Future of Talent: Trends 1
Sponsored by
#HRU Future of Talent: Insights White Paper
August 2015
What Will a
Future Workforce
Look Like?

Sponsored by
1. Introduction
2. Technological Factors:
2.1. The fast pace of technological innovation
2.2. Automation is everywhere: does that threaten
humanity itself
2.3. Everything is connected, virtual, intelligent
and in the cloud
3. Demographic Factors:
Changing dynamics of global population growth
4. Impact on HR / Recruitment
4.1. Future of Recruiting tools and technology
4.2. The Currency of
5. The future of work?
How to navigate the future of work /
life balance v work - life integration
6. Key Takeaways
Contents:
Future of Talent: Trends 2

Future of Talent: Trends 23
What Will a Future
Workforce Look Like?
A period of prosperity and promise, one where,
for the time in history, the world and vast
amounts of human knowledge was suddenly
accessible in the palm of our hands. Technology
has been gradually changing the way we live for
nearly two decades, with innovation having as
much impact in on our careers as personal lives.
What does the continual pace of innovation
mean for the future workforce? What impact
will that have on our careers in the years and
decades to come?
In London, on 9 March 2015, a group of
progressive-minded HR and recruitment industry
experts and professionals met to discuss the
future of the workforce at the #HRU Future of
Talent Workshop.
This white paper summarizes some of the key
insights and concerns raised, and what that
means for recruiters and HR professional around
the world, now and in the future.
Introduction
about an unprecedented period of innovation. A digital revolution, one which
changed billions of lives.
Want to discover more about
the Future of Work?
Share ideas and learn from some of
the world's leading experts in HR and
recruitment. Attend an Unconference
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2. Technological Factors
Despite the seemingly ubiquitous nature
of Facebook, Twitter, Google and YouTube,
Snapchat and WhatsApp, digital adoption is far
from universal. Even in developed countries,
there is still tens of millions of consumers and
businesses with limited or no access to digital
services.
Achieving a near universal level of digital
inclusion is still a challenge for governments,
with from the UK estimating that 21% of
the population lack basic digital skills. Research
by Lloyds Bank, a large UK high street bank, has
found that 23% of SME’s and 58% of charities
are in a similar position.
With internet.org, led by Facebook CEO Mark
Zuckerberg, as well as other government and
NGO-supported projects around the world, the
aim is to connect the other two out of three
people worldwide without Internet access.
Depending on economic development and the
pace of innovation, this dream could be achieved
within a century.
What does this mean for a future workforce?
Digital connectivity will be ubiquitous,
regardless of a countries level of economic
development, which will widen the talent pool
for outsourced operations.
2.1.The fast pace of technological innovation
What could happen if Ar Intelligence (AI)
started to think for itself? What would happen if
our creations turned on the human
race? Frankensteins monster with a big data
brain and the strength of Wolverine.
With popular movies such as Ex Machina, I,
Robot, RoboCop, Bicentennial Man and dozens of
others painting various outcomes for a
world where human and AI attempt to co-exist.
Sometimes successfully, other times, not so
much.
Some of the minds of our generation,
including Bill Gates, Steve Wozniak, Elon Musk
and Stephen Hawking have all warned of the
dangers. Stanford University has conducted a
100 year study, concluding that “we could one
day lose control of AI systems via the rise of
superintelligences that do not act in accordance
with human wishes – and that such powerful
systems would threaten humanity.”
What does this mean for a future workforce?
With AI and big data playing more of a role in
production and services, the “human element”
will shift to the higher end of the value chain,
especially for knowledge economy workers.
2.2.Automation is everywhere: does that threaten humanity itself?
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Future of Talent: Trends 4

2.Technological Factors Continued
Relatively speaking, this is still early days for
a hyperconnected, fully digital world. It could
easily take a century to achieve universal digital
adoption, providing a hostile race of
Intelligences don’t destroy humanity in the
meantime.
At this point, we seem to have more questions
than answers. But these are questions worth
asking:
• Should we expect a backlash against too much
connectivity?
• Could greater transparency reduce crime?
• Is there a risk we could automate too much of
our lives and work?
What does this mean for a future workforce?
Whether to hire someone used to be based
on gut decisions, how well a recruiter / HR
professional got along with a candidate. The
problem with this approach is it means basing
one of the most important - and for most
businesses - most expensive decisions on a
feeling. One human to another. These days, this
is how
• Pre-employment assessments help companies
understand candidates actual competencies:
what they can do, rather than what they claim
they can do.
• With social media sentiment analysis,you can
track when potential candidates (both active
and the passively active) are looking for new
jobs, then send them targeted social media
campaigns.
• Employers can from performance
tracking software, which allows them to gain
an understanding of an employee’s success
rate in their last role, where applicable.
However, data can go too far. One company in
California is being sued by a former employer
after they her for disabling an app on her
phone that was tracking her every move outside
hours.
The law has to draw lines in the sand when
employers and technology invade personal
privacy, but there’s still more data employers
would gain value from when it comes to new
hires and staff performance.
2.3. Everything is connected, virtual, intelligent and in the cloud
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Future of Talent: Trends 5

