The future of work isn’t just theoretical anymore - AI is transforming not just how we work, but who we hire. LinkedIn’s The Skills Signal Report 2025 shows that a skills-first approach expands opportunities for candidates and improves hiring outcomes for companies. Workers who add just 10 new skills close employment gaps faster, and employers who search by skills are 12% more likely to recruit high-quality hires. Most importantly, skills-based hiring has the potential to expand the global AI talent pipeline by 8.2x.
At Rokt, these findings reinforce how we hire and grow our people to deliver real-time relevance at the Transaction Moment™. Innovation moves fast, and our culture has to move with it. What keeps us ahead is a mindset of curiosity and ownership. We encourage Rokt’stars to try new things, learn quickly, and lean into change.
Skills-first hiring
The future of hiring won’t be determined by resumes and specific past experiences; it will be determined by skills and aptitudes. At Rokt, AI and automation supports our recruiting process, from reducing bias to ensuring more consistent decision-making. AI-enabled processes capture richer insights while freeing recruiters to focus on conversations and potential, while decisions remain firmly human-led.
Since introducing this AI-enabled hiring model, Rokt has seen a 48% increase in top-of-funnel applications, growing from roughly 124,000 last year to more than 238,000 this year. This acceleration not only broadened access to early-career talent but strengthened our ability to identify skills and potential at scale.
We are democratizing the job search for candidates, widening access and opportunity by no longer prioritizing past experience or credentials, but rather capabilities and mindset. Our interviews go deeper into uncovering how candidates are applying tools like ChatGPT, Copilot, and AI-driven analytics in real work. We’re not just testing for proficiency, we’re testing for curiosity and adaptability. In my view, AI literacy is no longer optional; it’s a durable advantage that will separate the best companies and talent from the rest.
Building the early-career pipeline
Preparing for the future of work means looking at who will lead it. Few companies commit 90% of new hires to early career talent. At Rokt, it’s a strategic bet: digital natives bring fluency in AI, fresh energy, and the ability to grow into tomorrow’s leaders. We focus on broad inbound applications, internships, graduate programs, and university recruiting pipelines. So far this year, that commitment has driven a 62% increase in total hires year over year, 236 new Rokt’stars compared to 146 during the same period last year.
These digital natives arrive ready to experiment and already fluent in AI tools. This momentum mirrors a broader trend: skills signaling on LinkedIn has risen 75% since 2019, with the fastest growth among women and Gen Z. The next generation of talent isn’t just showcasing their skills - they’re actively building fluency in AI and other disruptive technologies.
What sets Rokt apart is our Builder DNA: a mindset that shapes how we work, make decisions, and grow together. Grounded in alignment, autonomy, a ‘win or learn’ approach, and deep trust, it ensures that every early-career hire has the foundation to thrive today and the opportunity to lead tomorrow.
Learning at scale
Upskilling can’t be an afterthought in an AI-driven world. At Rokt, every new hire is trained in AI tools during onboarding and encouraged to keep experimenting, rotating across teams, and participating in mentorship programs. We’ve embedded AI-powered learning into our culture so that development is a continuous loop.
This reflects a belief I hold strongly: growth doesn’t weaken culture, it strengthens it. When companies pair scale with upskilling, they help define the future of work.
Lasting impact
AI-led process improvements have streamlined operations, reducing our average time to hire from 45 to 36 days, a 25% improvement year over year. The results are clear: faster hiring cycles, a more diverse and AI-fluent workforce, and high internal mobility and promotion rates. But the deeper impact is cultural. Trust, adaptability, and ownership aren’t just buzzwords here - they’re experienced every day in how our people operate.
As leaders, we need to recognize that AI will continue to change the rules of the game. The companies that thrive will be those that adopt a skills-first mindset, treat culture as a shared responsibility, and invest in continuous learning. At Rokt, that’s how we’re redefining what it means to hire for the future and how we’re building not just stronger teams, but the workforce the next decade demands.
At Rokt, we’re building a workforce for the future - curious, adaptable, and fluent in AI. If that sounds like you, we would love to have you help shape what comes next.
