Steve Degnan

expert panel

Skills-based hiring is rapidly becoming a core talent strategy as employers seek agility, speed and access to broader candidate pools in an era defined by AI, automation and constant reskilling. Yet despite this shift, formal degree requirements remain embedded in many job descriptions, often by default rather than design. A Harvard Business School study on degree requirements and middle-skill jobs found that employers frequently require degrees for roles that previously did not need them, limiting access to capable workers without improving performance outcomes. Meanwhile, LinkedIn research reports that skills-based hiring can expand candidate pools by as much as 10 times while improving diversity and retention when implemented thoughtfully. The question facing leaders is not whether skills matter—they do—but whether degrees still serve a meaningful screening purpose, and what happens when organizations overcorrect in either direction. Members of the Senior Executive HR Think Tank—a curated group of senior HR leaders and practitioners—are grappling with this tension firsthand. Their collective experience spans talent acquisition, employee experience, DEI, workforce transformation and the application of AI in HR, giving them a front-row view into how hiring practices shape organizational performance and opportunity. Below, they weigh in on this debate and provide actionable tips for leaders working to find the best talent.

expert panel

In today’s workplace, burnout and disengagement have quietly become strategic business risks rather than isolated wellness concerns. The term quiet cracking—a state of gradual disengagement, mounting pressure and declining performance—has gained traction among HR and organizational leaders as a metric that precedes burnout and attrition. According to recent research, nearly half of employees globally report feeling burned out at work, highlighting the urgency of proactive measures for leaders and HR teams alike. The Senior Executive HR Think Tank—a curated group of experts in employee experience, talent acquisition, DEI, performance management and the evolving role of data and analytics in HR—note that tracking quiet cracking requires metrics and feedback loops that bridge sentiment, behavior and organizational performance. Below, they share how they are operationalizing well-being indicators, turning early signals into strategic interventions and equipping leaders to act before cracks widen into burnout or loss of talent.

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Longer job searches. Résumés increasingly written—or optimized—by artificial intelligence. AI-driven screening tools have contributed to skyrocketing application volumes while also increasing the risk of qualified candidates being filtered out prematurely, especially as generative AI fuels résumé inflation and keyword stuffing. At the same time, new AI-driven hiring platforms, credentials and even proposed job marketplaces from technology leaders promise to “fix” what’s broken in talent acquisition. For senior HR and business leaders, the question is no longer whether AI will influence hiring, but how much trust organizations should place in these tools—and at what cost. Members of the Senior Executive HR Think Tank have experience across industries in talent acquisition, employee experience, DEI, workforce analytics and the responsible use of AI in HR. Their experience reveals a consistent truth: AI can unlock measurable value, but only when paired with strong governance and human judgment.  Below, they expand further on the issues at hand for HR professionals today and weigh in on whether AI-driven hiring platforms and credentialing systems are solving real problems—or simply shifting complexity to a new layer of the process.

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Scaling a business is exhilarating—but growth also brings complexity, risk and human dynamics that demand more than the founder’s personal attention can often provide. As your workforce grows and evolves, so do compliance obligations, training demands and cultural expectations. And with 59% of employees now expecting HR to be accessible around the clock, at some point, the business’s most important asset—its people—becomes its greatest risk, unless supported by dedicated HR infrastructure and leadership. That’s when informal approaches give way to intentional, scalable human resources strategies.  The question is: When exactly should that transition happen—and what should you look for? The members of the Senior Executive HR Think Tank, a curated group of experts specializing in employee experience, talent acquisition, DEI, performance management and the role of AI in HR, share the key signals that arise when it’s time to build out your company’s HR capabilities, as well as practical guidance and the foundational HR competencies needed to support a growing company.

expert panel

In the world of talent acquisition and technical hiring, a seismic shift is quietly underway. Earlier this year, Meta announced it is piloting a new kind of coding interview: one in which candidates may use AI assistants during the process. According to a report in Wired, Meta states it “is developing a new type of coding interview in which candidates have access to an AI assistant. This is more representative of the developer environment that our future employees will work in, and also makes LLM-based cheating less effective.” Meanwhile, companies like Anthropic have changed their minds about AI use during hiring, and Google will be adding in-person interviews back in their process as a reaction to AI-assisted cheating. These developments all raise provocative questions for senior HR and talent leaders: Should companies shift to evaluating candidates based on how effectively they can work with AI rather than solely on how they perform without it? And if so, how should hiring, assessment and performance metrics evolve accordingly?  The Senior Executive HR Think Tank—a curated group of senior leaders in employee experience, talent acquisition, DEI, performance management and AI in HR—is watching this shift closely. Below, they examine how this trend may reshape hiring practices and offer actionable strategies for implementation.