{"slug": "the-quality-pepsico-s-apac-ceo-looks-for-in-entry-level-hires", "title": "The quality PepsiCo's APAC CEO looks for in entry-level hires", "summary": "PepsiCo's APAC CEO Anne Tse said the company prioritizes curiosity, adaptability, and learning agility over experience when hiring entry-level employees, as AI reshapes the workplace. Tse noted that traditional credentials are less important than the ability to learn, unlearn, and relearn in response to technological change.", "body_md": "As AI rapidly transforms the workplace, many employers are [rethinking the qualities they prioritize](https://www.businessinsider.com/ways-to-help-ai-proof-your-job-2026-2) in candidates.\n\nAnne Tse, CEO of Asia Pacific Foods at PepsiCo, said the food and drinks company, [which owns brands like Poppi](https://www.businessinsider.com/poppi-allison-stephen-ellsworth-shark-tank-pepsico-startups-parenting-wealth-2026-5) and Lay's, is increasingly scanning for curiosity, especially in [entry-level applicants](https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-is-raising-bar-for-entry-level-employees-2026-5). It's also looking for those who show adaptability and learning agility, as AI and new technologies rapidly reshape work.\n\n\"It's all about the aptitude, the speed, the agility to learn,\" Tse, who oversees PepsiCo's businesses across Asia Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, and Greater China, told Business Insider.\n\nGiven that daily tasks are changing, coming in \"with a whole package of experience\" isn't as much of a priority as being able to adapt and learn quickly, she said.\n\nEmployees nowadays need to learn, unlearn, and relearn as technology evolves and the company responds to fast-changing consumer demands.\n\n\"When people are curious, they want to learn. When they're curious, they also are willing to unlearn,\" Tse said.\n\nTse said curiosity is a skill she's cultivated throughout her career.\n\nShe said one piece of advice from a mentor that has stayed with her is that workers should take ownership in shaping their roles. That mindset, she said, enables people to reinvent how work gets done at a time when careers are becoming increasingly non-linear, especially as new technologies create opportunities to reinvent jobs and ways of working.\n\n## Evaluating curiosity\n\nMany leaders have said that [soft skills are becoming](https://www.businessinsider.com/soft-skills-you-need-in-ai-era-2025-11) increasingly important in the AI era, and [LinkedIn has ranked them](https://www.businessinsider.com/linkedin-ceo-ai-soft-skills-2026-4) among the most in-demand qualities employers seek. The challenge, however, is determining how to assess those skills effectively.\n\nIt's not easy to gauge curiosity, the CEO said.\n\nThat's why the company looks beyond traditional credentials to assess for this trait, not just in junior employees but more generally as well, Tse said. She said they work closely with HR to identify how specific behaviors and traits correlate with aptitude, leadership potential, and future success.\n\nThe company also spends time discussing candidates' past experiences, exploring the decisions they made throughout their careers, and the reasoning behind those choices.\n\nThe choices a person makes in their career, \"also gives a good sense of their nature,\" she said. For example, you can tell how someone explains their decisions, whether they took risks, or were exploratory, she said.\n\nThere are often other telltale signs of curiosity and problem-solving capabilities, such as the industry a person came from. Consulting, for example, notoriously focuses on aptitude rather than experience. Tse, who previously worked as an associate partner at McKinsey, said people in consulting develop that skillset through case interviews.\n\nShe added that workers coming from startup environments, innovation roles, cross-functional projects, or experiences working across markets may also possess these qualities.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-quality-pepsico-s-apac-ceo-looks-for-in-entry-level-hires", "canonical_source": "https://www.businessinsider.com/pepsi-apac-ceo-prioritizes-curiosity-in-ai-era-2026-6", "published_at": "2026-06-25 09:26:02+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-25 09:57:52.141877+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-tools", "ai-ethics"], "entities": ["PepsiCo", "Anne Tse", "Asia Pacific Foods", "Lay's", "Poppi", "McKinsey", "LinkedIn", "Business Insider"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-quality-pepsico-s-apac-ceo-looks-for-in-entry-level-hires", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-quality-pepsico-s-apac-ceo-looks-for-in-entry-level-hires.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-quality-pepsico-s-apac-ceo-looks-for-in-entry-level-hires.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-quality-pepsico-s-apac-ceo-looks-for-in-entry-level-hires.jsonld"}}