Why skills-based hiring is on the rise

Added on 19 January 2023

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One of the hallmarks of ushering in a new year is the commitments many of us make to new ways of doing things, in the form of New Year’s resolutions. We discard the old habits to embrace new, more effective practices. Skills-based hiring is one new practice more employers are adopting to increase their candidate pool for potential workers. I hope it is here to stay and delivers on helping employers create a more equitable and sustainable workforce.

In today’s competitive labor market, leading companies are coming to the realization that some traditional hiring methods are archaic at best and ineffective to pointless at their worst. They’re trending more towards skills-based hiring, screening employees based on their skills and capabilities, rather than letting degrees, credentials, and past work history stand between them and a qualified hire. Google, Apple, Microsoft, GM, and IBM have all started offering high-level roles to candidates without college degrees to attract new talent and widen their talent pools. In May 2022, the state of Maryland announced it would no longer require degrees for nearly 50% of its positions, opening thousands of jobs to a larger pool of applicants. Even the White House has started changing its hiring practices with its 2021 announcement of limits on the use of educational requirements when hiring for IT positions.