Skills-Based Hiring: A New Perspective

Skills-Based Hiring: A shift towards valuing candidates' skills over traditional qualifications, with 75% of recruiting professionals saying it will be a priority.

(source: TechRecruit Newsletter Oct 2024)

You're a recent graduate with a history degree interested in data analytics. You're eager to launch your career, but every job seems to demand a specific set of hard skills – Salesforce, Snowflake, wizardry-level skills with Microsoft Excel, and proficiency with PowerBI or Tableau. 

But you just graduated. 

So your skills? 

A rock skipping across a pond has more depth. 

But if we’re talking abilities, well, heck, no one’s better than a history major when it comes to:

• research and analyzing facts and figures
• sizing up larger-than-life personalities
• learning from (classical) mistakes
• remembering names, places, dates, events
• Storytelling
• understanding, contextualizing, abridging, summarizing, and presenting 

Sounds like our history major has some ABILITIES, right? 

Of course, she does! 

Let’s think about it - we all start from ZERO or sometimes we re-start from zero. 

Skills are built upon a foundation of abilities. 

This is why we need to stop calling it “Skills-based Hiring” and call it Abilities-based Hiring. 

Ability vs Skill - A Clarifying of the Terms

Ability is the raw potential, while skill is the refined ability honed through practice and experience.

Think of ability as the foundation, and skill as the superstructure built upon it.

A skilled artist doesn't just possess natural talent. They've cultivated their ability through dedicated practice and mastery of specific techniques.

An Example. While you might have a natural ability art in general, your exceptional skill in a particular medium comes with the power of practice and dedication. Your ability provides the canvas, and your skill (honed over time) paints the masterpiece.

Abilities + practice + Skills + more practice (a lot more) = mastery

The Problem With The Skills-Based Approach

Skills-based hiring focuses on a candidate's ability to check off boxes on a resume. It’s exclusive, prevents talented, diverse people from applying, and has hiring officials wondering why this “skills-based” hiring thing ain’t working. 

In our example, our recent history grad gets overlooked by most recruiters and managers because she lacks the specific technical skills required for even an entry-level data analyst role–

I mean, we have all seen those job postings, right? The ones that list Entry-level (even in the title!) yet list in the requirements that the candidate must have 3 years of experience. Doh! 

Because many involved in the hiring process want to make a “safe” hire, skills-based box-checking wins, and those with incredible abilities get missed. 

And the history major? 

She struggles to get that first break. 

Enter The Abilities-Based Approach

Abilities-based hiring, on the other hand, takes a more holistic view. It recognizes that while technical skills are important, they can always be acquired. What's more valuable is a candidate's underlying abilities or core competencies, such as:

• Problem-solving: The ability to analyze complex problems and develop effective solutions

• Critical thinking: The capacity to evaluate information, identify patterns, and draw logical conclusions

• Adaptability: The willingness and skill to learn new things and adjust to changing circumstances

• Communication: Proficiency in conveying ideas clearly and effectively

In the case of our history major, her ability to: 

1. analyze historical events
2. research complex topics
3. and communicate findings effectively

…could be highly transferable for careers in fields like content creation, market research, or even, waaaaait for it… data analysis. 

Abilities-based hiring would recognize her potential and consider her for positions not initially apparent.

It’s A Shift in Perspective

By shifting the focus from specific skills to underlying abilities, we can open up opportunities for a wider range of diverse candidates and better match individuals with roles that align with their strengths and interests. Ability-based hiring is not about replacing skills entirely, but rather recognizing that skills can and always will be developed over time where the right competencies, motivation, attitude, purpose, passion, and promise exist. 

It's about investing in individuals who have the potential to grow and succeed, regardless of their initial experience.

So, can we stop calling it Skills-based Hiring? 

Because (thankfully) someone once gave me, (yes, a history major), his first break based on my raw abilities. 

All that guy went on in hiring me was his gut feeling. 

If you want to know how to interview and assess abilities over skills and validate your gut feelings, please reach out. 

Also. I’m not interested in debating the merits of liberal arts degrees. 

Obviously, I’m a huge fan. 

Sow, Grow, Harvest,

Dave

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