Accenture CEO Julie Candy on the Most Vital Ability Job Seekers Want At the moment

JULIE SWEET: I believe hiring is the fitting place to start out. After we take into consideration expertise, we really take into consideration how do you entry expertise? How do you rent it? How do you change into a creator of expertise so that you just don’t all the time have to rent it? After which as soon as they’re right here, how do you unlock the potential of expertise?

And when you consider hiring, we’ve really added to our workforce within the tightest labor market in historical past, not less than our historical past, 200,000 individuals within the final 18 months. Over that point, we’ve had 4.6 million resumes. And so we use what’s known as a high-tech-enabled, high-touch recruiting mannequin. We use expertise to assist us match the resumes with our wants, and our wants are actually broad.

For instance, we’ve got nurses and MDs, in addition to deep safety professionals, in addition to cloud professionals and individuals who do provide chains. So it’s actually, actually broad expertise that we search. We achieve this beginning with this high-tech-enabled, high-touch recruiting mannequin, which is type of the “how we do it.” And naturally the rationale individuals come is all about what we provide our future staff.

ADI IGNATIUS: A number of locations we might go, and I suppose one is the query about abilities. And as you stated, you may have various kinds of jobs that require various kinds of abilities. However I’ve a sense that each in what you’re on the lookout for or the algorithms you’ve created, there’s some basic abilities or basic attributes that individuals want as of late. Are you able to discuss what you assume these may be?

JULIE SWEET: Let’s simply begin with probably the most necessary issues that we search for really, irrespective of who you’re, is your potential to study, studying agility. As a result of we all know that whereas we might rent you for a sure set of abilities, the speed of change and the necessity for abilities is sort of fast. So there’s plenty of analysis on this, that abilities that have been round within the Fortune 500, for instance, in 2017, that roughly 40% are not related.

As we take into consideration our personal enterprise, we begin with studying agility and we ask a quite simple query to all of our candidates, senior and junior. Those that are coming from faculty, we ask it barely otherwise as a result of they’re at school. “What have you ever realized within the final six months that was not a part of faculty?” is what we add for many who we’re recruiting on campus. And what we’re on the lookout for are people who naturally study issues. Now, the reply might be, “I realized to cook dinner.” Proper? The reply might be, “I realized find out how to change a tire.”

The purpose is, can the applicant reply to that query? It’s a very easy, however very efficient method of understanding whether or not you’re hiring somebody who likes to study.

And truly one in every of our management necessities for all of our leaders is to steer with excellence, confidence, and humility. And the humility we discover as a management high quality is what permits individuals to be pure learners and to construct nice groups. And they also’re actually related once we take into consideration the varieties of individuals and sorts of abilities.

You then take a step again and we do assume that digital literacy is completely crucial. Truly all of our 700,000 individuals, no matter the place you sit, in case you are working in our mail room—we nonetheless get mail—or you’re on the entrance traces with our shoppers, you need to undergo one thing we name TQ. It’s your expertise quotient, the place you are taking and must move assessments in 10 areas. As a result of we actually imagine that fundamental expertise abilities are crucial in each facet, and that type of hyperlinks to the second space of expertise that we concentrate on, which is being a creator of expertise.

ADI IGNATIUS: Reskilling partially, I suppose would imply ensuring that individuals attain that basic threshold of no matter it’s, digital literacy. However at instances you’re doing fairly profound reskilling. As a result of you may have such a big workforce, what does reskilling appear to be at Accenture?

JULIE SWEET: Let’s return to the pandemic in March of 2020. And when the pandemic hit, there was a giant shift on-line, as everyone knows, and rapidly we had unimaginable demand. For instance, for our shoppers to assist them use digital collaboration instruments, which needed to be carried out, after which coaching of individuals. And there have been much more calls for than there have been actually the day earlier than the pandemic was declared.

Equally, there was a giant acceleration of the transfer to the cloud, of needing cloud abilities. And so what reskilling for Accenture seems like is we even have a database of all our client-facing individuals. We all know what their abilities are. We’re in a position to make use of AI algorithms to determine who might be reskilled, what household of abilities are near what we’ve got extra demand on, after which we will really do the reskilling.

