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What are Skills-Based Practices?

Skills-based practices refer to talent acquisition and development strategies that focus on a set of objectively defined skills, rather than more broad credentials such as college degrees, years of experiences, or past job titles. This means creating criteria and hiring systems that assess candidates and develop staff based on the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to do a job.

Examples of skills-based hiring practices include:

Updating job postings to emphasize necessary skills, not degree requirements
Assessing and interviewing candidates based on knowledge and skills
Creating training programs to onboard and retain workers
Providing managers and employees with information about possible career paths, the skills those paths require, and resources to develop those skills

Why is this important?

The change from credential-based systems to skills-based systems benefit both employers and employees.

Skills-based practices can help employers find qualified candidates faster, fill open positions, increase workforce diversity, and improve employee advancement and retention.

For employees, skills-based practices increase job satisfaction, provide opportunities for lifelong learning, and allow workers to build skills that drive career advancement.

5x Better Hiring

Hiring for skills is five times more predictive of job performance than hiring for education and two-and-a-half times more predictive than hiring for work experience.

42% More Responses

Job descriptions that used more inclusive language led to 42% more responses and a two-week faster hiring time than those with less inclusive language.

More than 70% Savings

Businesses save 70-92% per employee when they use skills-based practices to build emerging skills in existing employees rather than hiring new talent.

What skills-based practices can look like across the talent lifecycle

Sourcing:
Use inclusive language (focus on skills vs. credentials), e.g.

Update and publish new job postings
Connect with new talent pools (e.g., via worker serving organizations)

Assessment:
Assess for required skills with standardized interview guides and assessments, e.g.

Update and implement new interview guides and rubrics
Evaluate assessments and add them to your interview process

Retention:
Upskill new workers and enable internal mobility, e.g.

Connect with training providers
Develop internal ‘progression roadmaps’ from entry-level roles
Prioritizing internal trainings

Foundational to skills-based talent efforts are a universal skills language(ontology) and an understanding of required and preferred competencies (skills, knowledge, and abilities)

The Accelerator program supports employers in Minnesota who want to adopt skills-based practices to attract, hire, retain, and promote quality talent.

The Accelerator program helps employers':

Find qualified candidates to fill job openings
Assess candidates' skills and knowledge to hire quality employees
Use inclusive practices to build a diverse and talented workforce
Provide employee development to improve employee retention