Talent & Growth presented by The Animo Group
Skills-Based Hiring…why to do it and how to do it with Johnny Campbell, CEO/Co-Founder of SocialTalent
Tue Jun 20 2023Description
Skills-based hiring is the focus of this episode. The CEO of social talent, Johnny Campbell, provides examples and advice on skills-based hiring. The market is currently unstable with different trends across countries and industries. Unemployment levels are generally low worldwide, indicating a scarcity of skilled workers. Recruiters need to stand out in a crowded job market by showcasing their unique qualifications and experiences. Social Talent teaches organizations how to hire, interview, assess, onboard, engage, and manage their teams effectively. In 2008, the agency world faced a tough time, but it shaped the speaker's career. Unemployment rates during the recession in 2008 were around 16-17%, compared to today's low rates. The talent pool is smaller now, resulting in lower attrition and fewer job applicants. Last year had high attrition rates, but this year it is harder to find talent due to less movement and skills availability. Skills-based hiring focuses on skills rather than experience when hiring for certain roles. Companies are moving towards skills-based hiring because they struggle to fill jobs with experienced candidates.
Insights
Skills-based hiring opens up the talent pool
Skills-based hiring allows organizations to tap into a wider range of skills and increase the talent pool by 10 times compared to experience-based hiring.
Challenges in quantifying and assessing skills
Measuring and assessing skills, especially softer skills, can be challenging. Agreeing on skill taxonomies and accurately measuring skills takes time and effort.
AI applications in recruitment
While there are some interesting AI applications in recruitment, most have not fully solved the problems yet. Training AI models to be unbiased is crucial to avoid biased inferences.
Implementing skills-based hiring
When implementing skills-based hiring, it is important to reevaluate job requirements, define and assess specific skills, and take a consultative approach with clients. Starting with the most difficult-to-fill roles can lead to successful implementation.
Skills-based hiring and education
Skills-based hiring could create a more natural link between education and workforce readiness. Traditional academia is slow to adapt to market needs, but organizations and private companies are filling the gap by teaching their own workforce and training people from scratch on skills-based hiring.
Chapters
Skills-based Hiring
00:01 - 13:00
- Skills-based hiring is the topic of discussion in this episode.
- The CEO of social talent, Johnny Campbell, provides examples and advice on skills-based hiring.
- The market is currently unstable with different trends across countries and industries.
- Unemployment levels are generally low worldwide, indicating a scarcity of skilled workers.
- Recruiters need to stand out in a crowded job market by showcasing their unique qualifications and experiences.
- Social Talent teaches organizations how to hire, interview, assess, onboard, engage, and manage their teams effectively.
- In 2008, the agency world faced a tough time, but it shaped the speaker's career.
- Unemployment rates during the recession in 2008 were around 16-17%, compared to today's low rates.
- The talent pool is smaller now, resulting in lower attrition and fewer job applicants.
- Last year had high attrition rates, but this year it is harder to find talent due to less movement and skills availability.
- Skills-based hiring focuses on skills rather than experience when hiring for certain roles.
- Companies are moving towards skills-based hiring because they struggle to fill jobs with experienced candidates.
Expanding the Talent Pool
12:34 - 25:18
- There is a shortage of staff in many areas and a wide range of skills.
- Skills-based hiring opens up the talent pool 10 times more than experience-based hiring.
- Quantifying and assessing skills can be challenging, especially for softer skills.
- Agreeing on skill taxonomies and measuring skills accurately is important but time-consuming.
- Genovii is working to solve these problems by analyzing large volumes of recruitment data.
- Recruitment data provides strong signals for quality and match in hiring.
- While there are some interesting AI applications in recruitment, most have not fully solved the problems yet.
- In the next 6 to 12 months, significant changes are expected in how recruitment processing is done.
- Skills-based hiring can eliminate bias but needs to be done correctly to avoid bias creeping back in.
- Training AI models to be unbiased is crucial, as biased data can lead to biased inferences.
- Skills-based hiring opens up talent pools that were previously excluded due to lack of experience.
- Focusing on skills narrows down the requirements and reduces biases related to appearance or mobility.
- Equinix implemented skills-based hiring and saw increased retention, diversity, and employee engagement.
- Retraining recruiters from a screening out method to a screening in method is a challenge in skills-based hiring.
- Start with the most difficult-to-fill roles when implementing skills-based hiring.
- Present data and statistics on the increase in talent pool that skills-based hiring can provide.
Implementing Skills-based Hiring
24:52 - 41:42
- LinkedIn has data and tools available for skills-based hiring
- Present the data to the hiring manager to show the benefits of skills-based hiring
- Reevaluate job requirements to align with a skills-based approach
- Define and assess for specific skills like scrappiness or resourcefulness
- Skills-based hiring requires a consultative approach with clients
- Building assessments and interview questions based on skills is necessary
- Start with one role and learn from the process before expanding
- Skills-based hiring can lead to a fairer and more transparent candidate experience
- Companies may offer training opportunities for unsuccessful candidates to improve their skills
- Skills-based hiring could create a more natural link between education and workforce readiness
- Formal education suffers from a lack of agility in developing curriculum to teach relevant skills.
- The approval process for curriculum changes takes about four years, making it slow to adapt to market needs.
- Organizations and private companies are filling the gap by teaching their own workforce and training people from scratch on skills-based hiring.
- Traditional academia is too slow to match the fast-paced market needs for learning new skills.
- Employers should define job criteria based on the skills of high performers and focus on performance management to identify required skills.
- Using technology like chat GPT can make writing job specifications easier and quicker.
- Skills-based hiring is hard work and requires a lot of effort, but it can be a great solution for finding talent at the right price, pace, and quality.