share on
A degree may tell employers where someone has been. But for Yanhong Lin, Chief People Officer, APAC, Edelman, the real question is where they can go — and whether they have the judgement, adaptability, and humanity to thrive in a changing world.
When Yanhong Lin (pictured above), Chief People Officer, APAC, Edelman, thinks about what makes someone “qualified”, she is not looking only at the university they attended, the companies they have worked for, or the number of years they have spent in a role.
Those details may still matter, as they offer context. But for Lin, they do not tell the whole story.
“Companies therefore need to redefine what 'qualified' means by looking beyond credentials and focusing instead on capability, potential, adaptability, and future readiness,” she highlights.
What matters just as much is how a person thinks under pressure. How they respond when there is no clear answer. How they build trust, work across differences, adapt to change and make decisions when the stakes are high.
In a world where industries are being reshaped by technology, artificial intelligence and shifting workforce expectations, these human qualities are becoming harder to ignore.
“The skills that matter most will differ across organisations depending on their purpose, strategy and client needs,” Lin says. At Edelman, where the work centres on helping clients navigate complexity and act with confidence in moments that matter, success depends on far more than technical expertise.
It requires people who can build relationships, influence stakeholders, adapt quickly and lead through ambiguity.
That is why, for Lin, as she shares with Sarah Gideon skills-based hiring is ultimately about redefining what “qualified” means.
Looking beyond the polished CV
The shift toward skills-based hiring is gaining momentum globally. In Singapore, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and Minister for Education Desmond Lee have both spoken about the importance of building a skills-first workforce and fostering lifelong learning, Lin points out.
For employers, this reflects a larger challenge: how to identify talent in an economy where change is constant and where past credentials may not always predict future performance.
A degree can show what someone studied. A job title can show the role they held. Years of experience can show time spent in a field. But none of these automatically reveal whether a person can solve problems, influence outcomes or continue learning when the environment changes.
On that note, Lin believes organisations need to look more closely at capability, potential, adaptability and future readiness.
“In a relationship-driven business, demonstrated behaviours, reputation, problem-solving ability, and evidence of impact often provide deeper insight than titles or degrees alone,” she shares.
This does not mean credentials are irrelevant. Rather, it means they should not be treated as the full measure of a person’s potential.
“Ultimately, skills-based hiring is about building a workforce that is agile, resilient, and future-ready in a world where change is the only constant,” Lin elaborates.
What really needs to be there on day one?
One of the hardest questions for employers is deciding which skills are essential from the start and which can be learned over time.
For Lin, the answer lies in distinguishing between capabilities that are foundational and enduring, and those that can be developed through coaching, exposure and experience.
In a fast-changing workplace, organisations cannot hire for everything. Technical skills may be important, but they can also evolve quickly. AI is a good example. Some capabilities that companies are looking for today did not formally exist just a few years ago.
That makes it even more important to identify the human capabilities that Lin believes remain valuable across roles, industries, and disruptions: Judgement, adaptability, collaboration, cultural awareness, learning agility, and the ability to build trust.
“In today’s environment, change is the only constant. Organisations therefore need to anchor their ‘must-have’ day-one capabilities to the company’s purpose, values, culture, and leadership expectations.”
Increasingly, she adds, the capabilities that matter most are “deeply human in nature”.
“These are the qualities that remain relevant regardless of industry shifts or technological disruption,” she says.
The point, she adds, is not to downplay technical expertise. It is to recognise that technical skills alone are rarely enough. In many roles, especially those involving clients, teams and complex decision-making, the most successful people are those who can combine expertise with perspective, empathy and sound judgement.
“Organisations cannot hire for everything. The ability to focus on the few capabilities that truly drive long-term impact is what enables companies to remain competitive and future-ready in a rapidly changing world.”
Helping hiring managers see differently
Even when companies commit to skills-based hiring, hiring managers can still fall back on familiar markers: A well-known university. A prestigious former employer. A senior-sounding job title.
These markers can feel reassuring because they are easy to recognise; but they can also narrow how organisations define talent. That's where training comes in. For Lin, training hiring managers begins with helping them understand the business reason behind the shift. As she affirms, skills-based hiring is not just about changing interview questions. It is about building a more agile, inclusive and future-ready workforce.
