Skills-based hiring: Beyond removing degree requirements

Everyone’s talking about skills-based hiring, but most organizations are implementing it wrong. Spoiler alert: Removing degree requirements from job descriptions isn’t skills-based hiring. It’s just degree-optional hiring.

So what does real skills-based hiring mean?

• Defining specific competencies needed for success

• Creating realistic assessments that test those skills

• Interviewing for demonstration, not just description

• Onboarding based on skill gaps, not credential verification

The assessment challenge

The biggest hurdle is creating meaningful skills tests. Generic online assessments don’t work. You need evaluations that mirror actual job requirements. Have marketing candidates analyze a real campaign. Give operations candidates an actual process problem. Let finance candidates interpret real data.

Interview evolution

Move beyond, “Tell me about a time when...” to “Here’s a scenario you’ll face. Walk me through your approach.” This reveals problem-solving process, not just past experience.

Implementation strategy

Start with one critical role where skills matter more than credentials. Perfect your process before scaling. Train interviewers to evaluate competencies, not just communication style.

Why it matters

Skills-based hiring isn’t just more equitable, it’s more predictive of success. But only if you implement it as a complete system, not just a recruiting slogan.