Solution: Talent & Market Insights

Early Careers Recruitment Strategy: Enhancing Candidate Experience & Skills Assessment

Posted on by akessler

Early Careers Recruitment Strategy: Enhancing Candidate Experience & Skills Assessment

How to attract, assess and retain Gen Z talent effectively

Generation Z candidates demand authentic employer brands, meaningful work experiences, and transparent values that align with their social consciousness. But this generational shift is also creating unprecedented opportunity for organizations: strategic early careers recruitment, compelling employer value propositions, and transformative assessment experiences that turn talent competition into sustainable advantage.

This ebook, Early Careers Recruitment Strategy: Enhancing Candidate Experience & Skills Assessment, is your roadmap to building a magnetic Gen Z talent attraction strategy now and into the future.

In this ebook, you’ll discover:

  • What’s driving the shift from qualification-based to skills-based early careers recruitment
  • Why your current candidate experience is capturing only a fraction of available Gen Z talent
  • Emerging strategies for building authentic employer brands that resonate with digital natives
  • Techniques to balance AI-powered efficiency with meaningful human connection in assessment
  • Data-driven approaches to creating inclusive, bias-free selection processes
  • Proven frameworks for transforming candidate dropout into strategic self-selection

Download your copy today and position your organization at the forefront of early careers recruitment innovation for years to come.

The Employer Brand Reality Check: How to Leverage Benchmarking Data to Outthink the Competition

Posted on by akessler

The Employer Brand Reality Check

How to Leverage Benchmarking Data to Outthink the Competition

Is your employer brand strategy falling behind?

Whether you’re actively managing your employer brand or not, candidates are forming opinions about your company every day. Through search results, social media, career pages, and employee content—your brand is working for you or against you.

This comprehensive research report, based on analysis of over 230 organizations from the Outthink Index by PeopleScout and insights from 500+ active job seekers, is your roadmap to building a magnetic employer brand that consistently attracts exceptional talent.

In this report, you’ll discover:

  • Which digital touchpoints candidates actually care about—and which ones are wasting your resources
  • Why high-performing companies across industries share specific, measurable employer brand characteristics
  • How top performers treat employer branding as a strategic imperative, not a nice-to-have
  • Concrete benchmarks and competitive intelligence to identify your biggest opportunities
  • Actionable strategies used by employer branding leaders to outthink their competition

Download your copy today and transform gut instincts into competitive advantage with the first comprehensive employer brand benchmark study.

5 Signs Your Recruitment Strategy Needs Modular RPO 

Posted on by akessler

Many organizations mistakenly believe Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) solutions are only for large enterprises with ongoing, high-volume hiring needs. While full-scale RPO might seem out of reach for some organizations, a modular RPO approach offers the flexibility to address specific recruitment challenges without overhauling your entire talent acquisition infrastructure. 

Modular RPO can deliver value to organizations of any size, including small- to medium-sized enterprises or those with short-term or specialized hiring requirements. Here are five key indicators that your current recruitment strategy might benefit from a modular RPO solution. 

1. Your Internal Team Is Struggling to Keep Up with Demand  

When your organization faces sudden spikes in hiring demand—whether for seasonal recruitment, rapid expansion, or project launches—your internal team can quickly become overwhelmed. These periods of increased volume often require you to scale up recruitment efforts quickly without the luxury of permanently increasing your internal headcount. 

Maintaining quality while meeting aggressive timelines becomes nearly impossible with existing resources. Your team may resort to rushed screening processes, extended working hours, or compromised candidate experiences, all of which can lead to poor hiring decisions and damage to your employer brand. 

Modular RPO provides the surge capacity you need during these peak periods. Specialized teams can quickly ramp up to handle the increased volume or hiring for a new project while maintaining consistent quality standards. Once the hiring surge or project is complete, you can scale back the support without the ongoing costs and complications of permanent staff additions. 

This approach is particularly valuable for organizations with predictable seasonal patterns, such as retail companies preparing for holiday seasons, or those opening new facilities that require rapid team building. 

2. You’re Managing Specialized Skill Requirements with Different Candidate Experiences 

When you need to hire for roles requiring niche expertise or hard-to-find skills, your internal team may lack the specialized knowledge, professional networks or sourcing strategies needed to identify and attract the right candidates. The talent pool may be limited, candidates may be passive and not actively job searching, or the role may require specific credentials that are difficult to assess without industry expertise. 

Different specialized roles also demand vastly different candidate experiences. A software engineer’s journey differs significantly from a marketing manager’s or a specialized researcher’s expectations. Each requires tailored communication, specific assessment methods, and industry-appropriate processes that your recruitment team may struggle to deliver consistently. 

Case Study: Infrastructure Company Ecologist Role 

An infrastructure company struggled to fill a newly created ecologist role due to low brand recognition in the environmental sector and poor response to the job ads. The company’s internal recruitment team lacked the specialized knowledge and networks needed to proactively approach environmental professionals. 

PeopleScout’s Talent Sourcing solution provided specialized headhunting, screening, and shortlisting services, allowing the client to retain their usual interview and offer management processes. We led a targeted search across industry governing bodies, environmental societies and networking groups, reviewing over 700 profiles. We proactively reached out to passive candidates to inform them of the role and gauge their interest, dispelling misperceptions about the transport industry at the same time. 

The result was a shortlist of two qualified candidates, resulting in a successful hire within 11 weeks—a significant improvement over the client’s previous unsuccessful attempts. 

