Few companies are immune to recruitment errors: 70% of human resources managers claim to have experienced a toil or failure during the recruitment process. And this can be very costly for organizations, especially when they operate in sectors undergoing rapid change. In fact, a joint study by ManPower, HR Voice and Open Sourcing has shown that poor recruitment costs heavily depending on the level of post involved.
Recruitment managers therefore urgently need to diversify their processes in order to ensure the growth of the company and guarantee the retention of new talent to avoid early attrition.
This is where a more innovative recruitment strategy comes in the picture: skills-based recruitment. Also known as "competency-based hiring" or "competency-based recruitment", this methodology has been developing for a number of years and is bearing fruit on a number of levels.
The aim of this article is to outline the limitations of traditional recruitment methods, define skills-based recruitment and its many benefits, and finally conclude with some advice on how to adopt this innovative strategy.
The pitfalls and limitations of traditional recruitment
In APAC, human resources tend to rely on more traditional methods than elsewhere. In fact, they focus their recruitment processes more on factors that are not directly linked to the skills of candidates. Traditional selection criteria, such as having attended a prestigious institution, having obtained a sought-after degree or having worked for a recognised organization, tend to be more highly valued than others.
While this approach to recruitment is widespread across the country, it has significant limitations that can have a major impact on the growth of any organization. Recruitment methods that focus exclusively on a candidate's CV, theoretical knowledge and qualifications miss out on their true potential by overlooking their skills.
Here are 3 disadvantages of traditional recruitment:
Undermining equal opportunities
By favoring recruits who have graduated from a top and recognized university/college or who have obtained a prestigious diploma, recruiters unfortunately undermine skilled candidates who might have brought increased value to the company.
Homogenizing teams
Unfortunately, HR is not immune to recruitment bias. Traditional methods of selecting profiles from similar social, cultural and economic backgrounds tend to encourage the homogenisation of teams and lead to a loss of innovation due to a lack of diversity.
Loss of talent
Favoring past experiences and positions held in a reputed and large company helps to disguise the technical skills as well as the "soft skills" available to people applying for a job. This is because these skills are generally less easy to detect on a CV. As a result, companies run the risk of missing out on talent whose exceptional skills or personality would have made the group a success.
Skills-based recruitment revolutionizes talent acquisition
To fully understand the benefits of skills-based recruitment, it is essential to know the definition of the concept.
Unlike conventional recruitment, which focuses on theoretical knowledge, skills-based recruitment is based on the skills, know-how and interpersonal skills of candidates. It enables you to broaden the pool of talent and reveal candidates' full potential.
While nearly 60% of traditional recruitment sourced talent fall short after a year on the job (US survey 2019), recruiting on the basis of skills such as technical knowledge, logical reasoning, problem-solving ability and emotional intelligence helps companies ensure they are making the right decision.
It's a game-changing methodology in an ever-changing environment. The diversity of jobs continues to grow, and professions that were unknown a decade ago continue to emerge. Skills-based recruitment is therefore essential if you are willing to find candidates with the skills you need to adapt to these new realities.
10 benefits of a skills-based approach
The statistics are clear: skills-based recruitment is winning over more and more organizations. According to the Future of Recruitment 2023 report produced by LinkedIn, 75% of recruitment professionals believe that this recruitment method will become a priority for their company over the next 18 months.
Here are 10 benefits that all businesses can enjoy by adopting this strategy.
Broaden your talent pool
By taking more profiles into account, recruiting by skills multiplies the number of potential candidates.
Reduce the risk of recruitment errors
Thanks to better decision-making, skills-based recruitment avoids casting errors and the resulting financial losses.
Refine your understanding of needs
This recruitment strategy requires a more introspective analysis of the skills that the company needs, which in turn encourages the company to sharpen its self-knowledge.
Recruit the ideal candidate
This strategy requires a more effective assessment of skills, leading to successful recruitment.
Retaining talent
Recruiting the ideal person for a job increases the job satisfaction of talent, which in turn increases their motivation and commitment over the long term.
Increase productivity
It has been proven that increased job satisfaction helps boost individual productivity and performance.
Encourage diversity in the workplace
By breaking down barriers to employment and recruiting people with rich and varied experience, organizations encourage diversity within their organization.
Improving innovation and adaptability
Capitalize on the diversity of know-how and interpersonal skills that coexist within the company and cultivate this richness to stimulate teams' capacity for innovation and adaptability.
Strengthening the organizational culture
HR teams that focus on skills highlight shared values and pay more attention to compatibility between employees, which strengthens the corporate culture.
Sustaining businesses
By preparing for tomorrow's needs and setting themselves apart from the competition with a solid pool of talent, companies can future-proof their business.
In short, skills-based recruitment requires a long-term vision: it cannot be reduced to its immediate benefits. With benefits that contribute to a company's competitiveness and longevity, they can be sure of being able to adapt to change and meet the new needs of tomorrow.
Adopting skills-based recruitment with LinkedIn Talent Solutions
Like any methodology, traditional recruitment and skills-based hiring have their own advantages and disadvantages. Competency-based hiring, however, has a proven track record of helping organizations make better recruitment decisions to attract and retain talent. To prepare companies and their employees for the skills of tomorrow, incorporating skills-based recruitment is no longer optional, but a necessity.
Skills-based recruitment is within reach for all organizations. To begin this transition to the future of recruitment, companies are strongly advised to update their job advertisements to focus on the skills required and the responsibilities of the position, and to diversify their talent acquisition channels to gain access to less conventional profiles. They can also define selection criteria that focus on skills to avoid recruitment bias, and use skills tests to assess each candidate in a consistent way.
To start revolutionizing your talent acquisition process, LinkedIn offers its professional LinkedIn Talent Solutions to meet your needs. You'll find tools for recruiting talent, developing your team and adopting a skills-based approach.
Contact us today to learn more about skills-based recruitment. Our specialists are here to support you in adopting this innovative strategy.
