Teamwork skills 'in decline as firms seek AI expertise'

The workplace looks set to become a far more solitary environment, with interpersonal and teamwork capabilities, historically fundamental to the smooth running of any business, being ditched for technology and AI expertise in the next five years.

That is the rather worrying conclusion of The Corporate Recruiters Survey from the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), now in its 20th year, which seems to suggest that getting along with colleagues will no longer be as important.

Designed to help business schools and students understand employers’ skills demands and hiring cycles, and based on responses from nearly 1,000 recruiters, the report predicts that tech and IT skills will jump from 14th place this year to 3rd over the next five years, with AI expertise jumping from 21st to 4th.

In addition, “innovation” is also expected to rise in importance, becoming the 6th most important skill within the next five years, up from 11th and “grit” (defined as a combination of passion, perseverance, resilience, and determination towards achieving long-term goals) is predicted move up from 15th to 9th.

GMAC Europe regional director Nalisha Patel said: “Employers do not want to be left behind by an ongoing industrial revolution, one based on automations and more data.

“This is driving the skills employers are expecting to prioritise. As AI and automation dominate business operations, expertise in these areas is vital for efficiency and competitiveness. Organisations are recognising that they need employees who can leverage these technologies effectively.

“Recruiters are also adjusting their focus to address a more volatile global business environment, where resilience, adaptability and grit are essential.”

However, on the flip side, “initiative”, once a highly prioritised trait, is predicted to decline in importance, moving from 8th to 16th.

Similarly, “interpersonal and teamwork” skills are predicted to fall significantly in importance, from 4th to 15th; “time and project management” expertise are also expected to drop from 7th to 17th and “coachability” will drop from 13th to 20th.

Patel concluded: “We don’t know how these findings will impact different businesses or societal behaviour, but this shift is likely to reflect how AI and automation are taking over tasks once handled by human initiative and teamwork, reducing the emphasis on these traditional skills, and reshaping the skills prioritised by employers.

“Equally, flexible work arrangements and automated project management solutions fundamentally change the team skills needed by graduates.”