SkillSmart Logo
  • Company
    • About Us
    • Our Team
    • Careers
  • Who We Serve
    • General Contractors
    • Owners/Developers
    • Diversity Directors
    • Project Executives
    • Other Industries Served
  • Products
    • SkillSmart InSight
    • SkillSmart Seeker
  • News
    • Blog
    • Press / Media
  • Events
  • Resources
    • Case Studies
  • Contact
Schedule Demo
Support
SkillSmart Logo
  • Company
    • About Us
    • Our Team
    • Careers
  • Who We Serve
    • General Contractors
    • Owners/Developers
    • Diversity Directors
    • Project Executives
    • Other Industries Served
  • Products
    • SkillSmart InSight
    • SkillSmart Seeker
  • News
    • Blog
    • Press / Media
  • Events
  • Resources
    • Case Studies
  • Contact
Schedule Demo
Support
  • Company
    • About Us
    • Our Team
    • Careers
  • Who We Serve
    • General Contractors
    • Owners/Developers
    • Diversity Directors
    • Project Executives
    • Other Industries Served
  • Products
    • SkillSmart InSight
    • SkillSmart Seeker
  • News
    • Blog
    • Press / Media
  • Events
  • Resources
    • Case Studies
  • Contact
SkillSmart Logo
  • Company
    • About Us
    • Our Team
    • Careers
  • Who We Serve
    • General Contractors
    • Owners/Developers
    • Diversity Directors
    • Project Executives
    • Other Industries Served
  • Products
    • SkillSmart InSight
    • SkillSmart Seeker
  • News
    • Blog
    • Press / Media
  • Events
  • Resources
    • Case Studies
  • Contact
Blog
Home Research Skills-Based Hiring: A Primer
Research

Skills-Based Hiring: A Primer

August 16, 2016 SkillSmart
0 Comments
851 Views
37
46939338
Our friends at General Assembly recently published a policy briefing worthy of a read by every business. Here are a few of the most salient points.

Explosive job growth in high-tech fields is creating unprecedented opportunity for social and economic mobility. But it also creates unprecedented risk of exacerbating income gaps and inequality if new categories of jobs exclude a generation of talent because they didn’t attend the right schools or have the right initial job experiences. Skills-based hiring isn’t about abandoning the college degree, but it is about using data to identify job candidates that can succeed, without regard to signals like college ranking or social networks. Innovate+Educate defines skills-based hiring as “the act of incorporating a tangible and objective measure of skills and skill level into the hiring process.” It’s not a new idea, but it’s a powerful one.

Building “a global community of individuals empowered to pursue the work they love” starts with developing the skills and competencies to launch a career. It’s about cultivating the talent that exists in unexpected places, and creating a more diverse workforce that draws upon our nation’s collective skills and perspectives. But it also means addressing the “last mile” challenge of bridging education and employment that leads to diversity gaps in high-growth fields and hybrid jobs.

Large employers know that a more diverse workforce is a more talented workforce, but often struggle to identify candidates from diverse social and educational backgrounds. The use of predictive analytics in the hiring process is in its infancy. As a result, employers often fall back on sorting mechanisms like college rank or degree that make the hiring process manageable—but risk excluding hidden talent.

“Employers are the most important piece of the skills-based hiring puzzle,” said Jamai Blivin, founder and CEO of Innovate+Educate. “Employer demand has the power to impact every other component of the ecosystem, from which competencies job-seekers must demonstrate, to the process by which they can do so.”

Skills-based hiring is particularly relevant to technology jobs, where skills (quality of code, for example) are easier to assess. It is no surprise that investors have been drawn to skills-based hiring startups focused on technology skills. In fact, VC funding for recruiting technology startups was $219 million in 2014, double the investments seen in 2009.

“Employers are eager to use practical assessments because they are strong predictors of success on the job,” said Kieran Luke, General Manager of Credentials at General Assembly.

