The traditional hiring process puts an emphasis on degrees and certifications over skills. As a result, the average job-seeker doesn’t apply for many positions they can fill because they don’t meet the official requirements. Degrees and certifications are absolutely necessary for some careers, such as medical and legal. However, many organizations just need employees with the right skill sets. Beyond this, for many jobs, a college degree or certification isn’t necessarily an indicator of employee performance.

Skill-based hiring is a new but effective approach to hiring employees who will be an asset to your organization. There are many benefits to focusing your recruiting efforts on skills, with only minimal changes to the hiring process.

Benefits of Skill-Based Hiring

There are many reasons to hire employees for their skills instead of adhering to traditional requirements like degrees and employment history. 

Increase Your Pool of Applicants

Most job seekers do not hold a degree. This reality severely limits your applicant pool. By requiring a four-year degree or a specific length of previous employment experience, you limit the number of people who can apply for your job. Leave out the arbitrary requirements, and you’ll get more applications to choose from.

Even with more applicants, you don’t have to spend more time on the hiring process. There’s a way to sift through the job applications to find the candidates best suited for the position. Instead of excluding candidates for lacking a degree, you want them to demonstrate specific skills. It doesn’t matter if they learned the skills at a regular job.

Fill Positions Fast

The hiring process can take a long time if you don’t use skill-based hiring. The first step is to weed out applicants who don’t meet your list of requirements. Then you might interview the ones who show potential. Finally, you’ll verify they have the skills they need to fulfill the job responsibilities.

If you focus on skills first, you can speed up the hiring process. Instead of wasting time dissecting educational experiences, you can get straight to what matters the most: does the candidate have the skills to get the job done? Once you verify they have the skills you need, you just need to ensure they fit in with your company culture.

Save Money on Training

A recent college graduate may be highly sought after in the traditional hiring model. But what real-world experience does a college graduate have that will help them perform the duties of the job? Unless they worked as an intern in the summer semesters or held a part-time job, they might have fewer skills than someone who didn’t pursue a degree.

When you hire employees for the skills they have, you save money and time on training them for the job. They can start working for you right away because they already have all of the necessary skills. Many degree programs and certifications don’t offer enough real-world experience, which puts the responsibility of training squarely on you.

How to Put Skill-Based Hiring in Practice

Now that you understand the benefits of skill-based hiring, it’s time to put it into practice. You don’t have to revamp your entire hiring process right away. Just start with the next open position or consider skill-based hiring for positions that take a long time to fill.

Hiring for skill only requires minimal adjustments to your hiring process. In most cases, it’s as easy as changing your job descriptions. Before you add requirements to your job postings, think about the reasons behind them. Every requirement should be an indicator that a candidate can do the job you’re hiring for.

Does the job really require a degree? What skills does the future employee need to succeed at the job? If the degree doesn’t guarantee they have the skills, then it’s a useless qualifier. Rewrite the job description by focusing on responsibilities instead of providing a list of requirements. 

Even skill-based hiring can be time-consuming. Our enterprise-level technology partnership with isolved can help you simplify applicant tracking and onboarding, and our deeply skilled team is a resource for your team when you need help with HR Recruiting. When you’re ready to take the next step, please don’t hesitate to reach out – we’d love to help!