AI and recruitment

I have supported hundreds of professionals with their careers by helping them identify their next step, build the knowledge, skills and experience they need to get there, or shine in their current role.

Every situation is different, but one conversation comes up time and again: transferable skills. What have they learnt and demonstrated in previous roles that will be just as valuable in future ones? I love these conversations. They build confidence, broaden perspectives and open people’s eyes to opportunities they may never have considered.

Recently, though, I read an article suggesting that AI has caused the death of transferable skills. Is that really true? And if it is, what does that mean for the future of recruitment?

Transferable skills have always been at the heart of competency-based interviews. We’ve all heard the familiar question: “Tell me about a time when…” The purpose is to understand how someone has applied their skills in one situation and whether they can do the same in another.

Yet the increasing use of AI to filter and shortlist candidates risks undermining the very value of transferable skills. In many cases, it overlooks them altogether.

Lost in translation

AI can be an incredibly useful tool. It can process large volumes of applications quickly and consistently. But it still struggles with context, nuance and potential.

Using AI to shortlist CVs works well if you are looking for someone with a straightforward, linear career path. It looks for evidence of past experience that directly matches the future requirements of the role. What it cannot easily do is translate previous experience into future capability.

If the wording on a CV does not closely match the job description, outstanding candidates can be filtered out before anyone has the opportunity to explore how their broader commercial experience could benefit the organisation. They never make it to the competency-based interview, where transferable skills are meant to come to life.

I heard another worrying example recently.

A family member interviewed for a senior role and was asked to present evidence of what they had already done to solve a specific challenge faced by the hiring organisation. They were not asked what they would do in that situation. They were asked to prove they had done that exact thing before.

It felt like the interview questions had been written by the same algorithm that shortlisted the candidates.

Limits of AI

This approach immediately disadvantages people who may not have faced that exact challenge but have the experience, judgement and adaptability to apply what they have learnt elsewhere. On the surface, it can feel like the lower risk option. Hire someone who has already done it. But is it?

Highly capable people are rarely motivated by repeating yesterday’s challenges. They are motivated by learning, growing and solving new problems. You may recruit someone with exactly the right experience, but how long will they remain engaged before they become bored and start looking for their next opportunity?

Ironically, rather than making recruitment smarter, AI risks taking it backwards. Restricting searches to candidates with identical experience runs counter to the way careers have evolved. Increasingly, people build portfolio careers, moving across industries, functions and disciplines, accumulating a breadth of commercial experience that becomes particularly valuable in leadership roles.

The most effective leaders rarely succeed because they are the deepest functional expert in one area. They succeed because they understand the wider commercial picture, connect ideas across disciplines and adapt when circumstances change.

And organisations today are navigating unprecedented change. Customer expectations continue to evolve. Supply chains remain fragile. Geopolitical instability and economic uncertainty demand constant adaptation. In that environment, are the best candidates really those who have solved exactly the same problem before? Or are they the people who have consistently demonstrated resilience, adaptability and the ability to transfer their skills into new situations?

The challenge

Recruitment technology will only become truly valuable when it can recognise these qualities, not simply match keywords. The real challenge is identifying potential, applying judgement and exercising the discernment that tells us someone is capable of thriving, not just repeating.

Until AI can genuinely understand that nuance, human oversight remains essential, particularly in the early stages of recruitment. For anyone involved in hiring, it is worth asking whether efficiency tools are genuinely adding value.

I hear organisations say they cannot find the right people. I hear candidates say they cannot get past the algorithm. I do not believe there is a shortage of talent. I believe we have made the process of identifying talent unnecessarily restrictive.

As economic pressures continue and organisations reduce or freeze headcount, both ends of the market are feeling the impact. Young people with qualifications but limited experience struggle to get their first opportunity. Highly experienced professionals, particularly those over 50, are finding it increasingly difficult to secure their next role after redundancy.

A few years ago, I would have advised people to build relationships with great recruitment consultants. Meet them. Talk about your experience and ambitions. Trust their judgement. There are still some excellent recruiters out there, but they are becoming increasingly rare. Too often, the process feels distant, automated and transactional.

Ultimately, the success of any organisation depends on its ability to attract, recognise and retain great talent. Talent that can adapt, learn and grow as the world changes. In my view, that doesn’t make transferable skills less important. It makes them more important than ever.

DRIVE Talent 

At DRIVE, we help organisations recognise the capabilities they need to succeed and help individuals see the full range of skills, experience and potential they have to offer.