Within the first six months after the pandemic, we upskilled about 100,000 individuals with packages that ranged from eight to fifteen weeks, relying on what we have been upskilling them for. And we have been in a position to take action very quickly, which enabled us to emerge from the pandemic a lot quicker, as a result of we might shift our individuals in direction of the brand new locations of demand. And naturally, it’s a part of what makes our Accenture such a horny place to work as a result of individuals really feel like they’re consistently being invested in.

In truth, we spend about $1 billion a yr, a median of 40 hours per particular person of coaching, which is a very robust motive why we’re in a position to recruit quarter in and quarter out such superb expertise.

ADI IGNATIUS: Usually, you’re the deputy head of one thing and also you’re clearly candidate to be the top of one thing. However once you’re speaking about utilizing AI to determine the longer term prospects, they is probably not so apparent or might not have been so apparent previously. Are you able to speak a bit of bit extra about that? Are there particular examples of the place abilities in a single space really translate into preparation for one thing else that we’d not have thought of with out AI exhibiting the way in which?

JULIE SWEET: The simple examples are actually examples which might be round technical abilities. Sure sorts of programming allow you to maneuver extra simply into other forms of programming, sure platforms. For instance, in case you are engaged on one type of a cloud-based platform, transferring to a different cloud-based platform is simpler.

However there’s additionally much less apparent issues. For instance, in safety, the talents round safety are very akin to what our professionals may be doing in threat and compliance, as a result of there’s some deep analytical abilities. These are the sorts of issues the place you may not have first checked out individuals doing threat or compliance for our shoppers to say, “Oh yeah, they might simply change into a safety skilled.” Due to course safety was then one other space that was triggered excessive demand when the pandemic hit. And but, the algorithm will determine those that have these type of deep analytical abilities which might be very helpful within the safety space.

And on the identical time, it’s not all the time the algorithms that do it, but additionally we really can create abilities. For instance, each a part of each enterprise proper now could be being remodeled by expertise. But when you consider most of our shoppers, like somebody could also be doing provide chain, doesn’t have the mandatory expertise abilities. They’ve the provision chain abilities. However to actually be capable to remodel it, you want extra of these expertise abilities. Now, we offer that for our shoppers.

One of many issues we’ve got to do is to have each deep area data in addition to expertise abilities. In India, for instance, we’ve recruited previously six months, say 500 leaders with deep area data like in provide chain, with no expertise data. After which we’ve put them by means of a bootcamp of eight to 12 weeks relying on the area, in order that they are often working with our shoppers with the fitting area data, but additionally the expertise abilities.

These are the sorts of issues that we’re doing with our shoppers. You’re taking somebody like Chevron, a pacesetter within the vitality fields. They know that expertise and digital are actually reworking and might want to remodel each a part of their enterprise. And so they partnered with us to create a college for them, tailor-made to their totally different departments, to show already 20,000 individuals the digital abilities they should take their deep area data of working at Chevron in these departments, couple it with the fitting expertise data, in order that they will lead the reinvention of their specific a part of the corporate.

It’s actually necessary to be understanding what are the outcomes that you just want and what are the talents? And might you educate and talent to get to these outcomes? And that’s why after I talked about what firms have to do round expertise, this concept of each accessing expertise, however changing into a expertise creator can be very, crucial.

ADI IGNATIUS: I’m going to go to an viewers query proper now, as a result of it’s pertinent. That is from Marilyn in Virginia. “Do you may have particular areas the place you’re experiencing talent shortages, and what are they? Are they useful? Are they industry-based? And in that case, how are you addressing these?”

JULIE SWEET: It’s an awesome query that I believe everyone seems to be asking. We’ve got a variety of what we name sizzling abilities. So, in-demand abilities. And people vary from deep expertise abilities, all the way in which to the {industry} and area abilities. We don’t have like a spot within the sense of our potential to rent. And a part of that’s that we do use expertise to anticipate based mostly on our demand, even early phases, our data of our abilities, our data of who we might re-skill or not re-skill. And so whereas I’m positive any of my leaders would say, “I’m all the time in demand of abilities,” once you actually have a look at, can we rent for every thing we’d like? We will. However behind that may be a fairly refined method of anticipating the wants for abilities.

