Skills-based recruitment is becoming more and more common in companies, while formal qualifications such as degrees are becoming less important.
Xavier Lorenzo | Moment | beautiful pictures
Skills-based recruitment is becoming increasingly common in companies, while formal qualifications such as degrees are becoming less important — especially when the labor market remains tight.
Sue Duke, vice president and head of global public policy at LinkedIn, told CNBC Make It that many companies are still struggling to fill positions, and how they approach current hiring can make this becomes more difficult.
“The difficulties we face as we struggle to fill roles, weather economic changes, and create a diverse and resilient workforce will only grow unless they are made,” Duke said. We change our approach to finding and nurturing talent.”
One way companies are changing their approach is to focus more on skills, rather than qualifications like a college degree or previous work experience. According to LinkedIn data shared with CNBC Make It, 45% of companies are now explicitly using skills-related metrics to find candidates, 12% more than a year ago.
Daniel Pell, vice president and country director for UK and Ireland at HR tool Workday, has also noticed a change.
“HR has moved to a skills-based economy,” Pell tells CNBC Make It.
How skill-based recruitment works
Duke says skills-based hiring can have many benefits for both workers and employers.
“Our research shows that a skills-first approach can increase the global talent pool by almost 10 times. And a larger talent pool means less competition with other companies for the same pool of talent. a candidate,” she said.
But the benefits are said to extend beyond expanding the number of applicants available.
According to Workday’s Pell, skills-based organizations are “more likely to outperform their traditional counterparts” when it comes to innovation, efficiency, and adaptability.
This trend has been fueled by new machine learning and artificial intelligence products, Pell said, as these can help companies identify the right candidates.
Another big benefit for both workers and employers is that skills-based recruitment can be crucial to building a more diverse workforce.
“It leveled the playing field for workers who might have been overlooked,” Duke said. This includes people who have not attended or completed university, women and the younger generation.
“For example, in jobs where women are underrepresented, the proportion of women in the talent pool can increase by 24 percent compared to men, which leads to more women being employed,” she said.
According to Duke, this also increases opportunities for job seekers as well as makes the job application process more transparent.
Pell said companies that focus on skills also often provide growth opportunities for their employees. That means workers have more opportunities to grow and add to their existing skill sets, helping them succeed in the long term, he said.
Tailor your resume
As skills are focused, the way job applications are evaluated can change — a shift that job seekers can find difficult to navigate. However, they can also use it to their advantage, recruitment experts say.
“Candidates can optimize skills-based hiring by making sure their CV is a good fit for this type of recruitment,” says Gaelle Blake, director of permanent appointments at recruitment agency Hays. , told CNBC Make It.
This doesn’t mean turning your application into a long list of skills, says Blake.
Blake says: “Candidates should ensure that their CV represents their individual skills and abilities; rather than listing generic, on-demand skills.” Tangible examples or data points that demonstrate these skills are also important, she adds.
Amanda Augustine, a career expert at TopResume, certified career coach and resume writer, agrees.
“When creating a skills-based resume, it’s important to follow one simple rule: ‘show, don’t tell,'” Augustine tells CNBC Make It.
Proof that a candidate has the right skills can then be included in an application, for example, by adding it to bullet points outlining previous work experience, Augustine said.
Augustine says job seekers may also want to change the structure of their resume by adding slightly unusual sections like “Core Skills” or “Area of Expertise” to it. This might mean listing a skill, then evidence of it through a brief anecdote or data.
Blake said candidates can express their personality and why they would be a good fit for the company through their skills.
“Candidates who connect relevant skills with people are more likely to catch the attention of employers,” she says.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Blake and Augustine both say there’s one thing candidates should never overlook before tweaking a resume: the job description.
“Checking job descriptions for keywords is a useful way to identify the most relevant skills employers are looking for,” says Blake. And that information is vital to candidates trying to make sure their resume fits the bill — and help them land an interview.
