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Chaos has become the backdrop to everyday work. Markets shift, technology accelerates, expectations evolve. In Early Careers (EC), this turbulence is felt even more sharply, with leaders expected to prepare talent pipelines for a future that keeps changing shape.
HIVE 2025 set out to answer one question: Amidst a world in flux, how do you set an Early Careers strategy with certainty?
Our third annual HIVE gathering brought together EC leaders from global organisations to explore how to move their functions forward despite the noise around them. Across a day of discussion, practical tools, and candid insights, our HIVE community explored what it takes to shift from reacting in flux to acting with focus.
Read the highlights:
Dr Khairunnisa Mohamedali, The Smarty Train’s Chief Innovation Officer, opened the event by mapping the major forces reshaping Early Careers today, from global polarisation to rapidly expanding responsibilities of Early Careers functions.
Her central message: today’s EC strategies can’t be built on yesterday’s assumptions. Leaders need to understand the full context shaping the world of talent – not just inside their organisations, but far beyond them – if they want to design strategies that will stand the test of time.
The takeaway? Ensure you understand your landscape fully before deciding where to place your focus.
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What does leadership look like when the ground is constantly shifting? We were joined by Shaheen Sayed, CEO UK, Ireland and Africa at Accenture, for an unfiltered glimpse into the C-Suite mindset, describing how senior leaders are setting priorities in a climate where risk and opportunity change by the week.
Shaheen discussed the tension between long-term ambition and short-term volatility, and how leaders have to deliberately create the headspace to hold both at once. She shared the importance of her own practice of “unlearning”; recognising when old instincts are no longer useful, and being willing to rethink her approach entirely.
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In complex, high-stakes environments, real influence starts with clarity. In this practical upskilling session, Communications Expert Ana Moraru shared simple but powerful frameworks for stakeholder mapping: identifying who really matters, what drives them, and how to get them on to your side. She also shared everyday communication habits like filtering out low-value demands and taking a deliberate pause before speaking that help leaders show up with presence and purpose.
HIVE participants left with tools they could apply immediately to engage their stakeholders more effectively and shift conversations onto what truly matters: their Early Careers strategies.
HIGHLIGHT RECORDING COMING SOON ➔
Big, slow bets are holding organisations back. When in flux, real impact comes from testing, learning, and iterating fast.
We were joined by Dan Black, Global Leader of Talent Strategy and Organisational Effectiveness at EY, to break down an entrepreneurial mindset of testing, measuring, reviewing insights, and deciding whether to scale or stop can give EC leaders a blueprint to reduce risk while increasing pace.
Dan was joined by Jimmy Serrano, Global Head, University & Early Career Recruiting at Amazon, brought this to life with real examples from Amazon, showing how his teams use rapid experimentation to adapt to changing business needs, cut down decision times, and make smarter bets with confidence.
HIGHLIGHT RECORDING COMING SOON ➔
HIVE 2025 brought together the brightest minds in Early Careers to explore how leaders can leverage disruption rather than be overwhelmed by it. But HIVE isn’t just an annual event, it’s a year-round community of Early Careers leaders and pioneers.
Apply to join HIVE to take part in our goals of:
HIVE content is curated by a Content Advisory Board, ensuring a range of perspectives and diversity of thought. Please get in touch if you would like to take part in a future Content Advisory Board. Our 2025 HIVE Content Advisory Board consisted of:
(US) Ingrid Giordano, MD, Global Head of Early Careers, Citi
(US) Jimmy Serrano, Global Head, Early Career Recruiting, Amazon
(UK) Cat Hicks, Head of Global Early Careers, Dyson
(UK) Cathy Baxter, Head of Early Careers UK, PwC
(UK) James Gordanifar, Director of Early Careers Advisory, The Smarty Train
(UK) Sir David Metcalf CBE, Emeritus Professor of Industrial Relations, LSE
(UK) Saj Jetha, Founder, The Smarty Train
(US) Dan Black, Global Leader, Talent Strategy & Organisational Effectiveness, EY
(UK) Dr Khairunnisa Mohamedali, Chief Innovation Officer, The Smarty Train
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