👉 Read the full case study. 

3. You Need to Scale Rapidly in New Markets or Unfamiliar Territory 

When entering new markets, launching new product lines, or expanding into unfamiliar territories, your organization faces unique recruitment challenges that require rapid scaling capabilities. You may lack local market knowledge, employer brand recognition, or understanding of regional compensation and cultural expectations, all while needing to build teams quickly to capitalize on new opportunities. 

Modular RPO solutions, like PeopleScout’s Talent Mapping or Organizational Culture & EVP Diagnostic, can support recruiting in new geographic markets by helping you understanding local talent pools, competition, regulatory requirements, and how to adapt your employer brand for cultural nuances. Without this expertise, you risk extended time-to-fill, higher costs, and poor candidate experiences that can damage your reputation in the new market before you’ve even established yourself. 

Case Study: Consumer Goods Brand Transition 

A consumer goods brand splitting into two companies needed to optimize their talent acquisition strategy to support the transition and future growth. The challenge involved not just managing the launch of the two companies but also improving their ability to compete for talent in competitive rural markets. 

PeopleScout’s Talent Diagnostic solution team assessed their entire talent lifecycle, including conducting over 20 stakeholder interviews. The diagnostic focused on improving access to high-quality candidates in competitive rural markets, and provided recommendations for process streamlining and technology optimization to create consistent candidate experiences and diverse talent pools. 

The client praised the expertise, partnership and flexibility during this critical transition period. Based on the diagnostic recommendations, they engaged PeopleScout for a full-cycle RPO implementation, demonstrating how modular solutions can evolve into broader partnerships when they deliver value. 

👉 Read the full case study. 

4. Time-to-Fill Metrics Are Consistently Missing the Mark 

If your average time-to-fill has stretched beyond industry benchmarks and continues to climb, it’s often a symptom of deeper resource constraints. Your internal recruitment team may be overwhelmed with current demands, but a full RPO solution seems excessive or costly for your organization’s size or hiring volume. This is a common scenario where modular RPO provides the perfect middle ground when adding permanent headcount may not be possible. 

Modular RPO allows you to augment your internal team’s capacity in specific areas where you’re experiencing the greatest strain. From initial candidate sourcing to onboarding, you can add specialized support without the commitment and cost of full-service RPO.  

This approach is particularly valuable for mid-sized organizations that have outgrown basic recruitment methods but aren’t ready for enterprise-level solutions. It provides access to advanced recruitment technologies, methodologies, and expertise that would be cost-prohibitive to develop internally. 

5. When Drop Offs and Early Turnover Has Increased  

If you’re experiencing high drop-off rates during the hiring process and increased early turnover among new hires, it’s a clear sign that specific parts of your recruitment process are consistently underperforming or creating bottlenecks. High drop-off rates may stem from poor candidate communication, lengthy or confusing application processes or misaligned expectations. Early turnover often results from inadequate candidate assessment methods, poor cultural fit evaluation or lack of communication to keep new hires warm before their start date.  

Leading modular RPO providers can conduct process diagnostics or EVP diagnostics to identify specific areas where candidates are dropping out and implement targeted solutions. Some providers also offer technology diagnostics which can identify areas to improve your recruitment tech stack to find efficiencies. 

By addressing these process gaps, you can improve overall recruitment efficiency and effectiveness without disrupting the parts of your process that are working well. This surgical approach often delivers better ROI than attempting to fix everything at once. 

Are You Ready for Modular RPO? 

Modular RPO isn’t about replacing your internal recruitment function—it’s about strategically augmenting it to address specific challenges and gaps. The beauty of modular RPO lies in its flexibility and scalability. So, how do you know if you’re ready for a modular RPO solution? 

Signs You’re Ready for Modular RPO 

  • You’re looking to scale recruitment efforts without increasing permanent talent acquisition headcount
  • Your recruitment process is underperforming, and you need a targeted and/or short-term solution 
  • You need specialized expertise for specific roles or markets 
  • You want to maintain control over certain aspects of hiring while improving others 
  • You want to test RPO services before committing to a full solution 

The goal is to create a hybrid approach that combines the strengths of your internal team with specialized external expertise. By partnering with modular RPO providers for specific challenges, you maintain control over your overall hiring strategy while accessing the tools, technologies, and expertise needed to compete effectively in today’s talent market. 

You can start with a focused pilot program targeting your most pressing recruitment challenge. As you see results and build confidence in the partnership, you can expand the scope to address additional needs or role types. 

In an environment where the right hire can make or break business initiatives, organizations that strategically leverage modular RPO gain a significant competitive advantage. If any of these signs resonate with your current situation, it may be time to explore how modular RPO can transform your recruitment outcomes. 

Is Skills-Based Hiring Really the Next Big Thing?

Posted on by akessler

In the recruitment space, skills-based hiring is on the tip of talent acquisition leaders’ tongues. Is it worthy of all the ink spilled or just the flavour of the month?

The internet is buzzing with headlines framing skills-based hiring as a revolutionary step forward—a clean break from “outdated” methods like focusing on academic qualifications. But as usual, we want to take a more critical look.

Let’s step away from the hype to examine the real pros and cons of skills-based hiring. More importantly, let’s figure out how skills-based hiring can work for you.

Skills-Based Hiring: Is it Really New?

