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In decades past, a job seeker’s academic background was a key qualification that potential employers considered when determining whether or not to proceed with a job interview. The resume-focused hiring approach left many candidates screened out of certain roles where they otherwise may have been a perfect fit.Today, however, many employers and job recruiters are turning to skills-first hiring, a hiring modality that ensures job seekers are hired for their skills, not where they acquired them. Here’s everything to know about this hiring approach and why it may be the key to the future.

What is skills-first hiring, and why is it important now? 

Skills-first hiring means employers recognize that a job seeker’s skills gained through training, professional history and life experience can make you a top candidate for a certain role. Through skills-first hiring, job seekers can represent their full skills and capacities, and employers source and evaluate candidates based on the specific skills required for the job before considering other factors.Elisabeth Voigt, a senior manager on the Social & Environmental Impact team at Indeed, explains that while hiring managers often fall back on screening and evaluating candidates based on education and past employers or job titles, these proxies aren’t a measure of a candidate’s true skill set, especially if the candidate has gained their skills on the job in a different field, while in community college, through military experience or other paths. While there will always be some jobs that call for specific education requirements, for the many job industries and fields where transferable skills can be applied, a skills-first hiring approach helps employers find top talent, build a more diverse talent pool and increase retention.Skills-first hiring can be a win for job seekers and employers—simplifying the matching and evaluation process and hopefully leading to a better fit for both. 

Skills-first hiring is a solution and a revolution

Skills-first hiring presents itself as a solution to many issues in the job market, but it’s also a revolution years in the making—one that hopes to democratize the job market and level the playing field for all job seekers. However, it requires new approaches for both job seekers and employers.

As a job seeker, you have to think of yourself through the lens of skills. 

According to Voigt, 

“We’re all building new skills all the time. As you're taking on new projects and doing new things – whether through work, in a training program or while volunteering in your community – you can extrapolate the skills you have developed. You can keep updating your online profile to tell an evolving skills-based story of yourself, to showcase to employers your skills and where you gained them.”

Consider the skills you’ve gained in your previous jobs 

Whether through experiences such as military service, community service or certification or training programs. Those skills can be transferable to new roles up a career ladder or whole new fields. You may also find that there are skills you want to gain, and you can explore upskilling programs that will open up new opportunities. 

This new approach can be especially beneficial for STARs or job seekers who are Skilled Through Alternative Routes. 

According to Opportunity at Work, STARs are job seekers who are currently active in the workforce with a high school degree who have “developed valuable skills on the job, through military service, in community college, or through other alternative routes,” and they make up almost half of the US workforce. 

In its ideal form, skills-first hiring is meant to benefit all workers. 

It is not meant to diminish the value of traditional post-secondary education. Instead, it emphasizes the importance of crystalizing learning into skills—whether those skills are acquired from classroom education or other life experiences.

Preparing for skills-first hiring

To take advantage of employers’ adoption of skills-first hiring, job seekers should be ready to showcase their skills that can add value to a new job or career path, even those that may seem unrelated to their current jobs, fields or careers.Justin Hutchinson’s story shows us how life experience can sometimes be the best training to launch a successful career. A STAR and first-generation American, Hutchinson made the difficult decision to postpone his education and football scholarship to care for his father, who was diagnosed with cancer. This ultimately led him to leave college altogether.Hutchison explained, “I tabled my dream of playing college football and took care of my dad. He passed away about 9 months later, but I have no regrets about it. It was the best decision I ever could have made in my life.”At the same time, with mounting pressure around financial responsibilities, Hutchinson quickly ascended to a leadership position at Smoothie King by implementing the skills he had acquired as captain of his football team and while caring for his father. He would memorize his regulars’ cars and orders and have them ready for them as they walked in the door.Kenny Nguyen, CEO of the advertising agency ThreeSixtyEight, was a Smoothie King customer who noticed Hutchinson’s strong people skills and work ethic. Nguyen hired Hutchinson as an intern, and within a few years, Hutchinson became Director of Business Development, where he helped grow the agency from $1 million to $6.2 million.Reflecting on his teenage years, Hutchinson said, “I had to grow up very, very quick. Through that, I developed leadership skills from athletics and understanding the importance of tasks and how to guide people and navigate waters when people aren't on the same page—like I had to advocate for my dad's health care when I was 14. “So imagine how that translates to advocating for my clients' needs or what I think is best for my team.”Hutchinson, who has become a spokesperson for STARs, pointed to the insecurity STARs may feel and explained how harnessing doubts about yourself can be very powerful when balanced with an awareness of the skills you already have.“You get in your head convincing yourself that the things you do that make you special selling smoothies don't translate to selling an enterprise solution to a business. But that couldn't be more of a farce.” And Hutchinson’s biggest piece of advice for other STARs in the era of skills first hiring?

“Own your story and figure out how to tell it. It takes a little bit of education and a lot of self-awareness. But you have to first own who you are and then articulate it to others. So others can truly see that you know what makes you special, what’s transferable, and all those different components that make you, you.”

AI will demand adaptability to reskill

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development estimates that AI will transform 1.1 billion jobs over the next decade. Many jobs will be displaced, and nearly all jobs will be augmented by AI. The rise of AI has executives estimating that 40% of their workforce will require reskilling or learning new skills for alternative roles in the next three years.As employers shift to this new world of work, some of the most in-demand skills are analytical thinking, creative thinking, resilience and flexibility. Voigt emphasizes,

“College can be a great path to build these skills. But it is far from the only path. Take a worker who worked in retail dealing with challenging customers and managing evolving store systems, who then went to a tech boot camp and got a certificate in cybersecurity, a whole new field. That worker has demonstrated analytical and creative thinking, resilience and an ability to adapt and perform, among other skills.” 

So, it becomes imperative for all job seekers to showcase their ability to learn on the job. Regardless of education, job seekers need to learn specific skills, explore upskilling and represent their skills effectively. Especially as research from the Hiring Lab over the past few years highlights the downtrend in education and tenure requirements in job posts in favor of specific skills.

No revolution is seamless from the start

While skills-first hiring could be a revolution, there is more work ahead to realize its potential. According to Harvard Business School and Burning Glass Institute research, less than one in 700 new hires benefit from employers dropping their degree requirements. Employers must go beyond removing degree requirements and commit to the complete set of skills-first practices, including skills-based sourcing and evaluation. As skills evaluation gets underway, job candidates complain of increasingly long hiring processes that include tests and assessments (often unpaid) in lieu of more traditional education-based job requirements. AI tools may advance these assessments to ease the burden on job seekers and ensure that candidates are selected through objective, equitable processes, but in this nascent stage, more finessing is required to create a hiring culture that is fair for both candidates and employers. Still, with the right balance of AI and human intervention, skills-first hiring is headed in the right direction.