The ever-changing nature of the modern world means that “education can never keep up with the world of work”, according to the boss of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).

CIPD chief executive officer Peter Cheese was speaking on Wednesday evening (19 June) at a London HR Connection (LHRC) event, ‘The Future of HR: Challenges and Opportunities', attended by Recruiter.

He started his talk by saying: “I've said for a while now that there's never been a more interesting time to be in HR,” with global political and economic change creating challenges. But he added that “what is happening with education and skills” is among the most important issues.

“There is a skills mismatch,” Cheese said. “The reality is that education can never keep up with the world of work, the world of work is changing so fast.”

Various predictions and forecasts suggest that half the types of jobs existing in the market today are likely not to exist in 10 years’ times. This creates an impossible task for educators to fully shape the future workforce, he suggested.

The low employability of the current Generation Y is much bemoaned, Cheese noted, but it is not just going to go away. “Is it they'll just wake and smell the coffee?” Cheese asked. “Well, no,” he said.

But even if the current Generation Y and Generation Z coming up behind them might appear to be not as well prepared as their parents and grandparents, they “bring a lot of things to the table”.

“I, for one, think that in many ways the younger generation taught my generation to take corporate social responsibility seriously,” he said. He based his comments on his previous experiences recruiting graduates while working at consultancy Accenture and attending graduate recruitment events.

• The event also saw Cheese announced that the CIPD would begin a collaboration to develop human capital metrics. The LHRC event came as the CIPD was midway through a two-day recruitment and resourcing conference.