There are three common myths being perpetuated by many of the articles about skills-based hiring:

Myth 1: Educational qualifications have been the main barrier to good hiring decisions.

The argument goes that recruiting teams rely too heavily on degrees and don’t think enough about skills—and if they just focused on skills instead, all their hiring issues would be solved.

This misrepresents how most employers actually make hiring decisions. While education requirements do exist in job descriptions, they’re rarely the primary factor in final hiring choices. Most recruiters already consider multiple factors including experience, cultural fit and demonstrated abilities. Skills-based hiring has its positives and certainly feels more inclusive than rigid degree requirements, but it’s not the revolutionary shift from degree-obsessed hiring that many articles suggest.

Myth 2: Everyone talking about skills is talking about the same thing.

One reason the history of skills-based hiring is hard to track is the absence of a clear, consistent definition of what constitutes a “skill.” In the context of skills-based hiring, a skill could be a competency, strength or motivation—anything that enables a person to do the job well. That landscape is far more nuanced and complex than most articles let on.

The reality is that defining skills is a lengthy process and requires careful consideration of context. But most writers on this subject don’t bother to grapple with this complexity. Instead, they gloss over any real explanation of what skills are, feeding the perception that skills are so simple and universally understood that we don’t need definitions. This creates the illusion that organizations should be able to easily incorporate skills-based approaches without doing the hard work of actually defining what they mean by “skills” in their specific context.

Myth 3: Skills-based hiring and talent management is a new idea, and the bandwagon is leaving the station.

Headlines will have you believe that skills-based hiring is “the next big thing” and a silver bullet that will solve all your workforce woes. However, this doesn’t really reflect most hiring processes.

Even if you’re not actively thinking about skills-based hiring, it’s likely that it is embedded—at least partly—into your hiring process already. Today, recruiters rarely just think in terms of hiring somebody because their qualifications line up to the “essential” section of the job description.

So, skills-based hiring isn’t a new idea. The term might be, but not the practice.

These myths lead us to feel that the noise around skills-based hiring is misleading. It suggests that skills-based hiring is driving the recruitment industry right now, when in reality, very few are moving forward with it in an overt, intentional way.

Getting Started with Skills-Based Hiring When Time and Budgets Aren’t Huge

If you do want to embrace skills-based hiring, here are some practical steps:

1. Start with an Audit

If you’re keen to implement skills-based hiring, first of all, feel reassured that it’s likely already part of your approach, even if you don’t call it that. Start by establishing where you are along the skills-based continuum.

Diagnostics come into their own here. Assess your hiring processes in a structured way, identifying gaps, strengths and opportunities for improvement. It can be beneficial to bring in an external partner like the PeopleScout Assessment Design team, to provide robust, evidence-based, unbiased feedback to maximise impact.

2. Defining Your Skills

Then it comes down to defining skills—for now and the future. These can’t be vague; they need to be carefully defined so that they can be accurately applied. You’ll build these from research, both internally and by looking externally. If you want to have an organisation-wide approach, you’ll need to consider skills relevant for leadership and entry level roles and across departments. Engage your department heads and hiring managers to map these.

3. Look at Your Non-Skills Criteria

You don’t have to remove looking at academic qualifications from your hiring process entirely. However, if there are instances where you’re using an academic qualification as a stand-in for a skill—say, a humanities degree as a signifier of good written communication skills—you can probably move away from it and start focusing more explicitly on the skill itself.

Skills-based hiring can open doors for many candidates—and expand your talent pool. Perhaps your ideal candidate did not go to university, but their written communication skills are more than adequate for the role.

4. Kick Off a Pilot

Even without a big budget to fund an overhaul of your recruitment processes, it’s still possible to make a start. To make it manageable, begin with a small, pilot process. Your audit can help you identify the best starting point—perhaps it’s a particular department or role type.

Once you’ve started, you’ll want to closely monitor it to ensure that the benefits are genuine. Try not to feel pressured into investing too much time, money and resources into skills-based hiring because it is a hot topic. Make changes bit by bit, turn to evidence, and stay reflective.

The Bottom Line

Don’t get overcome by buzzwords. In all likelihood, skills-based hiring has been a part of your process for a while now. If you want to concentrate more on skills-based hiring, start small, remain sceptical of the hype, get external insight, be evidence-based and keep evolving your approach.

The Truth About Gen AI & Job Seekers: 3 Insights from Our Latest Research 

Posted on by akessler

The intersection of generative AI (Gen AI) and job seeking has garnered significant attention, with numerous tools available to help candidates with résumés, CVs, cover letters and interview preparation. Media coverage suggests widespread adoption, but actual prevalence isn’t that clear. 

To move beyond the hype and establish a clearer picture of the use of Gen AI across the broad population of job seekers, PeopleScout commissioned YouGov to conduct a comprehensive survey of 1,000 members of the UK public who had changed jobs within the previous 12 months. Our new research report, The AI-Enabled Applicant: How Candidates Are Really Using Gen AI in Recruitment, aims to provide clarity on real usage patterns and to better understand the potential implications for recruitment—especially amongst concerns that candidates might use these technologies to misrepresent their skills and experiences. 

This article is the first in a series exploring the data and grappling with the implications of Gen AI use amongst candidates. Read on for three key findings from our report. 

