Unleashing the Potential of Skills-First Hiring in Senior Recruitment

A paradigm shift is underway, challenging traditional hiring norms and reshaping how organisations identify and select their people.

A transformation, driven by adopting a skills-first methodology, which emphasises core competencies and capabilities over traditional qualifications and experience.

I'm an advocate and a champion of skills-first hiring. However, what fascinates me is how many companies will implement or pilot skills-first hiring at the early careers and mid-level but overlook the incredible opportunity to pioneer a skills-first approach for senior and executive-level recruitment. Especially since a common theme I come across when talking to companies about their challenges is that they feel their chances of hiring from a diverse pool of talent at the senior level are limited, if not impossible, given the "small pool of talent" available to them.?

My belief? There's always more diversity than you think; a skills-first approach might help you find it.??

The Foundations of Skills-First Hiring

Skills-first hiring is rooted in the belief that skills are skills no matter where they come from. A candidate's capabilities are more indicative of success than their educational background or previous job titles and, perhaps most controversially, their experience, including the number of years they have spent in specific fields. By prioritising skills, organisations can tap into a diverse talent pool and break free from the constraints of conventional hiring biases and preferences.?

• Unlike traditional hiring methods that often focus on a candidate's degree or job history, a skills-first approach looks at the specific skills required for the role, ensuring a more targeted and effective recruitment process.
• In a rapidly changing business landscape, adaptability is a crucial trait for senior executives. By assessing skills, organisations can identify candidates suitable for the current role and equipped to navigate future challenges.
• Skills-first hiring promotes diversity by removing barriers associated with educational or professional backgrounds. This approach opens the door to individuals with unique experiences and perspectives.

Who's Pioneering the Skills-First Approach?

According to the TestGorilla 2023 The State of Skills-Based Hiring Report , 73% of employers use skills-first hiring. 70% of their respondents across 1,500 employers and 1,500 employees agreed that all forms of skills-based hiring are more effective than CV's.?

Forward-thinking organisations are adopting the skills-first approach in their recruitment strategies, realising its potential to transform talent acquisition. More than half of them have chosen skill-based assessments for specific roles at the early stages of the hiring process to simplify selection.

What are the benefits??

Better hires:?According to the TestGorilla survey, 92.5% of companies have seen a reduction in their mis-hire rate, with 44% reporting a decrease of more than 25%.

A more diverse pool of talent:?One of the most obvious advantages of a skills-first hiring approach is that it results in a broader pool of talent. Moving away from conventional criteria such as education, specific industry experience, and number of years is a game changer for diversity.?

Time to hire:?They say speed kills diversity and inclusion, and it's my experience that this is particularly true when hiring. However, according to the TestGorilla survey, 91% saw a?reduction?in their total time-to-hire, with 40% reporting a decrease of more than 25%.

Retention:?According to McKinsey , a skills-based (or skills-first) approach is five times more predictive of job performance than hiring for education and more than two times more predictive than hiring for work experience.

So why the Lag in Skills-First Adoption for Senior Hiring?

While the benefits of a skills-first approach are evident, many organisations have yet to implement this methodology in their senior executive recruitment.

Several factors contribute to this reluctance:

1. Mindset

Traditional hiring practices can be most ingrained at the top of an organisation, placing a high value on prestigious educational backgrounds and extensive job titles. Many of these hiring processes happen behind closed doors, outside of the realm of talent acquisition, utilising a very closed network. Shifting this mindset requires a cultural transformation that may meet resistance.

2.???? Perceived Risk

Adopting a skills-first methodology can be perceived as a risk, especially when filling critical senior executive roles. Organisations may fear that prioritising skills over experience could lead to inexperienced leaders. There's no avoiding the fact that a skills-first hiring methodology requires a re-think of your onboarding strategy.?

3.???? Awareness

Despite the growing conversation around skills-first hiring, some organisations may still need to know the potential benefits or may lack the resources to implement the necessary changes in their recruitment processes.

Why I Believe Skills Trump Experience in Senior Executive Hiring

Experience is a chronological account of a person's professional journey, detailing the positions they've held and the organisations they've been a part of. Relying on experience can be misleading. A candidate may have occupied a leadership position for years but may not possess all the necessary skills crucial for the evolving demands of the role.

Experience also triggers all our hiring biases in a thunderclap of recruiting preferences. Their experience is impressive, leading us into confirmation bias mode, where we overlook an evidence-based, objective assessment and purely seek to confirm what we've already decided.?

Skills are the how and why. They encompass a candidate's specific capabilities, knowledge, and competencies. These can range from technical proficiencies to soft skills crucial for effective leadership. A candidate may or may not have the formal experience of leading a team, but their skills—such as strategic thinking, adaptability, and inclusive leadership—truly define their ability to excel in a senior role.

Successfully deploying a skills-first approach into your senior hiring strategy will require navigating the nuances between experience and skills.

You will also need to believe that the future of leadership lies not just in where candidates have been but in what they can do, how well they can adapt to the challenges of tomorrow, and what they can bring to the future.

Thank you for reading!

Drop me a note to learn more about implementing a skills-first pilot for leadership hires.