And naturally, the expertise to try this is de facto necessary. It’s actually necessary for Accenture, nevertheless it’s additionally crucial for our shoppers. It’s driving a variety of our demand, as a result of it’s exhausting to have the ability to predict. And subsequently, make knowledgeable choices about hiring or creating your individual expertise, except you may have a single supply of reality round your staff. A part of what’s driving the necessity for brand spanking new cloud-based options, which is a giant a part of our demand on the HR aspect, is that this must be rather more refined round your expertise technique, which does begin with expertise. After which if you need, we will later get into actually the dual T’s of belief and expertise, as a result of they do go hand-in-hand, as you consider the adjustments you must make in your group to make use of expertise successfully.

ADI IGNATIUS: I need to comply with up on a few of this once you’re speaking about hiring and pipelines and abilities. We’re all attempting to diversify our workforces. A whole lot of us are coming to grips with the truth that we’ve not efficiently diversified our workforces to the extent that we want to. And there’s a threat that the algorithm will exacerbate the issue relatively than repair the issue. You have to be interested by this lots and the way you’re attempting to unravel for range. Once more, as you rent and preserve a workforce of 700,000 individuals.

JULIE SWEET: Adi, I believe perhaps to start out with, earlier than I flip to range, your level that the algorithms generally is a drawback, I might level the viewers to an awesome physique of labor that I really helped lead at The U.S. Enterprise Roundtable on Accountable AI. It got here from cross {industry} CEOs, saying that it’s actually necessary that as firms, we’ve got a roadmap to creating positive that AI, which is so necessary from a competitiveness perspective, does get deployed responsibly. And actually, to that finish, once we have been beginning to deploy AI in a few of the methods I’ve described to you, we first did a whole view and evaluation of the totally different applied sciences that we had, how we have been going to make use of AI, in order that we made positive that it was clear, it was clear, there have been guard rails, there was testing.

Since you actually can’t re-engineer for accountable AI. You need to do it from the start. I simply encourage everybody to verify they do have the fitting governance and that once they begin to use these items, that they’re constructing on this concept of accountable AI from the start and never having an issue after which attempting to do it going backwards. And that’s additionally necessary, not only for ensuring the algorithms work properly once you do issues like match resumes with jobs, however for different makes use of as properly.

Now, with respect to range, it’s an enormous focus of ours. We’ve got dedicated to being, by 2025, reaching gender parity. We’ve got very particular objectives round racial and ethnic range within the nations we’re allowed to set them. We’ve got a broad view of range. That features individuals with disabilities, veterans, LGBTQI. And so all of these objectives are handled like enterprise priorities. Identical to enterprise priorities, they begin with knowledge and so they begin with ensuring that we use the information to tell not simply objective setting, however monitoring progress. And I believe that’s a very necessary a part of what you must do to be dedicated.

We have a look at that very rigorously to verify we’ve got very various swimming pools once we’re doing hiring, as a result of you may’t get to your numbers in the event you don’t have a broad sufficient hiring pool.

ADI IGNATIUS: Speak extra about that. I imply, I do know that you’ve got explored dropping sure necessities, levels, issues like that. And now pondering extra broadly, I believe you may have an apprenticeship program on this space too. I’d love to listen to extra specifics about the way you’re attempting to deal with this.

JULIE SWEET: It’s beginning in North America, though we’ve now finished this globally with respect to abilities. We re-looked at our job necessities. For instance, in North America, almost 50% of our job openings don’t require four-year levels. And so they used to all require four-year levels. That instantly opens you as much as a broader pool of individuals that you would be able to rent from. And actually, about 20% of the individuals we really rent for these openings do not need four-year levels. So we’ve expanded the pool of people that we will go after to fill these jobs.

