According to the World Economic Forum Future of jobs Report 2025, an estimated 39% of core skills are expected to change by 2030. This signals a fundamental shift in workforce strategy. Employers must place greater emphasis on adaptability, curiosity, and continuous learning. These capabilities enable people to remain effective as technologies and job requirements evolve, rather than being locked into a single, fixed skill set.
For organisations, the question is no longer just “Do candidates have the skills we need today?” but “Can they keep learning at the pace our business is changing?”
The Shrinking Shelf-life of Skills
Digital transformation is reshaping roles across industries. Even traditionally stable functions now require employees to work across disciplines, collaborate with new technologies and respond to rapidly changing priorities. This shift is shortening the useful lifespan of many technical skills.
In the tech sector specifically, tools, platforms, and frameworks evolve at a rapid pace, meaning expertise in a single stack can become outdated within a relatively short period. As automation and artificial intelligence continue to advance, roles are also shifting, requiring employees to continuously refresh their knowledge and apply existing skills in new and evolving contexts.
Transferable capabilities such as analytical thinking, problem solving, and self‑directed learning therefore hold increasing value. These human strengths enable individuals to interpret information, navigate ambiguity, and adopt emerging tools effectively, even as specific technologies or platforms come and go.
‘From a client perspective, we're seeing employers move away from hunting for the perfect fit candidate towards hiring for potential and learning ability,' says James Monks, Senior Manager, Cpl Technology. 'Teams are starting to value adaptability over deep experience in one specific stack. Someone who can pivot quickly across tools is now more valuable than a narrow specialist'.
This challenges traditional hiring approaches that prioritise narrow experience over potential. Employers who recruit solely for a fixed set of technical skills increase their risk of mis‑hire and shorter tenure, as roles evolve beyond what people were originally brought in to do. In contrast, organisations that deliberately assess for learning agility and adaptability are better positioned to reskill and redeploy talent as needs change.
Building Adaptable Teams
While individual skills are important, the broader challenge for leaders is building teams capable of responding constructively to change.
Future-ready teams combine technical expertise with foundational human capabilities, including:
Creative thinking
Resilience and flexibility
Collaboration and communication
Social influence and leadership
Teams with these strengths adopt new technologies faster and sustain performance through uncertainty, creating the flexibility needed to navigate fast-moving environments.
Embedding learning into everyday work
As skills evolve more rapidly, organisations are also rethinking how development takes place.
Traditionally, learning was delivered through structured training programmes or periodic professional development courses. Increasingly, however, leading employers are integrating development directly into everyday workflows.
This approach may include:
cross-functional project work that exposes employees to new skills
mentoring and knowledge-sharing programmes
short digital learning modules embedded into daily work
opportunities to experiment with emerging technologies
LinkedIn’s Workplace Learning Report 2024 shows that organisations with strong learning cultures experience higher retention, greater internal mobility, and stronger leadership pipelines. Leaders who demonstrate curiosity and encourage experimentation reinforce growth at every level, preparing employees for evolving roles.
Supporting Professionals through Changing Skills
‘Candidates tell us they're under pressure to keep pace with rapidly changing technology, but they're also more open to upskilling or moving across roles than ever before,' adds James. ‘Professionals who stay curious about their industry and embrace new challenges adapt most successfully.’
While organisations are investing more in learning, many professionals still feel overwhelmed by the pace of changing skills. Individuals who remain curious about their industries and open to new ideas tend to adapt more easily as roles evolve.
Clear development pathways also play an important role. When employees understand how new skills connect to career progression, they are more motivated to invest in learning.
Employers that provide structured opportunities for development such as internal mobility programmes, mentorship, and targeted training, often see stronger engagement and longer-term retention.
Preparing for the Future of Work
As technology continues to reshape industries, organisations must move beyond static definitions of talent. Hiring only for current skills, without considering learning capacity and adaptability, will make it harder to respond to future shifts in demand.
Future workforce strategies need to prioritise individuals who can adapt, collaborate, and learn continuously, enabling organisations to respond effectively to change. This requires different conversations about potential, progression, and development.
For employers, this means:
Hiring for potential as well as experience, with clearer assessment of learning agility and problem‑solving
Building learning cultures that support continuous development as part of everyday work, rather than relying on occasional, stand-alone courses
Creating opportunities for employees to apply new skills in practice, through projects, rotation, and internal mobility
Organisations that don't adapt face longer time-to-hire, higher onboarding costs, and talent leaving for clearer growth paths elsewhere. Those that invest early in future‑critical skills build more resilient teams, capable of evolving alongside technology and business demands.
At Cpl, our specialist recruitment teams work with organisations to design future‑ready talent strategies. By combining recruitment intelligence with market insight, we help employers identify, assess, and develop the skills that will matter most in the years ahead.
Contact us today to explore innovative ways to secure the skilled talent you need to remain competitive.
