How to implement skills-based hiring in your organization

The traditional hiring paths of years past, focused on close inspection of credentials on resumes, including experience and education, are less relevant and meaningful to today’s human resources departments. The average employee’s tenure at a company is also shortening, making it more important than ever that new hires can hit the ground running.  

Cheryl Yuran, Chief Human Resources Officer at Absorb, has 20+ years of human resources experience across multiple industries, and she’s seen this shift firsthand. “Tenures are not as long as they used to be, so time to productivity and proficiency is a critical metric we watch closely.”

Enter skills-based hiring, which prioritizes candidates’ actual skills over degrees and more theoretical experience.  
‍
Here, a look at the precise benefits skills-based hiring can offer your organization, along with practical steps to implement this process, suggested tweaks to the onboarding process, and much more.  

What is skills-based hiring?

You’re likely quite familiar with the traditional method used in hiring. Often referred to as degree-based hiring, it puts a premium on which degrees a candidate has, along with the quality of the institution where the candidate earned the degree. Previous job titles are also a factor in hiring, along with years on the job force. A traditional job posting would have listed under requirements items like a bachelor’s degree and at least three years of experience in a comparable role.  

With the skills-based method of identifying and hiring top talent, degrees aren’t the ultimate qualifier. Instead, what’s most vital is identifying if a candidate has the skills to perform at a role. For example, a candidate who has taken an online project management class where they gained practical experience in driving KPIs like project timeliness, budget, and quality will be given a higher weight applying for an entry-level project management job than a Harvard graduate who majored in philosophy.

Skills-based hiring is growing in popularity, perhaps as a reflection of just how quickly the pace of technology is shifting, making degrees feel less relevant. For instance, an Indeed report found that 52% of job postings on Indeed in January 2024 did not include an educational requirement, and only 18% required a four-year degree in that same period.

This style of recruitment isn’t suitable for every field; some roles — such as ones in the legal, medical, engineering, or accounting fields — require specific and long-term education and training. But for many other roles, being assessed based on skills can lead to candidates who perform well. Shifting from traditional hiring tactics to skills-based hiring can be a boon to recruiters, opening up the talent pool.

In real-world HR settings, skills-based hiring begins with how the job description is written and framed. Instead of requiring a bachelor’s or master’s degree, or denoting a required amount of years of experience, the defining qualities of strong candidates will be mastery of specific skills required in the role. The burden to assess, map, and develop skill profiles for hires in a variety of roles can be challenging and time-consuming, but turning to an LMS can ease the process.  

What do we mean by “skills” in skills-based hiring?

When we talk about skills in the context of skills-based hiring, we’re referring to the specific, observable abilities a person needs to successfully perform a role. Unlike degrees, job titles, or years of experience, skills focus on what someone can actually do, not where they learned it or how long they’ve been in the workforce.

Skills are practical, measurable, and directly tied to job performance. They can be demonstrated through work, assessed during the hiring process, and developed over time through training and experience. This makes them a far more reliable indicator of success than traditional credentials alone.

Hard skills vs. soft skills: Why both matter

Skills-based hiring typically encompasses two broad categories of skills: hard skills and soft skills. Both are essential, and effective skills-based hiring strategies account for each.

Hard skills are the technical or functional abilities required to do a specific job. These are often easier to define and assess, and they tend to be role-specific. Examples include:

• Proficiency with specific software or tools
• Data analysis or reporting
• Project management methodologies
• Technical writing or coding languages

Soft skills, sometimes called behavioral or interpersonal skills, influence how work gets done. These skills are critical to collaboration, adaptability, and long-term performance, particularly as roles evolve. Examples include:

• Communication and active listening
• Problem-solving and critical thinking
• Adaptability and learning agility
• Collaboration and emotional intelligence

While hard skills may determine whether someone can perform the core tasks of a role, soft skills often determine how effectively they work with others, respond to change, and grow within the organization.

Skills are learnable — and that’s the point

One of the most important distinctions in skills-based hiring is that skills are not fixed traits. They can be learned, strengthened, and expanded through experience, mentorship, and training. This mindset shift allows organizations to focus not just on hiring for current needs, but also on long-term potential.

By clearly defining the skills required for a role — both technical and behavioral — HR teams can make more informed hiring decisions, design more effective onboarding programs, and create clearer pathways for development and progression.

In other words, skills-based hiring isn’t just about changing how you screen candidates. It’s about creating a more flexible, inclusive, and future-ready approach to talent. One grounded in what people can do today and what they’re capable of learning tomorrow.