On the identical time, we’ve explored different methods of each increasing our entry to expertise, making a constructive impression on our communities, and likewise making a extra various workforce. And we’ve finished that by means of the apprenticeship program. It began really after I turned the CEO of North America within the US again in 2015. We had this superb program known as Abilities to Succeed the place we have been skilling individuals locally, however we weren’t really hiring individuals at Accenture. And so we began with seven apprentices in Chicago. And that program began really in 2016, we’ve now had over 1,200 apprentices undergo our program. We rent most of them. We’ve got unimaginable retention. And 20% of our hiring within the US, our entry degree hiring within the US, will likely be by means of our apprenticeship program, which is about 50/50 women and men, about almost 60% or extra racially or ethnically various and virtually all come from very challenged socioeconomic backgrounds. And these are people who wouldn’t have been on a path to get a job at Accenture utilizing our outdated method of hiring as a result of we needed to assume out of the field and actually have a look at abilities and potential after which be keen to coach ourselves.

That type of comes again to that must be a expertise creator. And I might let you know it’s an enormous win as a result of these are a few of our greatest staff, nice retention, nice learners. And naturally they’ve opened up terrific new pathways for them.

ADI IGNATIUS: I need to shift gears a bit of bit and this can be to the shock of a few of our viewers, however Accenture is usually talked about as a pacesetter within the type of company purposes of the metaverse. What does the metaverse do for Accenture?

JULIE SWEET: We’re actually excited concerning the metaverse. We simply put our tech imaginative and prescient out known as the Metaverse Continuum. In case you haven’t learn it, please check out it. We expect the metaverse is as impactful because the tech imaginative and prescient that we did again in 2013, once we stated that each enterprise can be a digital enterprise, which has undoubtedly come true a decade later. And we expect the metaverse is that important when it comes to what it’ll do for the subsequent decade. And this yr we’ll onboard about 150,000 individuals by going by means of Accenture’s metaverse known as One Accenture Park, which we expect is the most important enterprise metaverse on this planet. It used the beta model of Mesh by Microsoft. And what it does is it brings collectively individuals who’ve joined Accenture within the metaverse to discover Accenture, to have a shared expertise with different new joiners once we’re nonetheless not having in-person shared experiences.

And our analysis reveals that immersive studying for brief sprints, so not all day within the metaverse, that is a few 30-minute expertise, is definitely extra impactful. It’s been terribly properly obtained by our people who find themselves onboarding, who discover it, each studying, but additionally it creates bonds of those shared experiences with different people who find themselves going by means of it. So I simply took my board by means of it lately and so they completely liked it. It’s tremendous progressive. And in the event you’re an progressive firm and also you’re attempting to indicate that innovation, then there’s no higher method than introducing your organization to new joiners by means of a few of the most innovative expertise.

ADI IGNATIUS: I can think about what you’re speaking about, however for viewers who might imagine, okay, I don’t get this, I actually don’t get what the metaverse is, what’s the expertise? What are individuals doing? What are they seeing? How are they interacting in ways in which they wouldn’t be simply by, let’s say the dialog that we’re having like this.

JULIE SWEET: As a substitute of simply one another and having somebody clarify, properly right here, you’re going to find out about TQ and listed below are the various things that our providers do. As a substitute, once you be part of Accenture, somebody will take you thru constructing your individual avatar, which you get to do your self. You’ll placed on some glasses, some individuals do it in 2D, most use glasses and do it in 3D. And once you step into the metaverse, you’re actually with say 30 different people who find themselves additionally on their first or second day at Accenture. You begin by speaking to them. They get you aware of how you progress round. And in the event you’ve had a metaverse expertise, it’s like going to a cocktail get together the place you solely hear the individuals close to you. You don’t hear the individuals distant. So there’s 30 individuals say within the expertise and also you’re not listening to 30 individuals speak directly. You’re really speaking to individuals as in the event you have been in particular person subsequent to them.

Then we discover, we take you to totally different components of the metaverse. So for instance, you’ll go to an space the place you find out about RTQ coaching and you’ll faucet on one thing and it’ll really immerse you in, “Hey, that is what you’re going to study.” And also you’ll really see it. It’ll then take you to different components of Accenture. So we’ve got an innovation lab in San Francisco and also you’ll really go to, in our metaverse, there’s an similar reproduction of that. You get to go expertise and say, “Hey, that is what it’s going to appear to be once you’re there. Right here’s what we’ve got.” You’ll be able to contact buttons and see the totally different examples of issues like drones, and so forth. that we’ve got in a few of our issues. And so it mainly brings to life in 3D the world and also you’re doing it with individuals all around the world.