1. Gen AI Usage Amongst Candidates Isn’t as Prevalent as You Might Think 

While media narratives often portray Gen AI usage as nearly universal among job seekers, our research indicates a more measured reality. Our study reveals that fewer than one in five people (18%) who changed jobs in the UK in the last year used Gen AI at any point in their job search.   

This is considerably lower than media reports have suggested, and it’s lower than we were expecting given Gen AI tools have been freely available since November 2022. This calls for a reality check on the hype.  

It’s easy to see how employers could see media content—alongside indicators of Gen AI use in their own candidate pools—and overestimate the frequency of Gen AI-enhanced applications. However, at this point the evidence suggests that the vast majority of job seekers from the general population are not using Gen AI to assist their job search or applications.   

2. Interviews Seem Safe…For Now 

Just 9% of those using Gen AI at any point in the recruitment process used it to support their pre-recorded interviews. This was unexpectedly low, given the number using it to help with résumés, CVs and applications. It may be that its value in helping to prepare and practice for interviews is less well understood or harder to achieve. For example, Gen AI tools may need more sophisticated prompting to get high quality support for interview preparation.   

For candidates who used Gen AI at some point and who had a live virtual interview as part of their selection process, only 8% used Gen AI to help with this but, significantly, almost half of this group disclosed that they had used it for live support during the interview. Live interviews were previously a protected space from Gen AI use, and although this is reported by just handful of job seekers, it clearly suggests that real-time assistance during live virtual interviews is happening—and we would assume this is likely to increase.    

It isn’t evident from our survey exactly what type of live Gen AI assistance candidates were using, but newer Gen AI capabilities of ‘listening’ and responding in real time with a conversational style could allow candidates to deliver inauthentic answers without detection. This is something employers are likely to want to keep under observation and consider acting on, redesigning interview questions to make it harder to use Gen AI for deceptive purposes. Despite this, our survey indicates that this kind of potentially disruptive use is low amongst job changers and not a major cause for alarm at this point.   

3. No One’s Talking About It 

Perhaps most revealing for employers is that of those applicants who used Gen AI, only 38% would be willing to disclose their use to employers. The remaining 62% either wouldn’t disclose or are uncertain about whether they would—a concerning reality check for employers attempting to protect the integrity of their recruitment process.  

It begs the question—could this behaviour be driven by employers? According to our survey, employers rarely mention Gen AI usage in their communications with candidates. Only 5% of all job changers said their future employers spoke to them about Gen AI during the recruitment process. And for the few who did hear about it during recruitment,, 35% were told not to use it.   

The number of employers failing to communicate about AI in recruiting may contribute to candidates’ reluctance to discuss their Gen AI usage with employers due to an assumption that employers’ silence on the matter indicates that Gen AI use is inappropriate or unacceptable, and to reveal use of it would negatively impact their chances of getting an offer. 

Gen AI Opportunities & Risks 

Navigating this complex landscape effectively often requires specialized expertise and support. Working with a talent partner with deep assessment expertise can provide crucial advantages in maintaining recruitment integrity while achieving business objectives.  

As leading providers of talent assessment solutions, PeopleScout’s Assessment Design & Delivery team offers a Gen AI Opportunity & Risk Assessment Audit to provide organizations with a comprehensive review of their recruitment processes, identifying both vulnerabilities and opportunities related to generative AI throughout the candidate journey. This independent audit, grounded in psychological expertise, stress-tests each assessment element within your specific recruitment context to determine how Gen AI might impact selection accuracy and diversity outcomes. The resulting evidence-based recommendations allow employers to strategically focus resources on critical vulnerability points while potentially leveraging beneficial AI uses, enabling informed decisions about whether to accept, prevent or adapt to candidates’ use of Gen AI tools based on your organizational values and objectives. 

For more Gen AI insights, download the full The AI-Enabled Applicant: How Candidates Are Really Using Gen AI in Recruitment report. 

You may also be interested in: 

Mental Health in the Workplace: A Strategic Imperative  

Posted on by akessler

One out of every two people in the world will develop a mental health disorder in their lifetime, according to a large-scale study co-led by researchers from Harvard Medical School and the University of Queensland. It’s not hard to understand why workplace mental health has become a larger part of our collective consciousness.  

For employers, it means the global workplace is experiencing a mental health crisis that directly impacts business performance. According to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace report, in 2024, employee engagement fell to a 10-year low of 21%, matching the decline witnessed during COVID-19 lockdowns. Meanwhile, burnout symptoms affect one in five workers globally, with certain demographics and industries experiencing significantly higher rates. 

Today, more than 3.5 billion working adults each spend roughly 90,000 hours (or about 45 years) of their lives at work, underscoring the workplace’s potential to profoundly influence health. The business case for workplace mental health support has never been clearer—or more urgent. 

The State of Workplace Mental Health 

In the last five years, the typical organization has experienced disruption at every level. From pandemic turnover to a hiring boom then bust. From remote work to the return to the office. We’ve seen rapidly restructured teams, disrupted supply chains and shrinking budgets—not to mention eye-watering advancements in AI technology.  

It’s no wonder the global workforce is experiencing unprecedented levels of mental health challenges. According to the same Gallup report, two-thirds (58%) of the global workforce is “struggling” and 9% are “suffering.” Just a third of global employees (33%) class themselves “thriving.” 

Behind these data points are significant variations in the day-to-day emotional experiences of employees. When asked which negative feelings they experienced “a lot of the day yesterday,” 40% of global employees reported feeling stress, 23% sadness, 22% loneliness and 21% anger. 

