The way that we hire has changed. Recent HireVue survey shows that hiring managers are increasingly focusing on skills-based hiring. 70% of them prefer skills assessments to more traditional methods such as CVs or cover letters.
This trend is driven primarily by the desire for a diverse and inclusive workplace that does not limit candidates based on their education, including degrees.
This is a good thing, but there’s still more to be done. Employers should move beyond the ‘black and white approach’ they may have taken to hiring based on skills. Instead, they must assess the candidates’ ability to develop the human skills needed for the position.
In the 1970s soft skills were introduced. They initially focused on interpersonal capabilities like communication, empathy, and teamwork. The workplace has changed, and so has the need for a wider range of skills. Human skills, a combination of cognitive, emotional, and interpersonal abilities, with technological proficiency, have become more important as generative AI and hybrid work models gain popularity.
Human skills are essential today. These skills are more than just soft skills. They include areas like well-being and ethics as well as the ability to adapt technology. Employers must invest in continuous training as they will evolve with time and are driven by learning and development.
Why Skill-Based Hiring?
The benefits of hiring based on skills are numerous. Most importantly, it opens the door for talented people who have not followed traditional educational paths. Employers can tap into a larger pool of qualified candidates by focusing on an individual’s human skills and skills.
It is important to note that a degree does not guarantee knowledge or skills in a particular role. Human skills are fundamental to completing a task. It’s important to consider and break down the various human skills needed for each role. To ensure that an action is completed and meets the requirements in the brief, for example, you need to be a good communicator. This will prevent any misunderstandings when completing the task. In any position, a high level of emotional intelligence is essential to reduce the risk of conflict and promote harmony within a group. No wonder companies are so interested in skills-based hires.
What is the New Approach?
The most common way to introduce skills-based hiring involves removing degree requirements. In Hays‘s UK Salary and Recruiting Trends Report for 2024, almost half (45%), of the employers surveyed did not consider a college degree to be essential. Organisations who use this strategy should be careful not to ‘lift and move’ their skills-based hiring strategies to broader recruitment processes.
According to a study conducted by the Burning Glass Institute in 2024, companies who introduced skills-based hire only increased their share of workers without a college degree by 3.5% on average. a large percentage of companies (45% ) made only changes to the body of job advertisements, instead of applying skills-based recruitment throughout the entire recruitment process.
For companies to truly embrace the concept of skills-based hire, they should adopt a hiring strategy based on potential. To begin, create a skills-based taxonomy – an inventory of all the human skills needed to run a business successfully and achieve company goals. These skills can be listed as requirements for each job and identified. HR leaders can use scenario-based questions during the interview to test candidates’ understanding of how they have demonstrated their skills in previous jobs, past work experiences and personal interests.
Ongoing training and development
Skills-based hiring has a significant impact on the quality of candidates and their diversity. However, it is often forgotten after candidates have joined. Employers should embed a skills-based strategy throughout the career journey of their employees to unlock its full potential. Many successful businesses today are built on the foundation of effective, skills-led training and development. 92% agreed training programmes had a positive impact on employee engagement. 68% viewed training and developing employees as the most important policy of their company.
Employers should stop thinking about human skills in terms of a check-box exercise and instead think about how the employee can develop. Employees can improve their skills, stay current with industry trends and innovations and understand how to best use human skills in a given situation.
What can be done?
Online self-assessments are a good place to start. These assessments are mapped to L&D challenges and specific development areas. They allow employees to identify skills that need improvement. They can then access courses related to the larger coherent development areas.
Self-based assessments can also be used to evaluate progress in human skills and determine where learning goals and next steps should be focused. Employers can use the skills taxonomy of their organisation to organise learning and development and give employees time to develop human skills.
Effective leadership is crucial for the success of any organisation. Leaders who have a commitment to learning continuously can be role models for their team, inspiring a culture of learning and development in the workplace. Leaders who are committed to learning and developing their human abilities can serve as role models for their teams. This encourages them to do the same and set aside time to focus on skills-based training. Mentorship is a vital part of any organisation. It allows knowledge and skills to be shared at all levels of the organization, especially leadership. This helps create a culture of learning.
Companies can create a workforce that is future-proof by investing in training and embracing skills-based rather than potential-based recruitment. Learning should not stop, but should continue to evolve as human skills do. Training has an end, but development shouldn’t.
Mark Thompson at GoodHabitz is the Country Lead .