You’re starting to have these shared experiences. You’re speaking, you’re in a position to react with the individuals standing subsequent to you. You’re in a position to ask them questions like, “Oh, the place are you from? Oh, I’m going to do that.” And so it’s actually as in the event you’ve been taken someplace bodily and are experiencing it with, in some ways, the methods we used to do onboarding as a result of individuals did come to places of work and they’d get to expertise issues. And on the time we’d take them on Groups to a different innovation hub, however they actually get to expertise it.

We’re additionally doing shopper visits in the identical method. I stood up with 30 shoppers in our innovation hub, completely within the metaverse, confirmed them 3D examples of the issues that we’ve got there as in the event that they have been really sitting and attending to see it.

It’s tremendous highly effective and we’ve been doing the underlying expertise since 2007. And I’ll let you know, I joined Accenture in 2010. And I bear in mind my first expertise showcase, which we might have in any respect our inner management conferences. And I bear in mind placing on glasses for the primary time and I used to be a lawyer and I used to be like, “This may by no means make sense.” And again then it was tremendous clunky. It wasn’t actual. It’s superb in the event you haven’t skilled it, what expertise does at present. And we’re engaged on it to do every thing from onboarding experiences and doing coaching. In case you’re retail or consumer-facing, will probably be simply one other approach to have interaction. Like we’re overwhelmed by demand proper right here, as a result of now main manufacturers all imagine they must have a metaverse buyer engagement.

After which perhaps much more thrilling is the way it’s going for use to really run the enterprise. Just like the work we’re doing with Mars, the place there’s digital twins that we’re constructing round their manufacturing websites after which going from the digital twin to the precise web site, making adjustments and type of half bodily, half digital, it’s actually going to be transformative in the way in which that you just work and the way in which that you just have interaction with one another.

ADI IGNATIUS: And the expertise’s solely going to get higher. I imply, we spent a variety of time this season speaking about dispersed work versus being in workplace, what number of days, and that is one thing else completely. And it virtually looks like that query might appear quaint if the experiences are so participating that it’s going to blur what we thought was the worth of the in-person expertise. I virtually query myself as I say that sentence, however that’s type of the inevitable place to finish up, proper?

JULIE SWEET: I might say that we are going to all the time have bodily and digital, and that’s the ability of the longer term is that it’s not all bodily or all digital, it’s the combination. And to your level, the expertise is at very early phases. Whereas we’ve been actually experimenting and utilizing the underlying applied sciences going all the way in which again to 2007, and whereas the comparability from then to now could be superb, we’re simply getting began. And there’s a ton of expertise developments that have to happen till we actually might be working within the metaverse in a persistent method throughout platforms in your private {and professional} life.

On the identical time, the longer term is, we typically name it “phygital”, bodily and digital, and it’s simply on the ease of moving into between these worlds and utilizing the digital worlds and expertise to reinforce connections, relationships, and productiveness will stay the objective versus digital being the vacation spot, I imply, totally digital being the vacation spot.

ADI IGNATIUS: I need to ask one other query from our viewers, and that is from Adna in Brunei. Individuals are listening carefully to what you’re saying about talent units and hiring. Adna’s query is, in your private opinion, what can be probably the most important talent units that graduating college students ought to equip themselves with?

JULIE SWEET: Expertise literacy, and what I imply by that’s you must deal with laptop science like studying. Not that you must ever be a programmer, however you need to have skilled it. You want to have fundamental data about what’s the cloud, what’s AI, and a few of the finest faculties actually are creating expertise curriculums that aren’t meant to graduate a technologist, so somebody who’s really going to both program or construct expertise, however to construct expertise literacy. Till then, actually type of curating your individual program in order that in the event you’re graduating, you perceive, you may have fundamental understanding of those abilities which might be actually necessary.

ADI IGNATIUS: Steve in California asks, and it will get to the type of full-time staff versus gig employees, “Do you discover that you just’re utilizing extra freelancers as a part of your workforce as a approach to entry the new abilities that you just want?”

