Employers are struggling to seek out one of the simplest ways to pinpoint the expertise they should drive their companies to success within the quickly altering world of AI. Accenture CEO Julie Candy, although, has a easy query to establish whether or not her interviewees are prepared for the job.
In an interview on the In Good Firm podcast with Nicolai Tangen, the CEO of Norges Financial institution Funding Administration, Candy was requested what she regarded for when hiring new consultants on the $64 billion tech big.
“One query that we ask everybody, no matter in case you’re a marketing consultant otherwise you’re working in know-how … we are saying: ‘What have you ever realized within the final six months?’
“A whole lot of the time individuals are asking me, ‘How do I do know if somebody’s a learner?’ And it’s a quite simple method to know. If somebody can’t reply that query—and by the way in which, we don’t care if it’s ‘I realized to bake a cake’—if they’ll’t reply that query, then we all know that they’re not a learner.”
When requested by Tangen what Candy herself had realized within the final six months, the Accenture CEO mentioned it had largely been round AI. Throughout an investor name in December, Candy mentioned she had met with 30 CEOs within the previous two months, with AI functions on the prime of most of their agendas.
Candy additionally mentioned she had managed to learn to bake bread amid her hectic schedule within the final six months.
Candy’s curveball query for brand new hires is indicative of how corporations are shifting their recruitment practices following the onset of generative AI, which is upending job specs in each division, requiring a brand new kind of worker.
Bosses have argued that new staff must be dynamic relying on the altering wants of their enterprise and the way AI can be utilized to complement their work.
LinkedIn’s chief working officer, Daniel Shapero, advised Fortune that he asks potential hires to inform him how they used AI to find out whether or not they have the need to study the tech on the job.
”What that demonstrates is, in case you’re comfy utilizing AI, then you definately’re extra more likely to be somebody that helps their group turn into extra AI-centric,” mentioned Shapero.
“You hear about folks planning household journeys, you hear about folks summarizing assembly notes. You hear folks producing artistic concepts for purchasers. And so there’s a really big selection of issues AI can be utilized for.”
Amid elevated uncertainty concerning the abilities and aptitude required for the way forward for work, Accenture’s Candy says a powerful human assets division has turn into more and more very important.
“I believe the perfect factor to be proper now, top-of-the-line fields to be in is HR, as a result of proper after gen AI on CEOs’ agendas is expertise, and the way you practice expertise has to fully change.”
Editor’s be aware: A model of this text first appeared on Fortune.com on January 8, 2025.
This story was initially featured on Fortune.com
