Companies Prefer New Hires For AI Roles: Careerminds Report

According to a Careerminds report, 92% of HR professionals and 88% of people managers believe employees within their organisations could be reskilled for AI-related roles.

However, 51% of HR professionals and 47% of people managers say their organisations are hiring externally for new AI-related positions. Only 42% in each group report redeploying existing employees.

The study titled The AI Redeployment Gap: What Companies Lose by Hiring over Reskilling points to limited visibility into employees’ existing skills and potential as one possible barrier. Around 43% of HR professionals and 34% of people managers report limited visibility or uncertainty about which employees should be reskilled.

“Companies are investing in AI while potentially overlooking one of their most valuable resources: the people they already employ… Before looking outside the organization, leaders need to understand the skills they already have, identify where employees can grow, and establish a clear process for making those transitions possible,” said Mark Saddic, Senior partner, Careerminds.

87% of HR professionals and 84% of people managers believe their organisations adequately consider reskilling employees for future roles. The findings show a difference between this reported focus on internal development and the hiring practices reported by respondents.

The research also identifies disagreement between HR professionals and people managers over who should manage AI-driven workforce changes.

Nearly 63% of the HR professionals believe HR has primary responsibility for planning and managing these changes. Only 24% of people managers agree. Instead, 35% of managers identify senior leadership outside HR as primarily responsible.

The gap also varies across industries. In technology and telecom, external hiring exceeds redeployment by 15 percentage points among both HR professionals and people managers.

Media and Entertainment is the only sector surveyed where both groups report redeployment at least as frequently as external hiring. Among HR professionals in the industry, 56% report redeploying employees, compared with 25% who report hiring externally.