The Demographic Divide 

Mental health challenges affect the workforce unevenly, creating targeted opportunities for intervention. 

Age 

According to a study from the World Economic Forum, the youngest workers (18-28) report burnout symptoms at three times the rate of older workers—27% versus 9% for those over 60. Nearly half (47%) of young workers report that their job negatively affects their mental health. This divide is further reflected in today’s multigenerational workforce—younger employees have reduced their weekly working hours by nearly two hours since 2019, compared to just one hour for older workers. 

Gender 

WEF also reports that women experience disproportionate mental health challenges at work. Female managers saw a seven-percentage-point drop in wellbeing in the past year. Women are 8 percentage points more likely to report exhaustion symptoms than men (46% versus 38%) and report higher rates of poor or fair mental health than men (23% versus 15%). Working women under 30 carry the greatest burden, with over a third (36%) reporting fair or poor mental health. 

Other Key Demographics 

  • LGBTQI+ individuals score 9 percentage points lower on overall health than heterosexual employees. 
  • Neurodivergent employees are 24 percentage points less likely to report “faring well” compared to neurotypical peers. 
  • Employees with financial stress show dramatically lower overall health (41% versus 76% for those with good financial status). 
  • Remote workers consistently report higher levels of negative emotions across all categories: stress (45%), sadness (30%) and loneliness (27%). 

The Hidden Productivity Crisis of Workplace Mental Health

The economic implications of poor mental health in the workplace are staggering. According to WEF, enhanced mental health for employees could generate up to $11.7 trillion in global economic value.  

The costs of poor mental health are evident in absenteeism, turnover and productivity losses which account for $2 to $9 trillion in losses globally every year. 

  • Workers with fair or poor mental health average nearly 12 days of unplanned absences annually versus 2.5 days for other workers—a $47.6 billion annual productivity loss in the U.S. alone.  
  • Organizations lose 15-20% of total payroll in voluntary turnover costs due to burnout 
  • Employees with untreated insomnia cost approximately $2,280 more for employers per year 

Despite these alarming figures, the gap between recognizing the problem and effectively addressing it remains wide. While 23% of CHROs now rank wellbeing among their top organizational priorities, only 21% of employees strongly agree that their organization cares about their wellbeing—matching a record low. 

The Layoff Effect 

The trend of large-scale layoffs has created significant mental health implications. In 2025 alone, over 51,000 tech employees and 61,000 U.S. government employees have been laid off. The ripple effects of layoffs impact entire organizational cultures, undermining engagement and productivity, as the fear of layoffs erodes motivation and contributes to anxiety and depression. Job insecurity leads to adverse mental health effects, with 45% of employees experiencing high job insecurity reporting burnout symptoms. 

The Connection Between Engagement and Wellbeing 

Record-low engagement is costing organizations billions in lost productivity. Gallup estimates the global cost of disengagement at $9.6 trillion annually (9% of global GDP). Employees who aren’t thriving report 61% higher likelihood of burnout and 48% higher likelihood of daily stress. 

Gallup’s recent data reveals a critical relationship between engagement and wellbeing: 

  • 50% of engaged employees are thriving in life overall, compared to just one-third of disengaged employees. 
  • Engaged employees report fewer daily negative emotions, including stress. 
  • Only 30% of employees feel connected to their company’s mission/purpose—a record low. 

These findings suggest a virtuous cycle: improving engagement enhances wellbeing, which in turn supports sustained engagement and productivity.  

So, what can organizations do to boost employee engagement and wellness in the workplace? 

Strategic Approaches for Supporting Workplace Mental Health 

Invest in Manager Development 

Manager burnout correlates directly with declining team performance, increased absenteeism and turnover. Yet less than half of the world’s managers (44%) say they have received management training, making it one of the most effective wellbeing initiatives employers can invest in. 

According to Gallup, when employers provide management training, manager thriving levels improve from 28% to 34%. Thriving increases further to 50% when managers are encouraged to pursue personal development opportunities.  

Address Core Drivers of Burnout 

In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) included burnout in its International Classification of Diseases, defining it as an occupational phenomenon, rather than a medical condition. Burnout is driven by much more than just hours worked. Workplace factors contributing to burnout include: 

  • Toxic workplace behavior 
  • Role ambiguity 
  • Being treated unfairly 
  • Unclear communication 
  • Lack of manager support 
  • Unreasonable time pressure 

Organization-wide, addressing factors like this that might be affecting mental health can have a more profound impact than generic wellness initiatives.  

Implement a Holistic Approach to Workplace Mental Health

Effective mental health strategies require interventions at multiple organizational levels. Providing access to support resources and mental health awareness training for managers can help support employees at an individual level. In addition, encourage managers to look at various roles to find ways to enhance employees’ autonomy and ensure they have reasonable workloads. At the team or department level, leaders can influence the ways teams work together and create space for recovery by ensuring employees are cross-trained and workloads can be transferred. Organization-wide structural changes are equally essential, addressing systemic issues like compensation equity, career development paths and recognition programs that reinforce psychological safety.  

Research shows that organizations taking this multi-level approach see significantly better outcomes than those implementing isolated wellness programs. According to the WEF report, comprehensive interventions targeting structural issues, leadership behaviors and individual support tools simultaneously can deliver up to three times the return on investment compared to fragmented approaches. The most successful organizations treat mental health not as a separate initiative but as an integrated consideration in every business decision, from office design to performance management systems. 

