I\u2019m seeing them commit to getting to grips with skills-based hiring: understanding what it means for them, how it may influence their hiring habits this year, how they can put it into practice…\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And while I\u2019m convinced that it\u2019s never been easier to \u201cdo\u201d skills-based hiring, and that there are many resources and tools available, I feel like something might be missing. Indeed, I\u2019ve read a lot about what skills-based hiring is\u2026 but heard little about what it is not.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve collected some real-life examples from conversations with recruiters and hiring managers in my network. Here are four down-to-earth examples of hiring practices that may look, sound or feel like skills-based hiring\u2026 but really aren\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Experience does not necessarily equate to skills<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Picture this:<\/strong> <\/em><\/strong>You\u2019re hiring a back-end engineer. You\u2019ve identified a list of key skills required for this particular role. Proficiency in Java is at the top of your list. You post a job description where it is clearly stated that Java is a necessary skill to be successful in the role. You begin to receive applications. You select candidates with 5 or more years of Java experience and pass them through to the first stage of your process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What\u2019s the catch? <\/strong>Objectively enumerating the necessary skills for a role (both technical skills and soft skills) is a must, the 101 of skills-based hiring, if you will. However, it\u2019s not enough. If you don\u2019t then go on to objectively evaluate those skills\u2026 *fervently shakes head*.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n While professional and personal experience are an integral part of what a candidate can bring to your role and company, experience does not necessarily equate to skills. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A developer with 5+ years of experience with Java won\u2019t necessarily have the level of mastery you\u2019re looking for. Similarly, a candidate with less years of experience, may well surprise you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What to do instead: <\/strong>Instead of setting experience requirements, give everyone a chance to prove their skills. Assess their Java proficiency through an asynchronous coding test and a structured, collaborative programming interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ideally, send a reasonable and engaging technical test to anybody and everybody who’s interested in your opening.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n If that’s simply not feasible, try to hone in on the most objective and relevant screening criteria possible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That could be team-lead experience, startup vs. enterprise experience, b2b vs. b2c experience, knowledge of specific industries\u2026 That shouldn’t be age, gender, level of education, specific school, specific company, specific number of years of experience…<\/p>\n\n\n\n Picture this:<\/strong> You\u2019re working on creating a structured, standardized interview process. You compile a list of interview questions that are likely to provide you with a deeper understanding of a candidate\u2019s skills. You provide your interview panel with this list ahead of time and encourage them to draw from it during their discussion.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n What\u2019s the catch?<\/strong> Standardizing and scripting your interview questions is a step towards objective skills analysis. However, this initiative becomes counterproductive when questions are then chosen arbitrarily during the interview. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re not asking candidates the same questions, to assess the same skills, you\u2019re creating room for bias and you’re making fair and objective comparison much more difficult. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What to do instead: <\/strong>True skills-based hiring demands a more deliberate approach. Ensure that interview questions are standardized and directly aligned with specific skills, rather than a haphazard selection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Make sure that each person on the interview panel knows which questions they are responsible for asking. Bonus tip: you also want to determine, in advance, what bad, good and excellent candidate responses look like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Picture this: <\/strong>You\u2019re hiring an applications developer. You\u2019ve collaborated with the hiring manager to establish a list of necessary hard and soft skills for the role. You\u2019ve worked on a plan to assess each of these skills. You agree that you won\u2019t be able to assess all of the skills listed, in depth, during the hiring process. Depending on candidates\u2019 resume and past experiences, you choose to assess what seems most relevant (gray areas, non-negotiables, areas of particular interest\u2026).<\/p>\n\n\n\n What\u2019s the catch?<\/strong> Listing the necessary skills for the role? Yes. Testing different candidates on different skills? No.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n What to do instead:<\/strong> It\u2019s unlikely that you\u2019ll be able to evaluate every single skill that might come in useful for a role during your recruitment process. However, to be able to make fair, skills-based hiring decisions, you need to assess each applicant on the same set of skills. This will provide you with an objective basis for comparison. Prioritize in advance, select the \u201cmust-have skills\u201d for the position and align on how you\u2019ll evaluate them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Picture this: <\/strong>The HR team puts time and effort into building an internal process, writing detailed job descriptions, standardizing candidate communications, etc. Candidates move through a short, engaging and structured process. Those that make it through to the technical interview meet the hiring manager. The hiring manager \u201ctalks shop\u201d, and digs deep into varying technical subjects and interests, during a natural and enjoyable conversation.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n What\u2019s the catch?<\/strong> I\u2019m not saying that an interview can\u2019t be enjoyable. I\u2019m not saying that you don\u2019t want to put candidates at ease. However, I am <\/em>saying that a \u201cbeer test\u201d type interview introduces tons of bias and will pull you away from a skills-based approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can lay all of the groundwork, your process loses its integrity as soon as hiring managers resort to subjective judgments based on personal feelings rather than a candidate’s demonstrated skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What to do instead:<\/strong> Work on building a strong relationship with hiring managers. Support and coach them. If they understand what you\u2019re trying to do and why, they\u2019re more likely to welcome new habits. Structure, collaboration and assuming good intentions can go a long way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There’s a lot of talk about what skills-based hiring is\u2026 but little about what it is not.\u00a0Here are four real-life examples of hiring practices that may look like skills-based hiring\u2026 but really aren\u2019t.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":38466,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"persona":[28],"blog-programming-language":[],"keyword-cluster":[],"class_list":["post-38412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hiring-developers"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coderpad.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coderpad.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coderpad.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coderpad.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coderpad.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38412"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/coderpad.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38442,"href":"https:\/\/coderpad.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38412\/revisions\/38442"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coderpad.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coderpad.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coderpad.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coderpad.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38412"},{"taxonomy":"persona","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coderpad.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/persona?post=38412"},{"taxonomy":"blog-programming-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coderpad.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog-programming-language?post=38412"},{"taxonomy":"keyword-cluster","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coderpad.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/keyword-cluster?post=38412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/coderpad.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/shake-head-1-300x259.gif\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nThe interview question pick \u2018n\u2019 mix<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
This skill, or that skill, or maybe this skill<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/coderpad.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/no-from-me-300x300.gif\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nLaying the groundwork\u2026 and ending up at the bar<\/h2>\n\n\n\n