Why skills-based hiring matters for HR and business

There’s good reason for companies to switch to skills-based hiring: previously vaunted educational degrees no longer feel like they lead to candidates with the abilities to take on roles with ease. A 2025 survey of hiring managers found that about 25% plan to remove bachelor’s degree requirements for some roles by the end of 2025.  

Removing a degree requirement expands the talent pool, and also leads to an innately more diverse team, full of people from a range of backgrounds. Your new hires may be older, come from caretaking backgrounds, or include people from a variety of socio-economic backgrounds, who might previously have been excluded from your candidate list due to not being able to afford a four-year degree.  

Another skills-based hiring benefit: HR teams may find that this methodology leads to fewer hiring mishaps — that is, the candidates hired for roles have the key skills required for the job at hand, and can hit the ground running, without expensive, time-consuming training beforehand. Along with reduced training costs, there are other benefits to skills-based hiring: recruitment may be faster (a person has the skills, or doesn’t) and retention may increase, since skills are well-matched to the role.  

Absorb LMS can help with the transition from traditional to skills-based hiring through connecting measurable learning to performance, and demonstrating the ROI that comes with this transition (which is key for getting leadership and hiring managers on board).  

"If you take a chance on somebody and you give them a new skill set and a marketable skill set, they're likely to be more loyal to you in the long run." Cheryl Yuran, Absorb's Chief Human Resources Officer.

Key benefits of skills-based hiring

Take a look at some of the specific, measurable benefits of skills-based hiring:

• A bigger, and more diverse, talent pool: If you’ve found in the past that you’re looking for candidates in a small pool, and wishing for more options, you’ll be pleased to know that opting for skills-based hiring will increase the volume of qualified candidates. Plus, you’ll be more likely to see candidates with a variety of backgrounds — people who may not have surfaced during previous hiring. Adding diversity to your workforce is more than a nice bullet point for your website; companies with gender and ethnic diversity “outperform their peers,” according to a report from McKinsey.  

• Reduced time on both recruitment and training: Opting for skills-based hiring will lead to hiring people who are capable and know how to perform in the role at hand. You’ll spend less time on training (a savings in time and resources). Recruitment may also go faster; assessment tests are a simple, straight-forward way to know if a candidate has required skills, and they can be administered before the interview process to narrow down candidates.  

• Improved retention: When people are in roles that are a good fit for their abilities, they perform well, which is gratifying and leads to job satisfaction. Data backs this up: Skills-based hiring leads to employees staying at the company 9% longer than people hired through traditional means, per SHRM.

Bottom line: With the implementation of skills-based hiring, HR can anticipate a strong ROI. You can measure the difference in time and resources when it comes to recruitment and training; you can also measure if retention shifts after an emphasis on skills over degrees. With Absorb LMS for support, you’ll also get scalable, personalized onboarding that’s linked to skills frameworks, so that candidates will smoothly enter the company and role.  

How to identify skills in candidates (without relying on degrees)

One of the most common questions HR leaders ask when considering skills-based hiring is simple: If we’re not using degrees as a proxy, how do we actually identify whether a candidate has the skills to do the job?

The answer lies in expanding what you consider valid evidence of skill, and using multiple signals instead of a single credential. Below are some of the most effective ways organizations can assess skills in candidates without defaulting to formal education requirements.

Work history and demonstrated experience

Job titles and years of experience matter less in skills-based hiring than what a candidate has actually done. Reviewing work history through a skills lens means focusing on outcomes, responsibilities, and demonstrated capabilities rather than pedigree.

For example, instead of screening for “three years in a project management role,” look for evidence that a candidate has:

• Led cross-functional initiatives
• Managed timelines, budgets, or stakeholders
• Delivered projects against defined KPIs

This approach also opens the door to candidates whose skills were developed in non-traditional roles, freelance work, volunteer positions, or internal stretch assignments.

Non-traditional education and alternative credentials

Skills are increasingly developed outside of four-year degree programs. Bootcamps, online courses, certification programs, and self-directed learning can all provide strong indicators of job readiness — particularly in fast-moving fields like technology, marketing, and operations.

Examples include:

• Coding or data analytics bootcamps
• Online learning platforms offering hands-on projects
• Industry-recognized certifications or micro-credentials

What matters most isn’t where the learning happened, but whether the candidate can demonstrate practical application of those skills.

Skills-based and technical assessments

Assessments are one of the most direct ways to evaluate whether a candidate has the skills required for a role. These can be administered early in the hiring process to quickly identify qualified candidates and reduce time spent on interviews.

Depending on the role, assessments may include:

• Technical tests (e.g., coding challenges, software simulations)
• Work samples or job-relevant assignments
• Scenario-based exercises that mirror real-world tasks

Well-designed assessments provide an objective, role-relevant signal of a candidate’s ability to perform, regardless of their educational background.

