How to make the transition to skills-based hiring

Many companies are touting that they are now using “skills-based hiring.” However, when you dig into their job postings, many still require degrees. Making the transition from using a degree as a proxy for soft and hard skills takes planning and time to get it right.

Skills-based hiring is an excellent way to open your hiring funnel and ensure you are inclusive in your applicant pool. But it takes time, planning, and education prior to implementation to reap the benefits. Here are the key transition steps when implementing skills-based hiring for your organization.

1) Review your job descriptions.

• Add “in lieu of” degree requirements options to your job descriptions. These will allow candidates without a degree to be considered and open your applicant pool to those who have worked their way up.

• Remove degree requirements that are not really necessary to do the role successfully.

• Evaluate certifications or other experience that could substitute for degrees and include those in your job description.

2) Choose a pilot department (IT is an easy choice) and collaborate with the experts on your staff.

• Are there relevant certifications or training courses that would show skills?

• Are there technical assessments that would serve the same purpose?

• Are the department leaders in agreement with the approach? If they’re not, you will lose momentum and they will still be searching for candidates with degrees.

3) Engage with your hiring leaders to educate them about the transition and what it means to do skills-based hiring.

• Train them on why skills-based hiring is being implemented.

• Ensure that hiring leaders understand the differences in using this hiring method.

• Get their buy-in on their department’s requirements and skills going forward.

4) Make it easy for current employees to get credit/recognition for newly earned skills while on the job.

5) Utilize skills for internal mobility – and recognize the skills earned on the job.