Presented by
Nicky Garcea and Trudy Bateman from Cappfinity
Ipsos UK & Ireland
Manchester Metropolitan University

Early talent teams collect extensive recruitment and programme data, but it often sits in separate systems. Joining data up can reveal whether people need development or already have capability they are not being given the opportunity to use. Drawing on Ipsos UK & Ireland and Manchester Metropolitan University, the session will show how behavioural skills insight supports this distinction.

Cappfinity will share global skills data showing the skills students commonly bring into organisations and where development may be needed. Delegates will be invited to interpret patterns from this data and decide what action could be taken.

Delegates will leave with clear, practical takeaways allowing them to:

• Distinguish a genuine development need from an opportunity gap
• Combine recruitment, behavioural skills and programme evidence to improve early talent decisions
• Use post-hire insight to strengthen onboarding and performance
• Identify where changes to work or opportunity may deliver more value than additional training
• Apply practical questions to assess programme performance and early contribution

Delegates will also be offered access to Skills Discovery after the session. This will allow them to experience their own results first-hand and explore how behavioural skills insight could support decisions across the early talent lifecycle.

Presented by Neueda and employer client

Most early talent teams can describe their skills gaps in general terms. Few can evidence them.

This session shows how their client moved from assumption to evidence: benchmarking their early talent population's AI and digital capability against industry peers, using that data to identify the gaps that actually matter, and turning it into concrete workforce planning and learning and development decisions.

That benchmarked view feeds a structured skills gap analysis: prioritising which gaps matter most to the business, rather than treating every gap as equally urgent. Neueda will walk through how this analysis is built, what data sources feed it, and how it's made credible to stakeholders outside the talent function. They'll also show how the resulting
data directly shapes two connected outputs: longer-term workforce and talent strategy, and targeted L&D interventions that close the gaps that matter, rather than generic training.

This will be grounded throughout in a live, employer case study, showing the real data, the decisions it informed, and what the employer would do differently next time. 

Delegates will be given the opportunity work through a lightweight version of the benchmarking framework against their own organisation's context, before regrouping to share what surfaced.

Delegates will leave with:

• A practical framework delegates can apply back at their own desks
• A first-hand account of what the data revealed for Neueda's employer partner, and what changed as a result
• A short, usable exercise to begin mapping their own team's capability gaps.

Presented by Sarah Roche from Group GTI and an employer panel
Confirmed panelist: Kirk Southern, Group Chief People Officer at Howden

This panel brings together senior HR, People and Talent leaders to explore how workforce intelligence can be used to identify future skills requirements, anticipate resource needs and support evidence-based workforce planning. Panelists will discuss the practical realities of combining internal workforce data with external labour market intelligence to build a more accurate picture of future talent demand.

The discussion will examine the key components of effective strategic workforce planning and attendees will hear how leading employers are using workforce intelligence to align people strategy with broader business objectives. The session will also address one of the biggest challenges facing organisations today: fragmented data. Panelists will share insights into the barriers they have encountered when collating data across HR, Talent Acquisition, Learning & Development and wider business functions, and discuss practical approaches to improving data quality, governance, integration and stakeholder engagement. Finally, the discussion will explore subject-specific challenges, including the collection and interpretation of EDI data, understanding representation across the talent lifecycle, and balancing compliance requirements with the need for meaningful workforce insights.

Delegates will leave with:

• Practical examples of how leading employers are using workforce intelligence to inform strategic decisions
• Ideas for assessing current and future skills requirements
• Approaches for connecting fragmented data sources across the organisation
• Strategies for improving workforce data quality, accessibility and stakeholder buy-in
• A framework for using workforce intelligence to support more effective, evidence-basedworkforce planning.

Presented by
Shoshannah Davis from Fairy Job Mother
Sophie Jacobs, Early Careers, Engagement & Inclusion Manager at Wood.

Most organisations are rich in early talent data, yet still can't answer the question leadership cares about most: are these people contributing to the business faster because of our programme? 

In this session, Shoshannah will share original findings from The Disconnect Report providing research across 40+ organisations spanning early careers leaders, graduates and apprentices, and (uniquely) the line managers who support them. It surfaces three systemic disconnects that stop early careers data proving impact:

• Learning disconnected from the role
• Managers disconnected from the journey
• Activity disconnected from impact

Shoshannah will then introduce the Connect Framework: a practical model for reconnecting these three and deciding what to measure at each stage of the lifecycle.

Working in roundtables, delegates will map their own early careers metrics against the full talent lifecycle, from attraction through to progression, using a simple audit grid.

Delegates will leave with:

• A completed Data Gap Audit of their own metrics
• A simple, reusable model for structuring early careers measurement.
• A shortlist of development and progression metrics that evidence real impact and ROI, ready to
• take back to their teams
• A sharper narrative for demonstrating programme value to senior stakeholders, moving from
• "attendance and retention" to "growth and contribution."
• Access to The Disconnect Report and its supporting findings for deeper reference. 

Presented by
Sarah Roche from Group GTI
Emma O'Dell from BPP
Orianne Wightman, Global Emerging Talent Director at Arm
Hayley Bowd, Emerging Talent & Careers Director at Expedia.

As organisations face budget pressures, AI-driven transformation and an ageing workforce, many early careers leaders are being challenged to justify continued investment in graduate, apprentice and school-leaver programmes. This session brings together unique evidence from Cibyl, BPP, SHL and wider demographic trends to provide a compelling, data-led response.

Drawing on BPP's 2026 research in conjunction with CRF, SHL assessment insights, and labour market demographic projections, the session will explore the growing gap between the skills organisations need, the capabilities available in the workforce, and the workforce planning challenges that lie ahead. Delegates will gain practical evidence to help influence senior stakeholders and secure support for long-term talent investment strategies.

The session will demonstrate why early careers hiring should be viewed not as a discretionary cost, but as a critical workforce planning lever for organisations seeking sustainable growth and resilience over the next decade.

Delegates will leave with:

• A clear, evidence-based narrative for defending and growing early careers investment
• Insight into future skills demand and emerging talent capability trends
• Practical examples of how leading organisations are using workforce intelligence to inform hiring strategies.
• Data points and talking points that resonate with senior business leaders.
• A simple framework for presenting the strategic and financial case for early careers programmes within their own organisations.

Presented by
Sarah Wardle and Sam Hunter, Tonic Agency 
Hannah Greengrass, Senior Manager, Talent Development and Performance Management (including Emerging Talent), Currys

What candidates say they want is not necessarily what they do. What they do during recruitment does not necessarily tell us what will make them stay, perform or progress. And when these datasets sit separately, employers can miss the insight that connects them.

This session explores how employers can close that intelligence gap by connecting attitudes, motivations, behaviours and outcomes.

Drawing on Tonic's Future Talent Barometer, which listens directly to 4,000 young people every quarter to understand changing attitudes, expectations and behaviours around work and careers, alongside their work with employers including Currys, The Army and Arm, Tonic will explore how external insight becomes more powerful when combined with what is happening inside an organisation. The session will also explore what happens when we look beyond recruitment. Connecting attraction and candidate data with outcomes such as performance, retention and progression creates a much richer picture of whether an early talent strategy is actually working.

Delegates will leave with:

• A practical framework for identifying where their own intelligence gaps exist
• How to connect the data they already have with the right external insight
• How to connect audience, behavioural and outcome data to improve early talent strategy and demonstrate impact.