Embracing Skills — Getting Practical with Skills-Focused Hiring and Development
Recent shifts in the labor market have made finding and keeping the right talent more challenging than ever. If you're having trouble finding qualified candidates you're not alone. Symphony Talent reports that for nearly half of organizations, building a talent pipeline is the number one priority.
Younger workers are not approaching the workforce and career navigation the same as prior generations. In fact, according to Jobber, 75% of high school and college-aged individuals are interested in exploring vocational schools with paid on-the-job training. Student college enrollment has also dipped while vocational enrollment is up, according to ADP Research. What's more, according to ADP Market Insights, more than a third of workers will need new skills to perform their jobs in the next 5 years. And, while just over half of large firms already have skills training programs in place, less than half of smaller firms do.1
The fact is, whether you're looking to bring in new talent or develop existing employees, expanding the way you source qualified workers is critical.
Outside of being a buzzword, what are skills?
You might be seeing "skills, skills, skills," plastered across every digital wall of the workplace right now. And sure, you know they're important, but what are skills? They sound abstract and hard to define. That's because the word "skills" can be a very broad term. Skills refer to the talents and abilities individual people bring to the table. This could be anything from customer service to coding to brick laying. A focus on skills in hiring and development places greater emphasis on what skills individuals possess rather than how those skills were acquired. This means that when evaluating a candidate or existing employee for a role, leaders evaluate the individuals' abilities and proficiencies instead of only evaluating their past jobs, industry experience or education.
Busting myths about skills
Some people worry that focusing on skills means discounting things like industry experience or university degrees. That's not the case at all. Industry experience and university degrees should still be strongly considered during the candidate evaluation process. Focusing on skills simply expands the evaluation criteria. This means that even if a candidate does not possess a university degree or industry experience but has the necessary skills, they still may be an excellent fit for the role. It's important to consider that many other life experiences can help candidates develop the skills they need for a given role, whether it's military service, caretaking for a family member, certificate programs, or even volunteer positions.
While for many roles, degrees may still be necessary. Chris Mullen, vice president of workplace insights and transformation at ADP, encourages leaders to ask themselves if a university degree is truly necessary for a candidate to perform a particular role. "Leaders would benefit from asking themselves why they have degree requirements on a job posting. Is it because that's the way they've always done it? Or is there a true and legitimate reason for the degree requirement to be there?"
What will skills-based hiring and development do for me?
Not only does skills-based hiring expand the talent pool, but it also allows employers to uncover candidates who may have been overlooked in the past due to not having a specific degree or industry experience. Skills-based hiring also aligns with the evolving needs of the workplace, where adaptability, problem-solving and collaboration are highly valued. It's also proven to be more effective in finding the right candidate. In fact, according to TestGorilla, 90% of companies using a skills-based hiring method report reducing their mis-hires, and 94% agree that skills-based hiring is more predictive of on-the-job success than résumés.
Jason Delserro, ADP's chief talent acquisition officer, says skills-based hiring is also an important factor in cultivating innovative teams. "Adopting a skills-based approach to hiring widens the talent pool tremendously, and it also opens up access to more diverse candidates, which is great for innovation."
Leaders would benefit from asking themselves why they have degree requirements on a job posting. Is it because that's the way they've always done it? Or is there a true and legitimate reason for the degree requirement to be there?
Chris Mullen, VP of Workplace Insights and Transformation, ADP
Getting practical: How can I recruit with a skills focus?
Recruiting new employees and developing existing employees with a focus on skills can completely transform your organization. Instead of just thinking "okay let's focus on skills more," consider how to incorporate a skills-focus into the talent search. Perhaps it's time to re-evaluate job requirements and reframe them in a way that's more skills centered. You could also consider re-writing job descriptions to focus more on skills as well as tailoring interview questions to address specific skillsets that you're looking for. Additionally, you can adjust employee development materials as well as promotion criteria to focus more on the skills employees possess and what makes them successful in their current roles. This will not only help streamline your in-house growth track, but it's also a great way to identify the skills needed to perform a certain role, which can help in the new candidate search process.
You can find real-life sample job descriptions, job requirements and interview questions available in the guidebook: Skills: A new, innovative approach to hiring and development.
1.ADP Market Insights, "How Companies Do HR Study" N = 1,324 (June 2024)
