Why hiring for adaptability matters more than hiring for experience?
According to LinkedIn’s 2024 Most In-Demand Skills (hiring) report, adaptability now tops the list of skills employers seek, particularly in sectors being transformed by AI and automation. Companies are increasingly realising that technical experience alone cannot guarantee long-term effectiveness, but the ability to evolve does.
Adaptability, empathy, and creativity are the most important skills today – the ones that allow us to navigate uncertainty, connect with others, and innovate in ways AI cannot. These skills are not just “nice-to-haves”, but they are deeply rooted in emotional intelligence (EI), which enables us to perceive, understand, and manage our own emotions while responding effectively to others. Adaptability is the living proof of EI in action. The ability to adjust to new circumstances, collaborate across diverse teams, and thrive amid change is grounded in self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, and social insight. In a world where AI is reshaping roles faster than organisations can plan, this human capacity is far more valuable than decades of experience.
Early in my career, I learnt how deeply we associate credibility with age and experience. When I began teaching Civil Services aspirants, at the age of 26, I dressed to look older, consciously trying to look more “experienced.” because many of my students were older than me. Looking back, it makes me laugh. What earned trust in that classroom had nothing to do with my age; it came from clarity, adaptability, and the ability to connect with each student’s needs.
Years later, as a self-taught artist, I carried a quiet fear that my work would be questioned because I did not have a formal art background. Yet the work found its audience, not because of my credentials, but because of how it evolved, connected, and responded to the world around it. These experiences reflect a broader truth about work today – credibility increasingly comes from adaptability, not experience.
The End of the Linear Career
Careers today are non-linear by default. People pause, pivot, reinvent, and cross industries, often multiple times. Artificial intelligence has accelerated this shift, compressing learning cycles and reshaping roles faster than traditional career ladders can support.
Adaptability is particularly evident in two types of journeys I encounter often:
- Career comebacks – Professionals who pause for caregiving, health, or personal recalibration often return stronger than before. The break is not a gap; it is a period of reflection, resilience, and perspective-building. Re-entering the workforce demands rapid learning, humility, and a willingness to unlearn and relearn. I have met senior leaders and mid-career professionals whose career breaks equipped them with emotional intelligence, patience, and insight that traditional continuous work rarely fosters. These individuals demonstrate that adaptability is far more predictive of success than uninterrupted experience.
- Moving continents – Professionals relocating internationally rebuild their careers in entirely new contexts – navigating unfamiliar labour markets, cultural norms, and organisational expectations. I recently met someone who had led significant HR functions overseas and yet struggled to access equivalent roles locally. Their journey demanded cultural agility, empathy, curiosity, and resilience – qualities essential for leadership but invisible on a résumé. To adapt across geographies is to translate experience into flexible action, making such professionals uniquely capable in ambiguous and rapidly evolving environments.
According to LinkedIn’s 2024 Most In-Demand Skills report, adaptability now tops the list of skills employers seek, particularly in sectors being transformed by AI and automation. Companies are increasingly realising that technical experience alone cannot guarantee long-term effectiveness, but the ability to evolve does.
In such an environment, experience becomes a lagging indicator. A résumé records the past. It struggles to capture how someone thinks, learns, and responds when the role itself changes.
Many professionals today are succeeding in jobs that barely resemble the ones they were hired for. What enables that success is not prior experience, but learning velocity- the ability to absorb new information, let go of outdated assumptions, and apply insight in real time.
Hiring purely for experience is often an attempt to reduce risk. Ironically, it can increase it. Research by McKinsey shows that only 16% of global employers are actively investing in adaptability or continuous learning programs, even though 26% of employees identify adaptability as a critical skill they need to thrive. Only about 23% of employees feel fully equipped to handle unexpected change – a clear gap between organisational priorities and workforce realities.
When Experience Becomes Comfort
Experience is valuable, but only when it remains flexible.
Over time, experience can harden into certainty. “This is how it’s always been done.” “This won’t work here.” These statements rarely come from a lack of intelligence; they come from over-reliance on what once worked.
Adaptable professionals operate differently. They remain curious. They ask questions before offering conclusions. They are comfortable admitting what they don’t know – an essential capability in a world where no one knows everything anymore.
Organisations do not struggle because their people lack experience. They struggle when experience replaces learning.
Adaptability is the New Credibility
What is often overlooked is that adaptability, alongside empathy and creativity, is deeply rooted in emotional intelligence. These three skills now define the most effective professionals: the ability to understand themselves and others, navigate ambiguity, and innovate when circumstances change.
Research in organizational psychology finds that emotional intelligence positively predicts career adaptability, meaning that the more emotionally intelligent you are, the better you can adjust to evolving job demands and diverse environments.
Often described as learning agility, adaptability shows up as resilience during career breaks, openness during transitions, humility to start again when needed, and the courage to rebuild in new countries. These are the professionals who grow with organisations rather than outgrow them.
In the age of AI, credibility no longer comes from how long someone has done a job. It comes from how well they can evolve as the job transforms.
Rethinking Hiring for the Future
Careers and jobs are being redefined faster than organisations can keep up. Research shows that adaptability correlates with higher engagement, innovation, and productivity. Organisations that cultivate adaptable teams see higher engagement and higher innovations than those that do not, according to reports.
Leading firms like PwC Australia are already reprioritising hiring and training strategies to focus on curiosity, adaptability, and emotional intelligence – recognising that these human skills matter more than years of experience.
In an era of AI and non-linear careers, hiring primarily for experience is a bet on the past. Hiring for adaptability is a bet on the future. As Daniel Goleman, the father of Emotional Intelligence, puts it: “In the future of work, emotional intelligence will determine not just who leads, but who survives change.”
The real differentiator going forward will be adaptability – the ability to learn continuously, question assumptions, and evolve with change rather than resist it. This is not a generational issue or a sector-specific challenge; it is a leadership imperative.
Experience opens doors. Adaptability, empathy, and creativity decide who stays relevant, drives innovation, and shapes the future. In a world defined by AI, disruption, and non-linear careers, those who cling to the past will be left behind. Those who evolve will lead. Hence, hiring for adaptability matters more than hiring for experience. For further insights into the evolving workplace paradigm, visit
- Why hiring for adaptability matters more than hiring for experience? - February 16, 2026