Psychometric and behavioral assessments

Skills-based hiring isn’t limited to technical capabilities. Psychometric and behavioral assessments can help identify critical soft skills such as problem-solving, adaptability, communication, and collaboration.

These tools can be particularly useful when hiring for roles where success depends on:

• Learning agility
• Decision-making under pressure
• Teamwork and interpersonal effectiveness

Used thoughtfully, psychometric assessments can complement technical evaluations and provide a more holistic view of a candidate’s potential.

Structured interviews focused on skills

Interviews should reinforce, not replace, skills assessment. Structured, skills-focused interviews ask candidates to describe how they’ve applied specific skills in real situations, rather than relying on hypothetical or culture-fit questions alone.

For example:

• “Tell me about a time you had to learn a new tool quickly to meet a deadline.”
• “Walk me through how you handled a complex problem with limited information.”
  

This approach reduces bias and keeps the conversation anchored to the skills that actually matter for success in the role.

Steps to implement skills-based hiring in your organization

So, where do you get started? Take a look at some non-traditional recruitment strategies, and some of the first steps to take to launch skills-based hiring:  

1. Sell your leadership team.  

You’ll need your leadership team — and anyone involved in hiring — to feel confident that this shift is recommended. Getting buy-in to drop the requirement for a four-year degree may make leadership uneasy; data on measurable improvements and the ROI on this shift will help convince them to give it a try. Start by identifying goals, such as reducing recruitment time or increasing retention, and set up a plan for tracking how data points shift with the change to skills-based hiring.  

2. Start with some roles, not all roles.  

You may find that it’s easiest both in terms of selling your leadership team and in terms of implementation to switch only some job descriptions to recruit based on skills. Pinpoint a few roles where a four-year degree doesn’t seem like a necessary requirement to start, then identify the key skills involved in them. For example, when hiring for a customer success manager position, a proven history of driving business impact in customer-facing positions may be more indicative of success than a specific degree.

3. Update job descriptions.  

Some cookie-cutter items in job descriptions will need to go. Emphasize the required skills. Make it clear that non-traditional candidates, such as people who gained skills through a certification program, bootcamp, or apprenticeship are welcome.  

4. Prep for a different hiring and onboarding process.

Changes to the job description are just the first step. From your recruitment strategy to your screening and interview process, and on through your onboarding, you’ll need to make adjustments. Read on for more of the internal processes that’ll need to change to support skills-based hiring — and explore how LMS can help ease onboarding and upskilling diverse candidates from the get-go.  

Recruitment strategies to support skills-based hiring

When degrees are a key aspect of your hiring strategy, you’ll find that college recruitment fairs, networking, and alumni groups are a key source for finding qualified candidates. If you’re no longer relying on degrees as a key means to source candidates, you’ll want to turn to other recruitment channels, such as:  

• Bootcamps and alternative credentialing: If your hiring focuses on key skills or roles, forming a partnership with a bootcamp or credentialing program may be helpful. For some roles, the in-depth training from a short-term project is more valuable for building up candidates’ skills than a degree. Plus, your candidates may arrive with more current know-how on today’s technology.    

• Apprenticeships: internships, formal apprentice programs, and internal skills training can be one source of strong candidates.  

• Returnships (or return-to-work programs): Caregivers, retirees, and people with long-term unemployment may welcome these programs. While there’s not typically a guarantee of a job upon completion, for candidates, this is an opportunity to gain skills and re-experience life in the workforce, while for organizations, it’s a chance to vet potential employees.  

No matter what means you use to gain access to candidates, you’ll want to have a system in place to know candidates’ required skills for the roles at hand, and also have a central hub in place to track, manage, and evolve your organization’s skill frameworks.  

Onboarding and training for skills-based roles

If you’re used to onboarding traditional hires, you may wonder if onboarding practices need to differ for skills-based hires. Most likely, yes.  

There are two potential paths for skills-based hires, according to Yuran. In some cases, new hires may arrive with great technical skills, but require a boost in soft skills, such as analytical thinking or leadership abilities.

“Conversely, you could have someone coming into the organization that has some of those soft skills, but not necessarily the technical skills...Good role-based training is very critical in that realm to make sure that that person can come in and get up to speed as quickly as possible.”  Cheryl Yuran, Absorb's Chief Human Resources Officer.

Then there’s the ever-present question of the time it takes for new employees to be proficient and productive in their role. The goal, of course, is for that to take up the shortest amount of time possible, Yuran says. “[People with] non traditional backgrounds [...may] need to really have augmented training,” she says.

