The Talent Fix: Future of Hiring and Recruitment Innovation

In this episode of The Talent Fix, Barry Prost speaks with Dr. John McMackin, Associate Professor at DCU Business School, to explore why traditional CVs are becoming obsolete — and how a skills-first approach can futureproof your hiring strategy.From skills taxonomies to internal mobility barriers, we unpack the research and offer practical advice for HR and TA leaders navigating this evolving landscape.

00:00 - Introduction & Guest Welcome

00:54 - Skills vs Experience in Hiring

02:20 - Why Skills Predict Performance Better Than Qualifications04:55 - Challenges of Adopting a Skills-First Approach

06:45 - Importance of Shared Skills Language (Taxonomy)

09:00 - Resistance to Skills Transparency & Internal Mobility

12:00 - Starting with Pilot Projects in Skills-Based Hiring13:30 - How to Assess Skills Beyond the CV

15:40 - The Role of Self-Assessment & Performance Management

17:00 - Rethinking Job Descriptions & Qualifications

19:45 - Addressing Bias in Hiring Decisions

21:00 - Skills Passports: Empowering Employee Development

22:50 - Where to Access the Full Research

23:30 - Closing Remarks & Outro

About Rent a Recruiter

Rent a Recruiter is a B2B embedded recruitment agency helping high-growth and enterprise companies scale their talent acquisition with flexible, cost-effective hiring solutions. Our embedded recruiters work as an extension of your internal team, helping you find top talent faster, smarter, and with less risk.We specialise in scalable recruitment across sectors and empower businesses with a skills-first mindset to match the right people to the right roles.

Want to learn more or book a consultation?Visit https://rentarecruiter.com/ or connect with us on LinkedIn.

Mastering Workforce Upskilling with special guests, Breeda O’Toole from IDA Ireland and Carmel Keane of Fort Wayne Metals.

Join us as we dive into the critical topic of workforce upskilling alongside two esteemed guests: Breeda O’Toole from IDA Ireland and Carmel Keane of Fort Wayne Metals.

This podcast explores strategies, trends, and practical examples for embedding continuous learning into organisational cultures.

Key Themes from the Podcast:

1. Trends Shaping Workforce Upskilling

2. Overcoming Challenges to Embrace Continuous Learning

3. Practical Case Study: Fort Wayne Metals

4. Strategies for Building a Future-Ready Workforce

In this episode we talk to Charlotte Melkert, co-founder of Equalture, which is revolutionising the recruitment landscape. With an eye for fairness and a passion for disrupting the status quo, she's challenging the traditional reliance on CVs and transforming how we think about talent acquisition.Charlotte shares her views on which competencies (flexibility and learning ability) & traits (conscientiousness & proactivity) are the greatest predictors of a candidates success in the role. Charlotte gives some brilliant practical tips for how HR Managers can easily start to shift towards a competency based approach for hiring. For example 1) compare / contrast traits & competencies of your high performing teams vs your low performing teams; 2) Ask your Hiring Manager, what are the traits/competencies of the high performing individuals in your team? 3) Ask your Hiring Managers the 'Golden Question': if this person left the company tomorrow - what skills / competencies would you lose? Finally, Charlotte shares her view of the future of Talent Acquisition becoming a key strategic pillar of every organisation.

In this episode of the Talent Fix we talk to Caroline Reidy, the owner and managing director of the HR Suite and an HR & Employment Law Expert. Caroline is also an author and TEDx presenter.

Caroline shares her views on Employee Engagement; Flexible Working; Interview Best Practice and the main challenges businesses are facing today!Listen to Carolines recommendations on how to give objective interview feedback and link it to competencies. In addition Caroline gives her recommendations on what to do when you have an urgent requirement from an employee.

In this episode of the Talent Fix: Shayne Murphy gives his views on the top 5 traits the highest performers typically possess - how many of these do your team members have?!Shayne Murphy, is a performance coach with Manchester City Football Club and the Scottish National Football Team discussing building high performing teams.

Shayne shares his thoughts on what lessons businesses can learn from sports when it comes to culture, skills, motivation and leadership.

Joan McNaboe, Research Manager at SOLAS joins us to discuss the latest findings from the National Skills Bulletin 2023, trends in recruitment, including Skills First Hiring, as we move into 2024.

Check out our latest episode of the Talent Fix on Recruitment and Diversity Equity and Inclusion DEI best practice with Tam Hanlon and Sheryl Lynch. Sheryl is one of the core experts at Colectivo, a business consultancy, who has worked at EU level on projects that foster Diversity equity and inclusion. Tam is a HR leader who previously lead DE&I for EMEA for Indeed. In this episode Tamand Sheryl share interesting research and practical tips for employers on how to build a more inclusive recruitment practice. Areas covered in this podcast include ‘ableism’; tips for SME’s; amazing talent available in neurodiverse workers; Skills based hiring; How AI can help remove unconscious bias; organisations to reach out to support diversity; Employer branding and reviewson Glassdoor!

Check out our podcast with John Riordan Chairman of Grow Remote, a platform to make remote work accessible for everyone. In this episode John shares his insights on working from home, how the top CEOs have been doing this for a long time and how we need to change our view of work as an “output” rather than a “place”.

In this episode of the Talent Fix with  CEO an HR Locker Founder, Adam Coleman, we take a deep dive into interviewing and selection techniques, Adam shares his thoughts on why he doesn’t believe candidates should have to ‘perform’ at interviews and you’ll also hear Adam’s thoughts on the best predictor of a candidate’s future performance!”

I'm delighted to be joined this morning by Hannah Wrixon, who is General Manager of WrkWrk. 

As recent winner of the Image Magazine Digital & Technology Business Woman of the Year 2019 and Network Ireland’s Business woman of the year Hannah Wrixon, CEO of Get the Shifts is committed to doing things a little differently. From innovative apps to a lively and fun culture, WrkWrk is shaking up the temp recruitment sector.

Our founder and CEO was born into this hospitality and entrepreneurial family, in 1975, and she had her first business at age 11, making stuffed toys – alas most are still in stock!

Hannah leads a team to bring this new and exciting approach to temp recruitment to Ireland.