TL;DR

A City & Guilds report says UK employers are short of staff with basic “human” skills, from managing time to solving problems and talking to people in person, and that AI recruitment tools may be making it worse. Of the employers surveyed, 43% let AI sift or screen applicants, and 69% believe those tools reward technical skills over the qualities businesses say they need.

What employers report

The report, “Counting the Cost: The UK’s Employability Skills Crisis”, surveyed 908 people who hire or manage staff, plus 1,014 people aged 18 to 24. Among employers, 38% said gaps in these skills are holding back productivity, and 64% said applicants who have them are getting harder to find. Reported effects include weaker customer service (29%), reduced efficiency (33%), and both errors with delays and higher staff turnover (37% each).

Nearly three-quarters (74%) now put employability skills ahead of technical know-how for success at work, as AI absorbs routine work. That sits awkwardly beside the screening data: if the tools firms use to shortlist are tuned to technical criteria, the candidates they most want may be filtered out early.

What young people say

Just over half (51%) of young respondents fear AI will shrink job opportunities for their generation, while 41% already use it to sharpen how they work and communicate. Only 40% feel completely confident communicating face to face. Among young people outside work, education and training (NEET), 34% lack confidence presenting themselves professionally, double the 17% of those in work. Apprentices stood out: 48% were fully confident face to face, and 74% had been given specific training in employability skills.

City & Guilds’ interim chief executive, Andy Moss, argued that apprenticeships and vocational routes build these skills through real work.

Looking forward

City & Guilds wants employers to build these skills through onboarding, early careers schemes and mentoring, and to review how AI screening tools assess candidates. The same shift is visible in professional services, where the Big Four are rebuilding graduate training around judgement and communication. Hiring is already strained by AI-written applications, and the UK has over a million NEET young people. For SMEs using off-the-shelf screening software, a simple check is to ask the vendor what the tool scores, and whether communication or problem-solving evidence can survive the filter.