In that vein, hiring managers need to be encouraged to look for evidence of impact. Lin tells us:
“Often, the strongest hiring decisions are grounded not in where someone studied or previously worked, but in how they navigated ambiguity, solved problems, collaborated across teams, and influenced outcomes."
Structured interviews, scenario-based assessments and diverse interview panels can help make this process more objective, she adds. They create space to assess how candidates think and behave, rather than relying too heavily on assumptions based on their CV.
“Ultimately, skills-based hiring requires a mindset shift, from evaluating credentials alone to recognising capability, potential, and the ability to lead through change.”
Why “soft skills” are no longer soft
The phrase “soft skills” can make communication, adaptability, empathy and collaboration sound secondary. Lin sees them differently.
For instance, she notes, when it comes to professional services, technical expertise may open the door; but it is human capability that often determines whether someone can lead, influence, and create lasting impact.
This has become even more important in recent years. Geopolitical uncertainty, economic disruption and the rapid rise of AI have placed new demands on leaders and organisations. People are looking not only for competence, but for transparency, ethics, empathy and trust.
According to the leader, Edelman’s Trust Barometer has consistently shown that trust is central to how people assess institutions and leaders. For a company whose work is rooted in trust, this makes human capability a business-critical issue, she highlights.
Adding to that, as AI automates more routine tasks, she sees that the skills that differentiate people may become even more human: creativity, empathy, contextual judgement, critical thinking and problem-solving. She is firm that organisations need to stop treating these qualities as nice-to-have attributes, pointing out that they shape culture, innovation, resilience and the ability to lead through uncertainty.
“Organisations therefore need to stop viewing ‘soft skills’ as secondary qualities,” she stresses. “These are strategic business capabilities that directly influence trust, culture, innovation, and long-term resilience.”
Starting with what matters most
For HR and learning leaders who want to move towards skills-based hiring, Lin’s advice is pragmatic: start small, but start with intent.
Organisations do not need to redesign every role at once. Instead, they can apply the 80/20 principle by focusing first on the roles and capabilities that create the greatest business impact. That means taking the time to define the few capabilities that genuinely predict success, then aligning hiring and assessment processes around them.
It also means treating skills-based hiring as part of a broader talent strategy. Hiring for potential only works if organisations also create opportunities for people to keep learning and growing.
Lin points to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s reminder:
“Don’t be a know-it-all; be a learn-it-all.”
That idea captures the mindset companies increasingly need. In a world where technologies, client needs and business models are constantly evolving, past experience matters — but the ability to keep learning may matter even more.
The skill Lin believes will matter more
As the conversation draws to a close, Lin reveals what skills she believes will matter more over the next five years. Her answer is not coding, data analytics or AI prompting. It is discernment – the ability to interpret information critically, exercise sound judgement, and navigate complexity with both confidence and empathy.
For Lin, that skill feels especially important in an age where AI is making information more accessible and automating many technical tasks. The differentiator, she says, will no longer be who has the most information, but who can make sense of it.
“As AI makes information more accessible and automates many technical tasks, the differentiator will no longer be who has the most information, but who can ask better questions, connect context, and make thoughtful human decisions,” she adds.
That is where the conversation returns to the heart of skills-based hiring. If the workplace is changing faster than ever, organisations need people who can do more than keep up with new tools. They need people who can think critically, build trust, understand diverse perspectives and make principled decisions when the path ahead is unclear.
For people leaders especially, Lin believes this will be crucial. Organisations will increasingly need individuals who can lead through uncertainty while still keeping humanity at the centre of decision-making.
“Ultimately, the workforce of the future will not simply be shaped by technology,” she says, “but by how effectively people use technology while still leading with humanity.”
That may be the strongest argument for skills-based hiring. It is not simply a recruitment trend, or a way to widen talent pools. It is a different way of recognising potential.
The end of credential-based hiring does not mean the end of credentials altogether. But it does mean credentials can no longer be the whole story. In a skills-first economy, the most valuable talent may not be defined by where someone has been, but by how they learn, adapt, build trust and exercise discernment when the path ahead is uncertain.
Lead image / HRO
share on