JULIE SWEET: We aren’t. We don’t actually use the gig financial system at scale. That could be one thing that we do sooner or later. It’s, largely, due to the type of demand that we’ve got, the wants for safety, the coaching that goes on. For us, we haven’t discovered it that productive to do lots with the gig financial system. Actually, lots of our shoppers are efficiently accessing these abilities, however I believe it’s going to rely on the {industry} and the sorts of demand that they’ve. As you may think about, for us, as a result of we create abilities and the talents change lots, and we’ve got that potential, we’re not dabbling type of out and in. So, we haven’t actually had a giant use but of the gig financial system.

ADI IGNATIUS: That is from Manuela in Frankfurt. “What function do tender abilities play in your hiring course of, and do you take into account tender abilities as the brand new exhausting abilities?”

JULIE SWEET: It’s an awesome phrase, and I believe that tender abilities have been all the time a tough talent in our view, and it goes again to that view about management. We actually ask lots about how individuals take into consideration, for instance, leaders coming in, about how they lead individuals, that are tender abilities. So, tender abilities are completely necessary, resembling communication abilities. In truth, once we have been attempting to increase our potential to rent extra girls into technical jobs, as a result of we will achieve this a lot coaching, we even have gone to, for instance, liberal arts faculties and employed in additional individuals with nice crucial pondering abilities, actually good tender abilities, after which prepare them on the expertise. I actually assume that tender abilities are completely crucial, and so they’re an necessary a part of the interviewing course of.

ADI IGNATIUS: So right here’s a query from New York Metropolis. “What steps do organizations have to take to enhance the psychological well being of their staff?”

JULIE SWEET: One of many massive advantages, which it’s exhausting to say that as a result of the pandemic was so troublesome, however I believe there was, within the company world not less than, an actual concentrate on psychological well being that I imagine will proceed. We’ve got a management important known as Caring for Your Folks Personally and Professionally, and psychological well being is actually an necessary a part of that. I believe as organizations, understanding whether or not you provide the fitting advantages, doing listening in your individuals when it comes to what they assume they want round psychological well being after which having a technique round it. In case you’re a pacesetter in an organization and you’ll’t say, “Right here’s how we’re engaged on ensuring that we’re serving to the psychological well being of our staff,” then it most likely is a sign that you just’re not doing sufficient.

One of many issues we’re actually pleased with is a partnership that we’ve got with Thrive, Ariana Huffington’s firm, the place we’ve had over 180,000 individuals full a psychological wellness laptop and science-based program. It’s been most likely probably the most profitable program that we’ve offered our staff. The numbers develop every week as a result of it does have actually good outcomes when it comes to serving to individuals be much less anxious and really feel extra in a position to take care of themselves. The large query in my thoughts is, “Have you learnt what your technique is?” We simply employed a chief well being officer. One of many issues that she takes care of is guaranteeing that we’ve bought the fitting technique and execution of that technique.

ADI IGNATIUS: You’ve been lauded as probably the most highly effective girls in enterprise. There are, after all, many different celebrated feminine CEOs of huge firms, however there’s nonetheless clearly an under-representation of prime girls, of girls on the prime in enterprise. What’s your view? How will that change?

JULIE SWEET: I believe there’s a lot room for hope, not simply optimism, as a result of the actual fact is that it’s altering. I bear in mind after I turned CEO again in 2019. It was shortly round when Indra stepped down at PepsiCo, and there was this enormous lament as a result of she was a lot a job mannequin for all of us. It appeared like we have been transferring backwards. Since then, there have been so many distinctive girls, Karen Lynch at CVS, Roz Brewer at Walgreens, Jane Fraser at Citi, Sonia Syngal at Hole. The record goes on and on, really, which is very nice. I believe there’s a variety of hope. What you’re beginning to see is that the work that’s been finished to create a pipeline of CEOs is beginning to occur as there’s generational change. I believe it’s good to finish maybe on a hopeful be aware, as I do imagine that there’s a ton of motive for hope, and I see so many nice girls persevering with to rise in firms, and that’s what you want. You want a pipeline to ensure that it to be on the prime.

ADI IGNATIUS: Effectively, that may be a good place to finish. There have been tons extra viewers questions. I want we’d get to them, however that was an awesome dialogue, Julie. Thanks for being on The New World of Work.

JULIE SWEET: Thanks a lot, Adi. It was nice to be right here, and thanks for all the nice questions from the viewers.