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Skills-Based Hiring Elevates Talent Acquisition

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What is skills-based hiring? 

During the hiring process, employers place greater focus on skills rather than degree requirements or past job titles. A skills-based approach finds qualified candidates who may have been previously overlooked. When you assess candidates based on the specific skills a job requires rather than college degrees or years of experience, HR professionals open the door to even more talent. 

what is skills based hiring

Benefits of skills-based hiring:

CheckmarkExpand your talent pool with more diverse talent
CheckmarkShorten time-to-fill and save on unnecessary hiring costs
CheckmarkBenchmark against competitors to attract more qualified candidates

Why should employers focus on skills-based hiring?

Creative Talent Sourcing and Search

Fill roles using skills data to identify adjacent skills in similar jobs.


Hiring Manager Expectation Setting

Estimate time-to-fill, hiring costs, and skill availability using skills data.


Optimize Job Postings

Respond to job board algorithms by using skill-rich job descriptions.

customer service skills

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How do you implement a skills-based hiring strategy?

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Plan

Assess your existing skills data and job architecture. Establish a skill philosophy and streamline your internal systems to implement skills-based hiring practices.

Create/Review

Create and review a skills common language and framework, including refining skill profiles and establishing benchmarks.

Market Intelligence

Optimize skill profiles and benchmark postings against competitors. Perform a future-ready workforce analysis, as well as assess your career pathways approach and digital transformation strategy.

Prioritize

Perform a talent sourcing strategy analysis to inform build, buy, borrow, and bot decisions. Think about how upskilling and reskilling your current workforce, salary considerations, contracting workers, and even technology could mitigate hiring challenges.

Execute

Integrate skills-based hiring practices, including job posting optimization and skill-based pay to achieve successful hiring and improved retention.

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Customer Success Story

A multinational retailer

quickly built an adaptable skill architecture and inventory for thousands of roles within 10 weeks, compared to over the six month timeline they anticipated with a traditional assessment or survey-based approach. 

Lightcast is helping businesses find hiring solutions.

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A global beverage company

achieved digital transformation strategy through a key skill and role profile analysis. Based on local labor market factors, they chose where to recruit digital roles across the world.

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A large manufacturing company

responded to digital transformation efforts by identifying and developing internal reskilling and advancement pathways, reducing their talent acquisition costs by up to $1.5 million. 

Titles and roles are too ambiguous... Start with skills.

Workforce skills are numerous and constantly changing. For a skills-based hiring strategy to become a competitive advantage, you need to make sense of how skills fit into current and future roles. A skill without context is like a chapter without the whole story. To understand one skill, you need more skills attached. The kicker? Labor market information.

Solutions for Skills-Based Hiring

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Map job titles to skills and standardize your job architecture.

Consider skills with comprehensive labor market data to strengthen your overall job architecture and more specifically, your role skill profiles. A skills-based approach helps you achieve market-optimized job titles and job hierarchies.

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Analyze and benchmark current and future market skill needs.

Assess current and future skills requirements within each role by competitor and industry benchmarking, skill forecasts, and identification of emerging and disruptive skill needs.

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Architect market-optimized skill and role profiles.

Understand skill profiles to create market-aligned job titles, salary ranges, advancement pathways, education and work experience requirements, skills proficiency levels, and more. 

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Optimize job descriptions and fill jobs with qualified candidates.

Expand your talent pool, increase candidate diversity, and reduce hiring costs with targeted skill and credential requirements. 

Learn more about skills-based hiring.

Schedule a time to talk with a member of our team. We'd love to show you how Lightcast can help you make informed hiring decisions.

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