What is skills-first hiring?
Skills-first hiring focuses primarily on skill requirements rather than formal education or experience.
Traditionally, a significant focus when evaluating candidates has been on four-year degrees, previous job titles and years of industry experience. For example, someone who didn’t meet the minimum education requirement for a posting, such as a bachelor’s degree, would automatically be removed from the candidate consideration process.
With skill-first hiring, employers recognize that as long as a person has the right skills to do the job, their education and previous work experience may not matter.
For example, people who taught themselves how to code may not have formal education in coding or a previous job in the field, but they may have the right skill set to fit the role’s requirements.
This skills-first hiring approach looks at including the right candidates based on specific criteria versus excluding candidates based on certain unnecessary prerequisites.
The benefits of skills-based hiring
A skills-first hiring approach can bring the following benefits:
Expands your candidate pool
A skills-based approach to hiring can widen your candidate pool. By being an employer that doesn’t require specific work experience or educational background, you allow more people to apply for your positions.
Reduction in time to hire
Minimizing the time-to-hire process is vital for an organization. Taking a long time to hire means more resources are put towards recruitment and positions are left vacant, which can disrupt business operations.
A skills-first hiring strategy may help shorten the time-to-hire process. Recruiters can send a quick skills assessment to anyone who applies to the role. This skills assessment is a quick and easy way to separate the candidates who deserve to move on to the next stages of the interview process from those who don’t.
Improved company morale and productivity
A team functions best when everyone in the department can do their job well. Because skills-based hiring enables companies to hire individuals with the expertise to perform well, the entire team benefits. A team of people who know they can rely on their colleagues is likely to experience improved work morale, job satisfaction and productivity.
Increased employee retention
Skill-based hiring offers you a stronger chance of finding the right candidate for the right role. When employees feel they’re a good fit, they may be more likely to stay in their position longer, increasing overall employee retention. A healthy retention figure helps an organization save costs, maintain high morale and keep operations running smoothly.
The drawbacks of skill-based hiring
Skills-first hiring can help you hire quality workers with the right skills needed for the job. However, there are some potential downsides to be aware of.
Might not be suitable for all positions
Skill-based hiring works for most positions where you can test the employee on the required skills. For example, a copywriter might be asked to submit a writing assignment, or a mortgage broker could be asked to respond to a sample mortgage application.
However, some positions, like those in medicine, law or engineering, often require formal qualifications or licensing. While skills are critical, qualifications are often non-negotiable due to legal or safety standards.
Takes time to implement
Once your skills assessment is up and running, it’ll help you quickly sort through applicants. But a skills assessment may take some time to set up, including the time needed to create your test. When hiring on a large scale, you may have to create a unique assessment for every new role, which could entail a significant time commitment.
Is skill-based hiring right for your organization?
A skill-based hiring strategy can be an excellent choice for many organizations. To determine if it’s right for your business, ask yourself three questions:
- Can I easily assess the required skills for most of the roles I hire?
- Can skills and experience substitute for formal education? (This may not be the case for roles like lawyers and doctors)
- Am I willing to put in the time and resources to find ways to assess candidate skills?
If you answered yes to the above questions, then it’s very likely that implementing skills-first hiring will have a positive impact on your organization. There is enormous hiring potential when you open the candidate pool beyond education and work experience requirements.
