In a time in which there are far more open positions than workers to fill them, some employers have switched to anon-traditional means of evaluating potential employees.
Educational attainment and degrees can only tell you so much about a person’s work ethic.
However, observing a candidate’s skills and the ways they apply them can be a much stronger predictor of their potential for success. This idea has given rise to skills based hiring approaches across many industries.
Applicants “Gaming” the System
With the advent of automated screening software, keywords on applications and resumes have taken on added significance. Moreover, the algorithms seldom take raw talent into consideration. This makes it relatively easy for tech-savvy individuals to “game” the system to get interviews.
Resumes can be inflated, as well as riddled with the “right” keywords to ensure the applicant made it past the machines to a human being. Aside from the obvious problems this brings to the fore, it has become difficult to determine whether or not a person has what it takes to actually do the job.
What Is Skills-Based Hiring?
Considering the placement of employees based upon their expertise and capabilities, as opposed to their educational background is skills-based hiring. Simply put, this approach contemplates a person’s soft skills and hard skills during the screening process.
Hard skills are specific technical abilities and training, while soft skills are management and communication abilities. Because soft skills can be tricky to evaluate, recruiters have traditionally fallen back on education, extra-curricular activities and leadership roles.
Using the skill-based approach, people who would likely be eliminated using traditional screening methods are given an opportunity to demonstrate their value. In other words, folding skills assessments into the interview process helps ensure candidates have the ability to do the job.
The Skills-Based Approach
Rather than relying on the printed page (or screen as it were) the skills-based approach gives candidates an opportunity to demonstrate their abilities. It also provides candidates with an opportunity to show how seemingly unrelated experience can translate to a different profession.
As an example, consider the people skills required to be successful as a server in a restaurant. Those same abilities could make that person a star in a customer service role, even if they don’t have the college degree the position may have required in the past.
The Advantages of Skills-Based Hiring
Beyond opening a much wider candidate pool, the skills-based approach lowers hiring costs. Companies are more likely to find a good fit with the first person hired, rather than bringing in someone only to discover they don’t have the skill-set required.
The skills-based approach also reduces the likelihood of employment discrimination. The traditional methods of soft-skills assessment can be discriminatory against women and people of color. This is particularly true in situations in which leadership abilities are being considered. Demonstrating soft-skills in a CV or a cover letter can be difficult for people who haven’t had such opportunities in the past.
Retention is also improved, as the skills-based approach approximates the position for which the candidate is being considered. Applicants are asked specifically how they would approach a particular situation, which gives them an opportunity to determine how comfortable they would be in a given role, before accepting it.
This benefits both the employee and the employer.