Focus on Presenteeism, Not Just Absenteeism 

While absenteeism is easier to measure, presenteeism (working while unwell) represents a larger economic impact. Many organizations track sick days but overlook the more substantial productivity drain of employees who are physically present but mentally struggling. 

According to WEF, conditions like depression cause productivity losses exceeding $300 per employee annually in the U.S., primarily through presenteeism. Employees experiencing mental health challenges often exhibit decreased focus, impaired decision-making, reduced creativity and diminished capacity for collaboration—all while appearing to be “at work” according to traditional definitions. 

Regular pulse surveys, performance analytics and team effectiveness assessments can help identify patterns of presenteeism before they translate into more serious issues like turnover or disability leave. Creating psychological safety for employees to disclose struggles before they become debilitating is equally important, as early intervention has been shown to significantly reduce both the duration and severity of mental health challenges. 

Building Resilience with Workplace Mental Health 

As organizations navigate economic uncertainty, technological disruption and evolving workforce expectations, they must also keep in mind that their employees are also impacted by these factors. In order to keep your workforce healthy and productive, mental health support must shift from a peripheral benefit to a core business strategy. 

The data is clear: organizations that invest strategically in mental health create competitive advantage through higher engagement, reduced turnover, increased productivity and stronger organizational culture. Few investments offer comparable returns. Building mental health resilience isn’t just about supporting employees—it’s about securing your organization’s future performance and sustainability in an increasingly complex world. 

Navigating the Gen Z Era: Insights for Effective Early Careers Recruitment 

Posted on by akessler

Navigating the Gen Z Era: Insights for Effective Early Careers Recruitment 

The future of work isn’t coming—it’s already here, and it’s powered by Generation Z.

Born into a world of uncertainty, Gen Z isn’t just adapting—they’re rewriting the rules. These digital natives are bringing fresh perspectives, unmatched tech-fluency and a hunger for meaningful work. But they’re also demanding authenticity, flexibility and a real commitment to social impact.

Can your organization keep up?

From TikTok-worthy employer branding to creating a workplace that balances purpose with work-life harmony, this ebook, Navigating the Gen Z Era: Insights for Effective Early Careers Recruitment, is your roadmap to successfully recruiting and retaining the Gen Z powerhouse.

In this ebook, you’ll discover:

  • What makes Gen Z tick: Understand their unique values and career expectations
  • Why your outdated recruitment tactics are falling flat with this generation
  • Strategies to align your early careers program with Gen Z’s values and expectations

Download your copy today for expert tips for reimagining your early career recruitment program to become a Gen Z magnet.

Talent Insights Inform Search for Executive Leader for Healthcare System

Posted on by akessler
Talent Insights Inform Search for Executive Leader for Healthcare System

Healthcare Recruiting

Talent Insights Inform Search for Executive Leader for Healthcare System

A non-profit healthcare system engaged their RPO partner, PeopleScout, for talent insights to boost their search for a highly competitive new Chief Analytics Officer.

Situation 

A non-profit healthcare network was seeking a Chief Analytics Officer based in a large city in the United States where they’re headquartered. Other requirements for the role included experience in AI and data management platforms.  

They had engaged an executive search firm but weren’t seeing results. As their long-term healthcare RPO partner, PeopleScout’s dedicated talent advisory practice stepped in to provide the healthcare provider with an in-depth analysis of the talent market to support a more targeted search. 

Solution 

The PeopleScout Talent Advisory team worked with the client to define the most pertinent job characteristics and review job skills and compensation. This ensured that the role was aligned with the capabilities in AI and data management that the client required.  

Our analysis focused on the talent market in their required location to show the size of the talent pool that possessed their required skills. We were able to determine that there were less than 10 potential candidates based in that city that had all the skills they were looking for. The report we produced showed how adjusting their requirements would affect the size of the available talent pool.  

Here’s what we found: 

  • We identified candidates living in other cities that were currently commuting large distances during the week for work. This helped the client see if they relaxed their location requirement or were open to a flexible work arrangement (i.e., two-weeks working in the city, two-weeks working at home), they could grow their talent pool significantly. 
  • We uncovered a pattern that most people in similar roles had a tenure of approximately two to three years before switching jobs, usually after delivering a data transformation project. We advised the client that people who were only a year to 18 months into their current role may be less interested in switching. The optimum level of two to three years of tenure would make candidates more open to moving. 
  • We noticed a pattern that many people with the relevant skills were working as independent consultants. This revealed an additional pool of candidates who might be interested in going back to full-time work which the client hadn’t considered.  
  • We also found that many of the qualified candidates worked in financial services and might be receiving salaries on the high end of the spectrum. This helped the client reset expectations around the compensation range in order to secure the right person for the role.  

Results 

The talent insights we shared showed the client that flexing their requirements for the position could expand the talent pool in different ways. This data helped the healthcare company to make more informed decisions about the sourcing strategy for their new Chief Analytics Officer. 

At a Glance

  • COMPANY
    Healthcare Network
  • INDUSTRY
    Healthcare
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Healthcare Talent Shortage: Changing Demographics, Growing Demand & Shifting Skills

Posted on by epadmin

As the world of work transforms, the healthcare industry is at the epicenter of change. The industry is growing rapidly and facing a healthcare talent shortage and skills gaps. At the same time, the accelerating pace of medical and technological advancements means medical professionals must constantly adapt to new breakthroughs and changing expectations. Talent acquisition and HR professionals need to be ready to meet the growing challenge. To do so, they must understand the full picture of the healthcare talent landscape.

