanding of where their workforce currently stands and where it needs to be so as to keep pace with the rapid pace of market change. In this episode of The HR Leader Podcast, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with WithYouWithMe chief customer officer Cia Kouparitsas about skills shortages across the market and how this trend is making hiring decisions more pertinent in the current climate, the “harder skills” that might be more urgently needed at present, whether businesses are sufficiently cognisant of the need to upskill on new technologies, and whether addressing the skills lag is a high priority right now.

Kouparitsas also delves into the questions that businesses need to be asking at present in identifying requisite skills to develop and still stay true to the business’s mission and purpose, the state of affairs for soft skills, how HR professionals can adopt a “skills-first mindset”, leaning more heavily into a candidate’s skills rather than their experience, and what excites her about skills-based hiring in the future.