Assessments for workplace competencies allow employers to more quickly identify individuals with important skills, saving time and money. According to a report by Innovate+Educate, skills-based hiring practices can lead to reductions in turnover (25-75% improvement), reductions in time-to-hire (50-70% improvement), reductions in cost-to-hire (70% improvement), and reductions in time needed to train employees (50% improvement).

Read the Article

AboutSkillSmart
SkillSmart provides construction technology to transform the way project data is tracked and reported. Our team supports some of the largest economic development and construction projects in the U.S. SkillSmart Insight helps organizations address diversity, prevailing wage, and regional workforce compliance, moving to quantify the economic impact of every project in the communities where you are building. We provide a secure solution for tracking and reporting all of the data that you need to run your project and your business. Our team works collaboratively with yours to streamline the way data is collected and stored so that when it comes time to report, analyze, quantify, and deliver the results there’s no second guessing.
Campaign 2016: Want to Really Grow the Economy? Focus on skills.July 25, 2016
Do courses really lead to a career?August 24, 2016
InSight was created to capture, store and report project, workforce, wage and business compliance data.

Learn how InSight can help your project today!
Seeker is a community engagement platform to build a skilled workforce pipeline for your business.

Build your workforce with Seeker today!
Newsletter

About SkillSmart

SkillSmart is a construction compliance, reporting and tracking technology company with a strong record of transforming communities by creating tools and services to build strong markets and clear paths to economic success.

  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
  • Website Accessibility
Latest News
  • Top 8 Questions to Ask When You Are Looking for Certified Payroll Reporting Software
    Top 8 Questions to Ask When You Are Looking for Certified Payroll Reporting Software
  • SkillSmart and Dragados USA – OHL USA to Partner on Maryland’s Purple Line Project
    SkillSmart and Dragados USA – OHL USA to Partner on Maryland’s Purple Line Project
  • 7 Things to Know About IIJA
    7 Things to Know About IIJA
Featured Pages
  • About Us
  • Prevailing Wage Tracking
  • Workforce and Supplier Diversity Management
  • Diversity & Inclusion Director
  • Owners
  • Project Executive
  • General Contractors
Connect
SkillSmart
PO Box: 1116
Germantown, MD 20875
(301)250-1015
Proud Member
SkillSmart Construction Association Logos

Copyright © 2021 SkillSmart. All Rights Reserved

#softlab_button_62f1b1620412b .wgl_button_link { color: rgba(255,255,255,1); }#softlab_button_62f1b1620412b .wgl_button_link:hover { color: rgba(234,118,0,1); }#softlab_button_62f1b1620412b .wgl_button_link { border-color: rgba(234,118,0,1); background-color: rgba(234,118,0,1); }#softlab_button_62f1b1620412b .wgl_button_link:hover { border-color: rgba(234,118,0,1); background-color: rgba(255,255,255,1); }#softlab_button_62f1b162059c4 .wgl_button_link { color: rgba(0,114,206,1); }#softlab_button_62f1b162059c4 .wgl_button_link:hover { color: rgba(255,255,255,1); }#softlab_button_62f1b162059c4 .wgl_button_link { border-color: rgba(0,114,206,1); background-color: rgba(255,255,255,1); }#softlab_button_62f1b162059c4 .wgl_button_link:hover { border-color: rgba(0,114,206,1); background-color: rgba(0,114,206,1); }#softlab_button_62f1b1620a4d3 .wgl_button_link { color: rgba(234,118,0,1); }#softlab_button_62f1b1620a4d3 .wgl_button_link:hover { color: rgba(255,255,255,1); }#softlab_button_62f1b1620a4d3 .wgl_button_link { border-color: rgba(234,118,0,1); background-color: transparent; }#softlab_button_62f1b1620a4d3 .wgl_button_link:hover { border-color: rgba(234,118,0,1); background-color: rgba(234,118,0,1); }
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
Cookie SettingsAccept All
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT