What is Skills-Based Hiring and Why Is It So Important?

Traditionally, hiring for an open position entails a careful review of candidates’ experience and education. Skills-based hiring, on the other hand, takes a closer look at the specific skills that each applicant brings to the table, particularly the ones that would help them succeed in your company. It decreases time to hire while increasing the overall fit of candidates with your company. This shift in evaluation also helps candidates find the best jobs for their particular talents and interests.

While this was an aspiration for many HR departments and businesses for years, skills-based hiring is now more of a reality, thanks to reduced costs and increased opportunities due to the latest technology.

Here are 3 tips to successfully bring skills-based hiring to bear on your job openings:

1. Identify the work that needs to be done and the specific skills required to do it. First, you need to understand the specifics of projects, goals and deliverables for any job opening. What skills will best suit this position? The ability to code under pressure? Strong public speaking skills? Be very specific. Then, revise job descriptions to match. You can use a skills database that will match jobs with skills to make this process easier.

2. Train your team to hire for skills. This will likely be a shift for your HR team and your company’s recruiters so they will need to be retrained on new technology and parameters as well as the overall culture change you are expecting. Getting internal buy-in is sometimes the most challenging part of the process, but showing how effective this type of hiring is will definitely help your case.

3. Track your efforts and progress. This change in hiring will not likely happen overnight and it is important to track metrics such as quality of each hire, the time to fill each open position and overall candidate performance. The data you capture will help you fine-tune your skills-based hiring program and make updates as necessary.

As you implement and review your skills-based hiring practices, you will likely need to make updates in things such as job descriptions or interview practices along the way—that is completely normal. Skills-based hiring can look a little different for each business and each industry.

As jobs change and new positions and skills are created, skills-based hiring can help your company stay at the forefront of successful hiring and employee and business growth.

What to Look for When You Make Your New Hire

Hiring is always a puzzle as you seek to find the perfect fit for your current job openings. While some jobs entail very specific skill sets, here are 5 key traits that you should look for in any and every hiring situation to ensure that you are hiring the best candidates out there:

1. A great attitude. This goes without saying, but it’s even more important than ever: An employee with a positive attitude will be more productive and successful and can influence his or her colleagues as well. In one study, salespeople with great attitudes increased their sales by nearly 40 percent. There is enough negativity in the world today—and positive people are simply that much more fun to work with!

2. Ingenuity and problem-solving ability. Unless you love holding your employees’ hands, you will want to find candidates who are great at creative problem-solving and coming up with potential solutions to problems. This ingenuity will save your company time and money. Make sure you ask questions during the interview regarding previous situations where the individual has to come up with a solution to a thorny issue.

3. Willingness and ability to learn. Technologies change and so do job requirements. You want to find employees who have an interest in learning new skills, new concepts and new ways of doing things rather than rigid ones who will say, “but this is how we’ve always done it.” Ask candidates what they are interested in learning and how they best learn new skills.

4. Doing the right thing. Integrity is what you do when no one is looking. It is important for your company’s success to find employees who will do the right thing, who are trustworthy and act with integrity. Make sure you check references for these important qualities.

5. Technical aptitude. Ultimately, candidates need to be able to do the job that they are applying for. Depending on the position, you may need to perform an aptitude test to assess their ability to perform the work.

In the end, finding the perfect fit and piece to your puzzle involves both hard and soft skills and taking the time to assess candidates for their aptitudes and abilities as well as their attitude and openness to new things and experiences.