Is a Generational Change Creating a Healthcare Talent Shortage?

The industry is facing challenges in both supply and demand. Hospitals and Health Networks magazine calls the generational change “the most powerful force operating in our health system right now.”

On the supply side, the baby boomer generation is reaching retirement age, and according to Becker’s Hospital Review, one-third of practicing physicians are more than 55-years old and nearing retirement. Replacing doctors and surgeons who have decades of experience is challenging, as those earlier in their careers lack the years of training, education and on-the-job hours. The next generation in the workforce, Generation X, is relatively small. While the millennial generation is the largest generation in the workforce, the oldest millennials are nearly 40 years old, and some of Gen Z are too young even to start medical school. As baby boomers retire, these generations will have to fill that gap.

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On the other side of this equation, the overall population is aging, with 10,000 Americans turn 65-years-old every day. Caring for an aging population will require even more healthcare professionals.

As baby boomers age, the demand for healthcare is increasing, including home health services, long-term and aged care. Chronic conditions like heart disease, diabetes, cancer are becoming more common with nearly half of the American population suffering from a chronic illness. According to a study JAMA Internal Medicine, , baby boomers have a longer lifespan but higher rates of hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes and obesity. This means the largest generation to reach retirement age will likely also need more healthcare than any previous generation

The Healthcare Talent Shortage

The aging baby boomer generation is fueling industry growth. The healthcare industry is predicted to be the largest driver of growth in the U.S. economy through most of the next decade. Yet, most healthcare organizations continue to experience strains as the healthcare talent shortage increases. This is a multi-pronged issue driven by increased demand, retirement, burnout and a lack of new healthcare professional entering the field complicating healthcare recruitment.

And experts predict the healthcare talent shortage will only get worse. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects that the country will face a shortage of 195,400 nurses by the year 2031. While doctors and nurses are the most visible employees in the healthcare industry, growth in the industry will impact positions throughout the sector. An increase in patients, hospital visits and appointments will call for more support staff, like clinic support, medical technicians, billing and coding professionals and even non-clinical hospital staff like janitorial and food service.

Laboratory technicians are facing many of the same labor challenges as physicians and nurses. Many are reaching retirement age, and retirements are expected to accelerate. Replacing them will tough, as the number of students graduating from laboratory technician programs is declining.

Plus, due to a shift towards home-based care, home health aide shortages are projected to grow significantly. The BLS predicts that the number of openings for home health and personal health roles will increase 37% by 2028.

Healthcare Talent Shortage

Less visible roles are also impacted by healthcare talent shortages. The medical coding profession has been plagued for years by a shortage of coders. Job growth for the position accelerated after the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, and experts expect that growth to continue along with the rest of the industry.

A Transforming Workplace

In addition to the healthcare staffing challenges, the healthcare industry is not immune to the changes impacting organizations across the country—like the digitization of services and the growing gig economy. The healthcare industry is always experiencing change due to technological advancement, medical research and new regulations. However, to adapt to these trends, organizations will need to seek out talent in different ways and find people with new skill sets.

Use of telemedicine and virtual care expanded during COVID-19 and are continuing to rise as a way to improve access. Jobs in these types of workplaces require different technology and communication skills than more traditional hospital and clinic jobs.

While many think of the gig economy as a place for creatives or rideshare drivers, the contingent workforce is taking on a greater role in healthcare. SIA reports that hospitals are turning to contract physicians and traveling nurses to deal with the talent shortage. Some practitioners are turning to this freelance work to boost their earning potential, and the system helps increase staffing at rural healthcare facilities that struggle with healthcare recruiting.

Large hospitals are also bringing in a greater share of doctors due to consolidation within the industry. Since 2019, over 100,000 private practice doctors have transitioned into employees of larger corporate healthcare organizations. Nearly three-quarters of physicians are part of larger healthcare systems in the U.S., a record high.

A Necessary Response

To remain competitive in this challenging talent landscape, healthcare organizations must take a proactive approach to planning their workforces, sourcing and recruiting talent, retaining workers and appealing to millennials and Generation Z workers who will fill the roles of retiring baby boomers.

Areas across the United States are already feeling the impact of the healthcare talent shortage, and experts say the pressure will only grow. Organizations need to respond now to prepare. Here are some steps companies in the healthcare industry should take to manage skills shortages and how technology can help.

Countdown to Skills Crisis? What Our Latest Research Tells Us About Skills Gaps

Posted on by akessler

By Simon Wright, Global Head of Talent Advisory Consulting

The workforce skills landscape is transforming at blinding speed. Automation, AI, sustainability initiatives, demographic shifts—global forces are conspiring to make skills gaps and talent shortages more acute by the day. Don’t think it’s moving that fast? Well, the World Economic Forum predicts that a jaw-dropping 85 million jobs could sit vacant by 2030, resulting in $8.5 trillion in lost revenue.

The very meaning of “skills” is shifting beneath our feet. Skills requirements have already changed 25% since 2015, and experts forecast 65% more change by 2030. However, companies still rely heavily on degrees and experience over skills when it comes to making hiring decisions. No wonder we’re careening towards a global skills crisis.

