Increase your Candidate Pool 10x

A recent report by the Manpower Group says that 4 out of 5 organizations can’t find the skilled talent they need.? And this search becomes even more difficult if you are looking to increase diversity in your team.? As a solution, research from LinkedIn indicates that talent pools expand 10X, on average, when hiring teams employ a skills-based approach.

So…are you using skills-based hiring methodologies to increase your candidate pools???

Most hiring managers and executives don’t know exactly what skills-based hiring means. And this is not their fault – everyone talks about it in different ways. For some, skills-based hiring means getting rid of all degree requirements. For others, it means doing assessments before you hire someone.

In today’s newsletter, I’m going to give you a more comprehensive look at skills-based hiring and discuss 5 different areas in which you can employ this approach to increase your candidate pool.

Why Skills-Based Hiring?

The way we source and select candidates is often completely focused on elements that act as a proxy to the skills needed for the role in question. We use a resume to make inferences about what skills the person has. We assume that this person will have the specific skills that we need because they worked at X company, went to Y university, and held Z role.

This approach discounts huge pools of potential talent. Why? Because the actual skills that the role may require could be found in countless other people, but having proxy conditions like degree requirements, years of experience, or particular job titles act as an unnecessary barrier to entry. I have often worked with nonprofit clients that won’t consider someone from outside the nonprofit industry, even if they have the necessary skills.

Skills-first hiring also promotes diversity and inclusion by removing barriers that may disproportionately impact certain groups. By prioritizing skills over factors like educational requirements or specific industry experience, employers can create a more level playing field and ensure equal opportunities for all candidates.

So How Do You Implement This?

There are many different approaches that you can use to implement skills-based hiring in your organization.? I am going to touch on 4 different practical methods that you can start using today.

#1 – Don’t Just Copy/Paste Your Last Job Description

Think about your job descriptions from a lens of the skills needed to do the role, not the “proxies” that we often use to gauge these skills.?

·????? Does the degree requirement really apply to this position? If you are looking for someone in an introductory role, can they learn the skills on the job? If it is someone in a more senior role, doesn’t their experience demonstrate skills better than a degree? In the US, 70% of jobs require a bachelor’s degree, but only 37% of the workforce has one.

·????? Is industry experience really required? Yes, a Director of Development may benefit from having nonprofit experience with grants and major donors. But a Program Director, Sales Executive, or even a Chief of Operations may have the skills needed without nonprofit experience, and their varied background may even bring the innovative ideas needed to scale your organization.

#2 Get Creative in Sourcing Candidates

We often post our jobs in the same places, and source candidates with the same title searches on LinkedIn – but this will not help expand your candidate pool.

·????? Post the job to different boards than you would usually use. Try looking at associations for certain skills (like national accounting groups or an accounting or finance position) and you will likely get applicants with the type of skills and experience you are seeking.

·????? On LinkedIn, don’t just search by job title. Instead, search the entire profile and resume – this will often increase your results by as much as 3X.?

·????? Use the LinkedIn “skills tool” (https://linkedin.github.io/future-of-skills/#explore ) and enter the type of position you are hiring. It will give you the most current skills that people are listing in that industry so that you can search by those skills.

#3 Use Skills Assessments and Train Certain Skills

Make sure you are clear about which skills are absolutely necessary and which skills can be learned.

·????? For the skills that you deem necessary, see if there are assessments that can help gauge these skills instead of defaulting to degree requirements. There are numerous quality assessments for sales, accounting, computer support, and many other fields.

·????? Leadership skills, personality, values, and other characteristics like this are often fundamental to selecting the right candidate. Focus on these and not on skills that can be learned on the job. Don’t make things like knowledge of a certain software to be mandatory – a good applicant will learn these quickly.

#4 Craft Behavioral Interview Questions and Processes

Train your hiring team to effectively use behavioral interview questions to understand a candidate’s skills based on their experience.

·????? Clearly identity skills that are important for the position and ask “tell me about a time” questions that help identify if the candidate has what you are seeking.

·????? It is important to understand the results the person can create and the skills underlying those results. So each time that they give a result, ask “how” so you can assess the skills and understanding that they possess.

·????? To ensure that the candidate’s skill created the result, ask them how they would deal with a similar situation, but change one of the constraints. If they can explain how they would adapt the strategy, then you know they have mastery over the skill in question.

Conclusion

Skills-based hiring offers a transformative approach to talent acquisition, allowing organizations to tap into a larger and more diverse talent pool. By shifting the focus from traditional proxies to specific skills, employers can identify candidates who possess the necessary abilities to succeed in their roles.

Use the practical tips given above to 10X your candidate pool today!

About Us

If you want to discuss how to hire top 1% leaders for your executive positions, reach out to me at?[email protected] . ?We will schedule a no-cost, no obligation 30-minute consultation to discuss how to meet your goals.

Maneva Group is a?woman and minority owned?national?Executive Search firm focusing on the social sector,?with expertise in completely managing the recruiting process, curating diverse and exceptionally qualified candidate pools,?and advising C-suite executives and board members through crucial hiring decisions.??