Skills-Based Hiring vs Degree-Based Hiring: An SEO-Optimized Guide

The objective of hiring is to select the most qualified candidates. It's important to note that no employer hires a degreed individual out of the gate. The core criterion for hiring is potential, not having a degree.

Academic institutions, such as colleges, provide us with a credentialed workforce. When they grant a degree, it signifies that the candidate has met academic minimum competencies, not necessarily practical job-related skills.

Understanding Skills-Based Hiring

The concept of skills-based hiring focuses on a candidate's practical skills and performance rather than formal qualifications. In the past, HR managers would focus on fitting a candidate to a job profile. They would eliminate candidates based on prerequisites like formal education, professional pedigree, personal referrals, or other employer requirements. The candidates with the most checkboxes would progress to the interview and ultimately get hired.

In contrast, skills-based hiring broadens the candidate pool, accelerates the time-to-hire, boosts retention, and promotes a diverse and inclusive workforce. The HRForecast blog post highlights key insights:

The COVID-19 pandemic led to greater emphasis on upskilling and reskilling, fueling the shift towards skills-based hiring. Skills-based hiring allows employers to tap into a wider talent pool, which can be crucial in a competitive job market. Adopting skills-based hiring practices can be implemented without redefining the entire recruitment process. Start with roles that have high time-to-hire and turnover rates, test the new approach, and if successful, scale it across the organization.

Read the full blog post here.

Personal Experience

My perspective on hiring is based on practical experience across multiple companies that are not testing agencies. For roles requiring a degree, educational institutions assume a certain level of competency in a particular field. However, in most cases, sensible hiring focuses on the candidate's skills and their ability to perform the job rather than their academic background.

For instance, when hiring customer service representatives or data analysts, a four-year degree is often not a prerequisite. What's more important for a customer service role is the ability to provide excellent customer service, not the degree. Similarly, for a data analyst position, the candidate needs to demonstrate their analytical skills and knowledge of relevant software and tools, not their formal education.

I believe that the current movement towards skills-based hiring feels like a solution in search of a problem, much like meaningless grandstanding. Many of these issues are either non-existent or can be solved through more practical approaches without overhauling established hiring practices.

Overall, the shift towards skills-based hiring is a positive development, but it should be implemented thoughtfully and with a holistic view of the organization's needs and processes.