Why the Skills-Based Hiring Trend Matters to Your Team
You might not think that the skills-based hiring trend has to do with you, as you have no plans to enter the job market soon – and when you do, you know you have plenty of talent to give you a competitive edge. But TEDx speaker and Founder of Be the Ultimate Assistant, Bonnie Low-Kramen, has some advice on why the skills-based hiring trend matters to your team, how it can give your team a competitive edge, and how it can improve your work experience.
What is the skills-based hiring trend?
“The skills-based hiring trend supports companies to be leading edge by bringing in subject matter experts to solve an immediate challenge,” Low-Kramen says. Candidates are hired based on their skills rather than their pedigree. Degree-based requirements are considered less important than experience and talent level. Often, companies that focus on skills-based hiring have proficiency tests commensurate with the role, such as a coding test built into the onboarding process of an engineer.
Low-Kramen attributes this trend to the number of gig workers emerging in the job market with highly specialized skill sets. As companies realize those subject matter experts (SMEs) can be found anywhere and from any background, hiring practices have adjusted to a self-taught market.
“These are specialists, rather than generalists, who are targeted for their specific skills,” Low-Kramen explains.
Valuable skills in the hiring market
As for what kind of skills are universally valuable in this hiring market, Low-Kramen says that some of the most prized skills for knowledge workers are the simplest ones.
“Advanced technology skills in MS Office are highly valued in today’s hiring market,” she says. “Hiring managers are looking for candidates who hold a recent certification in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. An MS Office certified Executive Assistant, for example, is prepared for more complex projects.”
“In addition, given the new requirements of a remotely working staff, advanced skills in video conferencing using Teams and Zoom are valued,” Low-Kramen adds.
She also notes that project management, travel coordination, graphic design, and event planning abilities are all lucrative abilities to hone in the future of work. Additionally, those seeking management roles have to show a talent for virtual adaptability, even if they don’t have a prestigious academic background.
“Leaders who have a proven track record of success managing direct reports both remotely and in-person are in high demand,” Low-Kramen says.
Why this trend matters to your team
Even if you’re not looking for a new job, a skills-focused market has a lot to teach current employees – from focusing your efforts on becoming an SME to improving your management style.
1. Find what you excel at
The most important thing that the skills-based hiring trend can teach you is to find your niche. If you don’t have something that you’d consider yourself an SME in, you need to hone your skills and develop your talents, Low-Kramen says.
“Employees now have a fresh opportunity to pursue their “sweet spot,” she says. “The sweet spot is the center of a Venn diagram that is the desired intersection of four elements – the thing you are an SME in, the thing you love doing, the thing that the marketplace needs, and the thing that you can be paid a fair living wage doing.”
By having a special office superpower, you can save the day for your team at any time. And a team of SMEs is like a team of superheroes ready to jump into action.
2. Managers have to delineate roles
Low-Kramen says that to focus on skills in the workplace, managers have the responsibility of helping their employees focus on the things they do best. But figuring out which skills your team excels at and how to implement those skills, she adds, can be a bit tricky.
“No one said this would be easy to integrate in real-time. This is a little like flying a plane while building it,” Low-Kramen says. “To sustain and retain a high-performing team, a leader has the responsibility to communicate and set crystal clear expectations about what everyone is needed to do.”
She suggests analyzing the tasks at hand, seeing which skills are needed to complete those tasks, and then finding the best person on your team to take care of each action item.
3. Trust your team’s expertise
Next, Low-Kramen says, all team members must learn to rely on their coworkers as SMEs that can provide a new, fresh perspective on elements of various issues.
“Everyone is to be respected, and they all get a voice and a seat at the table,” she says. If you have new hires on a team, Low-Kramen says that you can view them as allies that will aid you in solving a problem with the skills they were hired to do. By recognizing and appreciating their distinct set of skills, you can increase your team’s synergy and create an environment of appreciation.
“Everyone on staff are respected SMEs, and they need to be encouraged to communicate, cooperate, and collaborate with one another as resources, not adversaries.”
4. Actively engage in a skills-based company culture
Low-Kramen also adds that HR should be proactive about pursuing new talent with particular skills to fill every role with the most appropriate candidate. But it’s not just about hiring the right people – it’s about a change in company culture.
“I recommend that leaders and HR work with the marketing department to update the company website in words, images, and videos to reflect the candidates who are sought after and valued,” Low-Kramen says. “Job descriptions need to be written to highlight the “specialist” nature of these roles and specifically how these roles are compensated and supplemented with benefits.”
Recruitee is a great tool for creating job descriptions. It allows you to create a description that is tailored to the specific skills and qualifications you are looking for. This ensures that you attract the right candidates for the job. They also have a detailed guide on the best job description examples if you’re looking for some inspiration.
It’s also important that employees get behind the benefits of skills-based hiring, as their power to recruit talent is often underestimated.
“There is no better marketing than current staff urging others to work at their company.”
5. Do what you love
In conclusion, Low-Kramen says that the main thing to learn from the skills-based hiring trend is to focus on what you’re good at and what brings you joy.
“Spend your precious hours each day doing what you love to do and do whatever you have to do to keep that saw sharp and leading-edge,” she says. “One of the biggest lessons here is that a college degree that was earned twenty years ago matters much less than the specialty workshops and certifications that are being achieved in 2022.”
