Moving Towards the Future
Recommendations
Skills-based hiring places a greater emphasis on an individual's specific abilities, expertise and practical knowledge rather than relying solely on traditional qualifications like degrees or job titles. This approach allows companies to assess candidates based on their demonstrated skills, ensuring a more accurate match between the required job responsibilities and the candidate's capabilities.
As organisations embark on the journey of adopting skills-based hiring, it is crucial to keep certain key considerations in mind. These considerations not only help streamline the hiring process but also enhance the prospects of finding exceptional candidates who possess the right blend of skills and competencies.
Retraining Hiring Managers
Evaluate Your Workforce Technology Stack
Intentional Efforts around Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
In a survey conducted by General Assembly, 90% of hiring managers state that they are extremely, very or somewhat concerned that current recruitment strategies will not be enough to fill open tech positions, but only 23% of hiring managers have revised job requirements to be more inclusive of individuals without college degrees. Embracing hiring strategies that include on-the-job training, apprenticeships and hiring from training boot camps all broaden the pool of available talent. At the same time, it is also essential that hiring managers receive training and are provided with tools such as evaluation rubrics that can help prevent bias towards candidates with degrees.
A recent AGS article on transforming your workplace through managing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) highlights the importance of hiring managers building inclusive job descriptions that focus on tasks and skills that suit the work that needs to be done. For example, the job description could ask for a person with a high level of organisational skills and the ability to clearly communicate work that needs to be done instead of saying you want someone who has been a project manager. By focusing on the skills in the job description, companies benefit from a broader selection of qualified candidates – some that may not have been considered if an organisation was only looking to place someone who held the same or a similar title.
Recognising the need to shift the process of talent acquisition, many organisations are moving towards a skills-based workforce recruitment model. A skills-based workforce acquisition model focuses on establishing the skills requirements and expectations for the work demand that they are trying to fulfil and then assessing candidates from across all worker categories, according to a recent AGS article.
Using advanced technologies that can review, analyse and categorise candidates based on their skills is often the first step to skills-based hiring. Traditional silos of where and how we acquire talent are no longer the ideal, and many companies find that they need to innovate to ensure work is getting done, their overall company objectives are being achieved and that they remain competitive.
Building a workforce strategy that spans a global workforce can be a daunting task. However, today’s technology – paired with the support of expert advisors – can build a roadmap that makes creating, examining and deploying your workforce strategy manageable and successful. Advances in computing and data collection make gaining a realistic and true view of your current workforce – and what may be missing from it – possible. This is the foundation for developing your strategy.
Once you have a roadmap to what you have and what work needs to be done, you can utilise recruitment technology to analyse the skills required and even help build job descriptions. For example, generative AI tools are helping some companies create more equitable job descriptions by taking a passionless look at the work to be done and fill in what’s required without biases that can hinder skills-based sourcing.
In several ways, skills-based organisations are already on the path to building more equitable workforce plans. By focusing on the skills of the candidate over credentials and degrees, they widen their talent pools. While the skills-based approach is a great start, it should still be paired with DEI efforts to:
Expand the pool of talent and increase representation of diverse groups, especially those who face barriers or discrimination based on their educational background, socio-economic status, race, ethnicity, gender, disability or other factors.
Reduce reliance on credentials and degrees that may not reflect a candidate’s actual skills or potential.
Recognise and value the skills and experiences that candidates acquire through informal or alternative learning pathways.
Enhance the mobility and career development of workers who may lack formal qualifications by providing them with opportunities to demonstrate and improve their skills.
Improve worker satisfaction and engagement by allowing them to perform tasks that match their skills and interests, while also contributing to the goals and values of the organisation.
In addition to opening access to talent, creating a more diverse and inclusive workforce has proven to be profitable for businesses around the world. Research has shown a 33% increase in earnings before interest, depreciation, taxes and amortization (EBIDTA) for companies with diverse workers. Diverse voices also bring a variety of solutions that can increase creativity and productivity. A Gartner article finds that 75% of companies with a diverse and inclusive group of decision makers exceed their financial targets. According to the article, gender-diverse teams outperform non-inclusive teams by 50%.