Key employee onboarding tactics to accomplish that goal include the following:  

• Good documentation and role-based training — both of these allow for employees to use the materials as reference, returning them to as needed even once the initial training is complete  

• Peer mentoring programs — that way, people have someone who's not only a resource to them, but accountable for their success as well. That cuts down on feeling guilty about requesting help or asking lots of questions.

• Personalization — this is another key factor. Skills-based hires often come from a wide range of educational and professional backgrounds, which means they won’t arrive with the same baseline knowledge of experiences as traditional hires. A personalized onboarding approach ensures each new hire gets the targeted support they need to reach proficiency quickly.

Bottom line: HR leaders need to be prepared during the onboarding process so that the skills-based hires are set up for success at the organization. That’s one of the big benefits of Absorb LMS: It delivers adaptive, personalized journeys from day one — so that traditional hires and skills-based hires both get onboarding experiences tailored for their specific needs.  

Trends and data driving skills-based hiring

Skills-based hiring is only rising in popularity. For forward-thinking HR departments, it’s a clear win. 90% of organizations are experimenting with some form of skills-based approaches at work, according to Deloitte, and a majority of executives says skills are important. A survey from NACE revealed that 64 percent of respondents used skills-based hiring tactics, particularly during the interview stage.  

There are many reasons for this shift, including the rise of AI (which leads to some tasks being depreciated), the clear shifts still ahead with technology, and the measurable impacts of prioritizing skills. These include improvements in diversity, retention, and recruitment.  

Absorb LMS can help you to define required skills, and then measure the effects of skills-based hiring or internal upskilling programs.  

How HR must evolve for skills-based hiring

Shifting to skills-based hiring requires HR teams to rethink how they define roles, develop employees, and measure success. As Yuran notes, this approach makes accurate job descriptions and competency frameworks far more essential than in traditional hiring models. “Leaders now have a very tangible reason to be concerned about the accuracy of job descriptions and competency frameworks,” she explains, because employees actively rely on these tools to navigate personalized upskilling and career pathways. HR must therefore partner closely with leaders to keep these frameworks dynamic and reflective of real work.

HR also plays a critical role in accelerating time-to-proficiency for new hires., a priority that's's becoming more urgent as employee tenures shorten. This means designing adaptable, role-based training and ensuring new employees can access clear documentation and peer support from day one. Just as importantly, HR must help build a culture where leaders model vulnerability so employees feel safe acknowledging gaps and asking for help. “If a leader shows vulnerability, people feel more comfortable being vulnerable with that leader,” Yuran emphasizes. In this way, HR becomes both architect and champion of a workplace where skills-based hires can ramp up

And with Absorb LMS, your HR team can turn the notion of adopting skills-based hiring into action, complete with personalized onboarding, training, and workforce development tools.

FAQs

How do I start implementing skills-based hiring in my organization?

You’ll want to have leadership buy-in at first. And don’t forget to make sure hiring managers are on board. Skipping “get-to-know-you” questions may feel disorienting at first, and hiring managers may need to adapt to a new interview strategy. Once people are comfortable with the idea of using skills-based hiring, you’ll want to pinpoint specific roles that are a good fit for this mode.  

How does onboarding differ in a skills-based hiring approach?

Onboarding will cover key aspects of company culture, as before, but may also be geared toward identifying and evaluating a new employee’s current skills — and discovering areas where skill-building may be required. Plus, since employees may be new to the workforce, identifying mentors and support syste

What is the difference between skills and competencies in hiring?

It’s easy to feel confused: Having a skill and possessing a competency sound so similar. But they’re distinct: think of a skill as a distinct ability, while a competency is a bit broader.  

You might be good at various skills involved in baking, like measuring and mixing. But to be a competent baker on a baking reality TV show, you’ll need to also produce something that’s delicious while narrating what you’re doing.  

There are three broad types of competencies:  

• Behavioral competencies: Think of these as life skills, such as your ability to navigate personal conflict without accelerating an argument. Strong interpersonal abilities (like being able to listen and communicate smoothly) would also fall in this bucket.  

• Functional or technical competencies: These are the abilities required to perform well in the day-to-day business of a role. So while a skill might be “Excel knowledge” a competency would be financial analysis (using that aforementioned Excel knowledge to manipulate the data found in a spreadsheet).  

• Professional competencies: Essential for helping a person perform well in a role, and including items like skill at networking, industry knowledge, and so on.  

As an organization, it’s wise to make it a goal to grow employees’ competency — it increases job satisfaction, productivity, effectiveness and proficiency, and also improves retention. As with skills, people can gain competencies through training and practice. With an LMS that focuses on supporting strategic learning, you can seamlessly embed competency frameworks into an employee’s training and career-growth plan.