We spoke with our CEO, Nathan Connolly, after he was invited to Haileybury connect to join a panel on “The Great AI Reinvention”. The school brought together a group of specialists to talk about how AI is reshaping education, career paths, and the job market. Nathan sat alongside Tara Button, Founder and CEO of Buy Me Once, Louise Holden, Global Head, Partnerships, Visa Government Solutions and Bruce Pannaman, Senior Engineering Manager of 9Fin in front of an audience of around 300, sharing how AI is changing the way organisations hire and build teams.
After the event, we asked Nathan to share what stood out to him. Here’s his take on the night:
Last week I joined a panel to talk about how AI is reshaping work, learning, and the way companies think about hiring. The room brought together leaders from tech, education, and business, but the same questions kept coming up. How fast will AI change our jobs, and what should people do to keep pace?
From a recruitment view, the shift feels real every day. Companies are moving from early experiments to steady adoption, and the skills they ask for now look different to even two years ago.
AI isn’t killing jobs but it’s changing how work gets done
There was a clear message across the panel. AI isn’t wiping out whole workforces but it is changing the shape of roles and the type of tasks people spend time on.
Louise Holden from Visa shared something that cut through the noise. Visa’s global headcount grew by 2,500, even with automation rising across the business. Every time they hire or replace a role, they ask how AI can support the person stepping into it. That’s a human-first way of building a workforce, and we’re seeing more companies move in the same direction.
A point that stood out for me was the rise of internal tracking around AI use. It’s not a KPI yet, but people are measured by how they’re using these tools day to day. I expect many firms to follow.
The future belongs to the skills AI can’t copy
Bruce Pannaman from 9fin put it bluntly. “The ultimate customer is still humans.” That line stuck with me because it sums up the hiring shift we’re seeing across Product, Data and AI, Engineering, and UX. Companies want people who can handle judgment calls, bring empathy into their work, and steady a conversation when the stakes are high.
You can’t automate that.
Bruce also shared a Spider-Man quote that captured the whole evening. “With great power comes great responsibility.” AI gives us scale and speed, but it also needs care, ethics, and awareness of bias. Those softer skills matter more as the tools get stronger.
AI can save or reshape a business, if people are willing to learn
Tara Button from BuyMeOnce spoke about running a business through rising costs. She retrained herself, automated large parts of her work, and came out stronger. Her line made people stop for a second: “Everyone’s been given a magic wand, the question is what we do with it.”
That mirrors what we see in our clients. The firms leaning into AI are growing. The ones waiting for a perfect moment tend to stall.
The education gap is widening, not closing
Tom Wade from Haileybury shared something that raised eyebrows. They now teach AI from the earliest school years, yet another well-known independent school admitted they’re far behind. Even well-resourced schools aren’t always ready.
With AI set to appear in the national curriculum, students will need space to learn how to use these tools, not fear them. The UK already faces tough graduate employment numbers. A lack of AI literacy will only widen the gap.
My message on the night
I shared one point that sits across all hiring markets we work in. Question the output. Question the source. Question why the model reached the answer it did. AI can infer things people never intended it to, and that can cause real issues.
Human judgment doesn’t disappear in an AI-heavy workplace. It becomes the safeguard.
Closing thoughts
It was a strong evening and a reminder of how fast things are moving. AI isn’t replacing people. It’s pushing us to double down on the human skills that carry teams, products, and companies forward. That’s the thread we see in every brief we take at Consortia, companies still need people who can think, challenge and lead. The technology is moving fast, but the people side of work matters more than ever.
A big thank you to Haileybury UK and Amy Ledingham for the invitation.