Future of Talent: Trends 6
3. Demographic Factors
There was a consensus that the world’s
population would hit 9 billion in 20 years, then
start to decline.
Research published in 2014, led by Professor
Adrian Raftery at the University of Washington,
has overturned that consensus. Academics,
governments and the UN are now 80% certain
that as of 2100 the global population will be
between 9.6 and 12.3 billion people. The chance
of an expected population peak, followed by
a decline is almost non-existent, with a 70%
chance of continued rising after 2100.
What does this mean for a future workforce?
Ageing populations in Western Europe, North
America, Australasia and Japan could result in
a global population shift, necessary to support
continued innovation in the more mature
developed economies. How companies and
governments share resources and deal with
immigration will become a key issue for inter-
regional relations, which in turn could impact
the workforce of the future.
Changing dynamics of global population growth
Academics, governments and
the UN are now 80% certain
that as of 2100 the global
population will be between
9.6 and 12.3 billion people
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4. Impact on HR / Recruitment
Resumes and human intuition - that gut feeling
when you meet someone (which according
to science happens in the blink of an eye,
literally) are being phased out in favour of data-
backed recruitment solutions.
HR and recruitment will become a value-
added skill, much like accounting. According
to Software Advice research, as of 2022 there
will be a 22% and 8% growth in HR Manager
roles HR specialist roles, respectively. Software
isn’t eating recruitment: software is making
recruitment professionals more valuable at all
levels of the corporate world.
According to the report:
• HR job titles are a more business-
focused HR department.
• Professional in Human Resources (PHR) and
Senior Professional in Human Resources
(SPHR) are the most desired
• Annual compensation for HR jobs is $60,000—
well above the national average in the US.
What does this mean for a future workforce?
Along with other knowledge economy roles,
HR and recruitment professionals will spend
more time on higher value tasks and less time
pushing paper. Analysis and interpretation of big
data inputs, aligned with business objectives,
will become core job requirements during the
next decade.
4.1. Future of Recruiting tools and technology
Software isn’t eating recruitment:
software is making recruitment
professionals more valuable
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recruitment. Attend an Unconference near you: www.globalhru.com
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Future of Talent: Trends 7

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4. Impact on HR / Recruitment
Continued
Ever since the recession there’s been a greater
burden on employees to act like entrepreneurs.
Steady progression can no longer be relied on.
LinkedIn Co-founder & Chairman, Reid Hoffman
co-authored The Start-Up of You to help people
navigate the evolving rules of employment.
Personal and professional branding has
never been more important, especially for
professionals, executives and knowledge
economy workers. With the demise of long-term
careers (many now stay with companies for only
4.4 years), reputations and professional victories
should be displayed for the outside world,
wherever applicable.
Alongside the value of professional branding,
- which is also something we can
cultivate ourselves (with blogs,Twitter, Medium,
LinkedIn) - will become a more important factor
in hiring decisions.
This could include:
• Network value: including reach and Klout
scores.
connections: who do you know who
might be useful for your employer?
• Sector what currency does your
reputation have within your sector?
All of this was important long before the
Internet. The corridors of power in every
civilisation in the world have functioned this
way for millennia, and the business community
is no different. This is, however, the time we
can quantify online which is why it
will play a bigger role in hiring decisions in the
future.
What does this mean for a future workforce?
Personal employee branding will become a key
part of companies social media efforts, which
means digital could count towards
whether someone is offered a new job.
Future of Talent: Trends 8

5.The future of work?
Much like the debate around the future of
personal privacy and whether we have already
given too much of ourselves to the Internet,
work / life balance is now under threat like Deer
during hunting season in Michigan.
Molly Flatt, a social media consultant and editor
for The Memo, wrote a great article on Medium
about the issue of too much digital connectivity.
She wonders whether we can true balance
again, asking if throwing her hardware away is
the right solution?
“That would be an escape, not an answer. I don’t
want to be a dinosaur, but nor do I want to be a
drone.
I still believe that social technologies can be
an incredible force for good, not to mention
fun. But I also think it’s time we started looking
seriously, and publicly, at the unsustainable
assumptions that underpin them, and the toll
they take on our identities and our world.”
Molly is not alone.
The need for personal and professional digital
branding means the lines blur between the two.
People buy into people, not products or services,
so we need to sell a little - or a lot - of ourselves
to survive and thrive in our careers. As a result
the lines between online, personal and
professional blur further: life mirrors digital and
digital mirrors life.
What does this mean for a future workforce?
There’s no escaping the ubiquitousness of
digital platforms within our lives, but that
doesn’t mean everyone wants to be connected
all of the time. Laws might need to evolve to
protect those who don’t want to participate
so that future employees aren’t excluded
from job opportunities due to personal digital
preferences.
How to navigate the future of work / life
balance v work - life integration
Future of Talent: Trends 9
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Want to discover more about the Future of Work?
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recruitment. Attend an Unconference near you: www.globalhru.com
REGISTER NOW

6. Key Takeaways for
the Future Workforce
• In 2100, the global population will be between 9.6 and 12.3 billion
people.
• Some o
poses a threat to humanity: is this the one line in the sand we must
draw with technology?
• Digital technology and social media platforms will reach universal,
global levels of saturation, with corresponding impacts on our
personal and professional lives; for some this, means a further
breaking down of the barriers between the two.
• e scores could be a factor in future recruitment
decisions although laws may be needed to ensure those who retreat
away from an over-saturation of technology aren’t excluded from the
jobs market.
• In many knowledge economy roles, including HR & recruitment, the
impact of big data means the input of professionals will shift to the
higher end of the value scale.
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Future of Talent: Trends 10
Want to discover more about the Future of Work?
Share ideas and learn from some of the world's leading experts in HR and
recruitment. Attend an Unconference near you: www.globalhru.com
REGISTER NOW