Talent Pioneers 2025: Hire for the future, not the past

As part of an effective TA strategy, candidates being interviewed for jobs should be asked what they want to do in a new organisation to drive change rather than what they did in their previous job.

Speaking at Sphere Digital Recruitment Group’s recent ‘Building a Talent Acquisition Strategy’ event, Emy Rumble-Mettle, chief people officer at Tails.com, urged organisations to “hire for the future, not the past” when recruiting newcomers. Recruiting employers need to know what newcomers can bring to a job and organisations, she said, adding: “Trust people and empower them to do what they can.”

Rumble-Mettle joined Marc Conway, global TA director at advertising service Influencer, and Lewis Milford, global TA director at Loop Earplugs on the podium for the Talent Pioneers discussion chaired by Tara Ricks, who is Sphere’s board chair.

The advent of AI dominated much of the conversation at the London event. Milford spoke in favour of the contributions AI can make to the candidate experience, such as customising emails to candidates, help to consolidate themes that emerged from interviews and offer feedback to candidates as well as suggestions to interviewers for their improvement. 

Rumble-Mettle said she hoped for “rebel AI” in the practice of TA. “Innovation and disruption are missing in society and the economy,” she said. “Look for outliers. We want to see real difference, harmony in dissonance and driving change through AI.”

She further suggested that organisations “hire people who don’t seem to sit”, describing this as a “healthy internal challenge”. She said she would like to have AI “calling out” people who have a bias in hiring diverse people. 

Conway pointed out that AI has bias written into its operation because it is written by humans. He went on to say that AI usage is “great for volume (hiring) but not good enough yet for specialist roles”, urging: “Audit AI processes to ensure [they are] bias-free.”

Milford added: “All companies selling AI services should be externally audited – internal audits are not successful. Regulations are coming in about disclosure around AI; the impact will play out soon.”