Preparing Aussie talent acquisition teams for AI through gamification

To future-proof recruiters in a dynamic labour market, LinkedIn recently hosted AI Skills Sprint, an AI upskilling activation for hundreds of talent acquisition professionals.

With AI’s growing influence in the recruitment space, after launching its hiring assistant in November last year, LinkedIn ran its AI Skills Sprint between 3 and 5 March 2026, teaching talent acquisition teams team development, prompt engineering, business AI, ethics and compliance, as well as strategic communication while using its hiring assistant to participate in interactive activities spread throughout its Sydney office.

LinkedIn’s senior director of talent and learning solutions for ANZ, Adam Gregory, said the event’s main goal was to upskill the talent acquisition community.

“It doesn’t start and end with the AI Skills Sprint, it’s something we’ve been passionate about for a long time because there’s definitely an opportunity for Australia to help upskill,” he said.

Gregory said the initial blueprint for the activation was born out of ideas and feedback from its workforce transformation series in the second half of the previous calendar year, during which it hosted various sessions delving into the impact of AI.

“I think there’s such a broad spectrum of where people are at on their AI journey. It’s certainly not one-size-fits-all. I’m sure we’ll find people today who have a greater understanding of trust and safety and verification, and others who are better at prompting. But really, we just want to upskill people together in a sort of community.”

Attendees of the AI Skills Sprint received a two-week trial of LinkedIn’s hiring assistant to bring the skills and tools they learnt at the activation back to their workplaces.

“I think for many, this will be the beginning of more learning; we’re giving them the ability to use the tool for another couple of weeks afterwards, our agentic hiring tool, which is obviously part of what they’re getting exposure to today if they haven’t already got it, so from today with the skills.”

“The things that we wanted from the event in terms of helping to upskill the talent community, like that’s most important. It doesn’t start and end with the AI Skills Sprint. It’s something that, you know, we’ve been passionate about for a long time because there’s definitely an opportunity for Australia, I think, to help upskill and the fact that, you know.”

The talent acquisition team for not-for-profit Good Things Australia was one of the organisations that attended the AI Skills Sprint. The not-for-profit’s chief executive, Jess Wilson, said: “AI is rapidly changing how we use tech, work, learn, and play, and this can feel overwhelming for many people.”

“We know that one in five people are digitally excluded in Australia, and nearly one in three are unsure how to tell AI-created content from real content. Supporting people in communities to learn about and use AI will help them to feel safer and more confident online.”

Recently, Good Things Australia announced the launch of 10 AI hubs across lower socioeconomic areas around Australia.

“We want people to have the skills they need to participate in the future of work, and have already seen incredible stories of people learning about AI and then using their new skills to successfully apply for jobs,” Wilson said.

“That’s why we’re proud to be working with LinkedIn on our AI for Good program, ensuring people most at risk of being left behind have the support they need to keep up with rapid tech changes.”