The skills employers crave are not limited to technical qualifications, HR systems experience or employment law knowledge. Research highlighted by LinkedIn News identifies communication, collaboration, creative thinking and problem-solving among the transferable capabilities likely to remain highly valuable over the coming decade.
For HR employers, these skills carry particular weight. HR professionals must interpret policy, influence senior stakeholders, manage sensitive employee relations matters and help organisations respond to workforce change. Technical knowledge may secure an interview, but transferable skills often determine whether somebody can operate effectively within a modern people function.
Why the Skills Employers Crave Matter in HR
The National Foundation for Educational Research’s Skills Imperative 2035 identifies six essential employment skills: communication, collaboration, creative thinking, information literacy, organising and prioritising, and problem-solving and decision-making. Its research predicts that these capabilities will become increasingly important as they complement developing workplace technology.
This is especially relevant to HR teams. Automation and artificial intelligence can support activities such as workforce analytics, candidate screening and employee query management, but they cannot replace sound judgement, organisational awareness or credible stakeholder relationships.
There is also evidence that employers are already struggling to find these attributes. In the DWP Employer Survey 2024, 53% of employers that had recruited during the previous year said they had been unable to find a suitable candidate. Among employers reporting a lack of skills as a barrier, 41% identified insufficient soft or personal skills, including communication and problem-solving.
For organisations recruiting HR professionals in Birmingham, London, Leicester, Manchester and across the wider UK, assessing these capabilities should therefore be a structured part of the selection process.
Communication: Look Beyond a Polished Interview
Communication is fundamental across employee relations, talent acquisition, learning and development, reward and HR business partnering. An effective HR professional must adapt their approach for employees, line managers, trade unions, executive teams and external advisers.
A confident interview performance does not automatically demonstrate this skill. Employers should assess whether candidates can:
Explain a complex HR policy in accessible language
Deliver an unwelcome message with clarity and empathy
Produce concise, evidence-based written recommendations
Ask appropriate diagnostic questions before offering advice
Adjust their communication style to different stakeholders
A practical assessment could ask candidates to summarise a fictional policy change for both employees and senior leaders. This reveals audience awareness, written clarity and the ability to distinguish strategic information from operational detail.
Collaboration: Assess How Candidates Build Organisational Trust
HR rarely delivers results in isolation. Whether introducing a new HRIS platform in London, managing organisational change in Birmingham or supporting workforce planning across multiple sites, HR professionals must collaborate across functions.
Competency questions should explore the candidate’s personal contribution rather than the collective result. Ask what resistance they encountered, how responsibilities were divided and what they did when stakeholders disagreed.
Strong candidates should demonstrate:
Cross-functional stakeholder management
Constructive challenge without damaging relationships
An understanding of operational pressures
Shared accountability for outcomes
The ability to establish trust while maintaining professional boundaries
References can also provide useful evidence. Instead of only verifying dates and responsibilities, ask referees how the candidate influenced colleagues, handled conflict and worked with operational managers.
Creative Thinking: Test Whether Candidates Can Improve HR Delivery
Creative thinking in HR does not mean introducing change for its own sake. It means developing practical, evidence-led approaches when established processes no longer meet organisational needs.
For example, an HR professional might redesign an onboarding journey to reduce early attrition, develop an alternative sourcing strategy for a difficult location or introduce a more accessible approach to employee engagement.
Employers can assess creative thinking through a realistic case study. Present the candidate with a persistent people challenge - such as low engagement, high absence or poor retention - and ask them to develop several possible interventions.
Look for candidates who:
Question assumptions before proposing a solution
Use employee and workforce data appropriately
Consider cost, risk and implementation requirements
Involve affected stakeholders in the design process
Define how success would be measured
This is particularly important for growing organisations across Leeds, Bristol, Manchester and the Midlands, where an HR hire may need to build processes rather than simply administer an established framework.
Problem-Solving: Assess Judgement, Not Just the Final Answer
HR problems are rarely straightforward. A grievance may reveal a wider management issue, rising turnover may have several causes, and a technically compliant solution may still create cultural or reputational risk.
Scenario-based interviewing is one of the most effective ways to assess problem-solving. Give candidates incomplete information and observe the questions they ask before reaching a conclusion.
A strong HR professional should be able to:
Separate evidence from assumptions
Identify employment law and organisational risks
Evaluate competing stakeholder interests
Escalate appropriately
Recommend a proportionate course of action
Explain the rationale behind their decision
Employers should avoid rewarding candidates simply for reaching a predetermined answer. The quality of their analysis, judgement and questioning is often more revealing than the final recommendation.
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Building the Skills Employers Crave into HR Recruitment
These skills should be incorporated into the entire recruitment process rather than assessed through generic questions at the end of an interview.
HR employers can strengthen selection by:
Defining observable behaviours within the job specification
Using structured, competency-based interview questions
Applying the same scoring criteria to every candidate
Including relevant work-sample assessments
Training interviewers to recognise evidence rather than confidence
Considering transferable experience from other sectors
Recording assessment evidence to support fair decision-making
A structured approach improves consistency and reduces the risk of appointing candidates based primarily on rapport, presentation style or similarity to existing team members.
Final Thoughts
Communication, collaboration, creative thinking and problem-solving are not secondary “nice-to-have” attributes. Within an HR function, they directly affect the quality of employee relations advice, organisational change, workforce planning and senior stakeholder support.
The strongest recruitment processes test how candidates have applied these capabilities in realistic situations. By assessing observable behaviour and practical judgement, HR employers can identify professionals who have both the technical grounding and transferable skills required to strengthen the wider organisation.
Are you recruiting for an HR vacancy in London, Birmingham, Leicester or elsewhere across the UK? James Andrews Recruitment Solutions connects employers with HR professionals across operational, specialist and strategic appointments. Contact our HR recruitment team to discuss your vacancy and build a selection process focused on the skills that matter most.
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