How AI is Driving the Need for Skills-Based Hiring with Leslie Thomas

About this episode

In episode 224, Coffey talks with Dr. Leslie Thomas about how artificial intelligence and the speed of change are reshaping hiring and workforce development.

They discuss the evolving role of AI in HR and how it is redefining job design and required skill sets; the transition from traditional degree-based hiring to skills-based approaches that emphasize measurable competencies; how psychometrics supports objective and equitable testing and certification; the rise of microcredentials and modular certification programs that align with changing organizational needs; the implications of reduced reliance on four-year degrees and the expansion of alternative pathways to employment; the balance between automation and human adaptability as job roles evolve; methods for assessing durable “power skills” such as communication, collaboration, and leadership; and the importance of ensuring transparency, privacy, and bias mitigation in AI-assisted assessment and hiring systems.

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About our Guest:

For more than 20 years, Dr. Leslie Thomas has been helping clients create assessment programs to effectively measure and evaluate professional competence.

In her role at Kryterion, Dr. Thomas and her team work closely with clients to help translate their business goals into credentialing programs that provide real value to their stakeholders such as enhanced productivity, risk mitigation, or lower hiring costs.

As a member of the Association of Test Publisher's Technology-based Assessment's AI subcommittee, she has contributed to multiple publications on the use of AI in the assessment including the responsible use of AI and human oversight.

Before Kryterion, Leslie served as the Chief Psychometric Officer at Brainbench, ran a boutique consulting firm, and worked as a research scientist at ACT.

Leslie Thomas can be reached at www.kryterion.com/ www.linkedin.com/in/leslieathomas

About Mike Coffey:

Mike Coffey is an entrepreneur, licensed private investigator, business strategist, HR consultant, and registered yoga teacher. In 1999, he founded Imperative, a background investigations and due diligence firm helping risk-averse clients make well-informed decisions about the people they involve in their business.

Imperative delivers in-depth employment background investigations, know-your-customer and anti-money laundering compliance, and due diligence investigations to more than 300 risk-averse corporate clients across the US, and, through its PFC Caregiver & Household Screening brand, many more private estates, family offices, and personal service agencies. Imperative has been named a Best Places to Work, the Texas Association of Business’ small business of the year, and is accredited by the Professional Background Screening Association. Mike shares his insight from 25+ years of HR-entrepreneurship on the Good Morning, HR podcast, where each week he talks to business leaders about bringing people together to create value for customers, shareholders, and community.

Mike has been recognized as an Entrepreneur of Excellence by FW, Inc. and has twice been recognized as the North Texas HR Professional of the Year. Mike serves as a board member of a number of organizations, including the Texas State Council, where he serves Texas’ 31 SHRM chapters as State Director-Elect; Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County; the Texas Association of Business; and the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, where he is chair of the Talent Committee. Mike is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) through the HR Certification Institute and a SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP). He is also a Yoga Alliance registered yoga teacher (RYT-200) and teaches multiple times each week.

Mike and his very patient wife of 28 years are empty nesters in Fort Worth.

Learning Objectives:

1. Understand how AI is transforming employee selection, assessment, and job design.

2. Identify strategies for implementing skills-based and credential-based hiring.

3. Evaluate ways to maintain fairness, transparency, and adaptability in AI-driven HR processes.