SmartRecruiters Blog

Hiring Success 18 Europe: Learn the Soft Skills to Beat the Bots

In a world where 47 percent of jobs are susceptible to automation, growing your skill set as job security is no longer enough. So how do you stay ahead of the machines?

“Your future job probably hasn’t been invented yet.” Who among us didn’t hear a version of this forecast as a bright-eyed schoolkid?

And while the prognostication ended up true for many, it wasn’t the full story. There are plenty of unchanged job titles, but the skills required would have been beyond the imagination of that childhood you. And this is where recruiting stands today, the job that once required people skills and a penchant for organization now asks it’s practitioners to be financial, data, inclusion, legal, and IT experts – all while the revolution of HR Technology creates expectations of hyper efficiency, leaving no space for practitioners to set aside time for development in their day-to-day.

It’s a recipe for burnout. Businesses need to start thinking like Apple and Google and reposition themselves as “learning organizations”. That means being a company in a state of constant transformation. They must provide employees the training they need to be the best person for their job two, five or ten years down the line.

What we know about adult learning, from research pioneered by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics in the 1980s and carried on to the present day by the Center for Creative Leadership,  is that it usually happens socially, informally, and on-the-go. Seventy percent of what we learn about our job is from, well, doing our job, 20 percent is from our networks, and 10 percent is through formal presentations.

It’s in that last 30 percent where things get interesting, when people come out of their silos to discover the best practice of tomorrow, engage and expand their networks, and gain automation-proof skills to keep them relevant. That’s why, even in the digital age, it’s imperative to attend conferences, learn, and share ideas with the experts who put the newest learning into context.

That’s why SmartRecruiters has seized opportunities to dissect and discuss our industry with practitioners on the ground, and this summer, we take our Hiring Success Conference series global.

On September 19-20, we land in the heart of Europe for two days of seminars, product demos, and networking with 250 top talent acquisition executives, thought leaders, founders, investors, and the hottest recruiting startups.

Watch a live chatbot showdown in “Battle of the Bots,” where the audience asks these virtual helpers on-the-spot questions to test their functionality. Learn to inspire a remote workforce and leverage flexible employment options to increase diversity and productivity. Join the movement for gender parity by learning to recognize and mobilize talent without bias.

Join us this summer as we explore the latest in innovation, inclusion, and hiring success.

Check out our agenda here!

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