PeopleScout partnered with skills-based workforce management platform provider Spotted Zebra to survey over 100 senior HR and talent acquisition leaders globally, plus over 2,000 employees worldwide, to compare perspectives. Our new research report, The Skills Crisis Countdown, maps the skills landscape and diagnoses the disconnects between employers and their workforce.

Read on for some key findings from our report.

HR Leaders are Ill-Prepared for the Skills Crisis

According to a study by PwC, 40% of global CEOs believe their business will be economically unviable in 10 years unless they reinvent for the future. Our study revealed that nine out of 10 HR leaders believe that up to 50% of their workforce will require new skills to effectively perform their job in the next five years. Yet, when asked if they are currently undergoing or planning a workforce transformation initiative in the next three years, nearly half (45%) of HR leaders admit to having no plans to undertake one.

So, in other words, half of employees will soon be underprepared for the future, but most companies have no strategy in place to address the issue.

According to LinkedIn, 84% of members are in occupations that could have at least one quarter of their core skills affected by generative AI (GAI) technologies, like ChatGPT. So, how are HR leaders preparing for this digital transformation and the AI era? Shockingly, a full third (34%) say they have no preparations in place to prepare for new technologies. Those who are preparing emphasize bringing in outside talent rather than reskilling existing employees.

Industry Composition by GAI Segment
Percentage of LinkedIn Members by Industry

Impact of GAI on workplace skills
(Source: LinkedIn Economic Graph Research Institute)

This is likely because they lack an understanding of the skills they have within their existing workforce. Our data revealed that 68% of organizations identify skills from manager feedback, which is highly subjective. So, it’s no surprise that 56% of employees think their skills are underutilized in their current roles, and 61% think there are other roles in their organization where their skills could be utilized.

An unprecedented skills revolution is barreling down the tracks, but companies are fast asleep at the switch. It’s time to wake up and get employees future-ready or risk a global skills crisis and talent scarcity for decades to come.

Digital & Tech Skills Gaps are Widening but Tech Skills are Viewed as Unimportant

Both employers and employees dangerously underestimate the importance of tech and digital skills. In our survey, both parties listed tech and digital literacy skills with low importance. With the skyrocketing demand for tech and digital talent, this does not bode well.

skills in the workplace

Mobile apps, ecommerce and digital transformation have made technology integral to every corporate strategy. However, supply isn’t keeping up with demand. McKinsey analyzed 3.5 million job postings in high-tech fields and found there’s a wide divide between the demand for tech and digital skills and the qualified talent availability. The most sought-after skills have less than half as many qualified professionals per posting compared to average global figures. 

No wonder 63% of HR leaders in our survey admit they struggle to recruit the skills they need. Closing tech and digital skills gaps through recruitment alone is no longer sufficient. So, we were concerned when our research showed that 73% of the workforce haven’t been offered opportunities to reskill.

Organizations must invest in helping their employees evolve their skills via reskilling and internal mobility to cultivate digital and tech literacy across their entire workforce.

Case Study: Reskilling in Action

The Challenge:

A large global financial services company needed to undertake a major digital transformation program. The organization needed to acquire key digital and tech skills while leveraging the existing company knowledge of employees in declining customer service roles by reskilling them.

Previous efforts by the organization to assess employees’ suitability for reskilling were led internally and included multiple, time-consuming line manager interviews. Of even greater concern, around a quarter of those who began the reskilling program dropped out.

The Solution:

The bank worked with their long-time RPO partner, PeopleScout, and Spotted Zebra to assess customer service staff in bank branches and call centers to find ideal candidates for its tech and digital skilling program. Skills profiles were created for tech roles, which employees were assessed against to find the best fit.

The Results:

  • Redeployed 150 people, saving over $2.5M in exit costs
  • Saved over $350,000 in training and development costs
  • Reduced time investment by hiring managers
  • Reduced the reskilling cost-per-person by 70%

Employees Don’t Feel Confident in their Skills for the Future

A third (34%) of workers have doubts about how their skills will keep pace with new technology and automation. Meanwhile, just 17% of organizations are offering targeted reskilling programs for existing employees.

Where are HR Leaders Deploying Skills-Based Practices?

Skills-Based Practices in the workplace
(Source: PeopleScout and Spotted Zebra)

This imbalance spells disaster. As change overwhelms existing skill sets, most workers will begin to feel unsure of their career paths or left struggling to stay relevant.

Investing in reskilling makes solid business sense. We must bridge the gap between workers anxiously facing uncertainty and leaders failing to invest in their resilience. HR leaders who empower their workforce with adaptable skill sets today will drive continued success in times of swift and sweeping change.

Finding a Talent Partner to Support Your Skills Transformation

The agility to match emerging skill requirements will soon become a competitive necessity. If you haven’t started your skills-based transformation, now is the time.

In our survey, one in two HR leaders admitted to a lack of understanding of skills-based practices. If you’re struggling to understand how to take advantage of skills-based practices in your organization, PeopleScout is here to be your guide.

As a recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) partner, we can help you understand the skills within your existing workforce as well as the external market supply and demand. We offer solutions across the skills agenda, from skills-based talent intelligence and market insights, building skills frameworks, and creating skills-based success profiles to redesigning recruitment processes, skills-based hiring strategies, and helping you maximize the potential of your existing workforce.  

To learn more about PeopleScout’s skills-focused talent solutions, get in touch.