Navigating the disruptive and uncertain business environment requires hiring talent that is equipped with relevant skills and striking the right balance between people and technology. In the digital age, having a digital mindset is vital to incorporate technology into existing business processes. It is easy to mistake people who are digitally aware with having a digital mindset. However, being able to use specific tools and technologies is just one part of the puzzle. Let us discuss what the other essential constituents of a digital mindset are, and how HR leaders can identify the same in candidates. 

According to Aon’s 2019 Talent Acquisition Study (Asia Pacific & Middle East), the three critical skills that employees need to thrive in the digital era:

Learnability: The willingness to continually update skills and devote time for self-improvement constitutes an essential requirement. Furthermore, this also includes the ability to seek constructive feedback and opportunities to learn new skills by staying on top of new changes and challenges in the workplace.

Agility: The capacity to deploy new information and knowledge to adapt to changing situations by being flexible and creative is another significant part of the digital mindset.

Curiosity: Being open to change, and having the enthusiasm to learn about new ideas, tools, initiatives, and innovation also forms a person’s innate ability to succeed in the digital age.

(To know more about what are the skills required to thrive in 2020, participate in the study, Aon 2020 Talent Acquisition Study--Asia Pacific & Middle East and fast track your business success)

But, the real question is, how do talent acquisition professionals, recruiters, hiring managers, and HR leaders identify these success factors and behaviors among candidates? Here is how you can build on your existing recruitment practices to include the significance of the skills as mentioned above:

Design agile work processes and roles

Since traditional management and decision-making models stem from the waterfall approach, to hire the right people, organizations need to consciously design agile work processes, agile teams, and agile roles. Incorporating the agile approach in the core functioning of the organization is a prerequisite to devise an organization that attracts the right talent, engages it effectively, and retains it.

This agility must also be reflected and ingrained in the talent function. To build a digital workforce that can keep up with a rapidly-evolving marketplace, organizations must identify the specific strengths, development needs, risks, and opportunities for their workforce based on geography, employee tenure, business unit, and functional alignment of employees. Having a macro view of the talent strategy that lays down a clear path to execute talent transformation and provide the workforce with the support and resources needed to become agile inculcate agility as well.

Measure digital readiness

Once employers have the right systems in place, they must identify the ability of its workforce to engage in digital transformation. Recognizing and hiring digital-ready talent involves a combination of personality assessment, cognitive assessment, and behavioral assessment. Some of the vital competencies that compromise the digital readiness of an individual include digital communication, virtual collaboration, handling data, strategic solutioning, alongside relevant business acumen, and coaching mindset.

Digital readiness can be optimally measured by leveraging the right tools to create the best candidate experience and make the assessment process seamless. Digital tools can be used to simulate experiences and situations to conduct situational judgment assessments and personality assessments effectively.

Focus on the ‘How’

The last decade witnessed an increased awareness of the importance of digital transformation. As per a Capgemini report, 87 percent of organizations think that digital transformation is a competitive opportunity, and 82 percent are already undergoing one. However, the answer to ‘how’ to transform digitally does not have a common consensus. Thus, it becomes essential to evaluate a candidate on ‘how’ they intend to solve existing challenges using the available technology. Assessing candidates on how they will adeptly use modern tools and technology, alongside creativity, innovation, and intuition will help determine if they can successfully inculcate and implement a growth mindset in their role.

Thus, hiring for a digital mindset is as much about looking for the right attitude, approach, and outlook, as it is regarding the technology side of things. Since people form the core of every organization, it becomes imperative to understand that digital technology must facilitate teams, processes, and roles by accelerating collaboration, innovation, and ownership. As we step into a new decade, the ability to innovate using modern technology will become a coveted skill, as opposed to merely knowing the technology. HR leaders and recruiters will, thus, have to design new hiring processes and tools that can measure these intangible soft skills. 

How will you connect talent with jobs of the future? And how will you minimize the people impact of talent transformation?

To address some of these puzzles, we invite you to collaborate with us by participating in 2020 Talent Transformation Study Asia Pacific & Middle East. The survey will help you to analyze and sharpen your Talent Transformation strategy with insights, trends and best practices from the region.