The global talent solutions leader was also the winner of the Client Service and Best Talent Attraction Strategy awards
CHICAGO – JUNE 27, 2024 – PeopleScout, a TrueBlue (NYSE: TBI) company and global talent solutions leader, was named Talent Solutions Provider of the Year, the top honor, at the 2024 TIARA Talent Solutions Awards – U.S. PeopleScout also received the Client Service and Best Talent Attraction Strategy awards for their work supporting their clients. This recognition comes after the company’s UK division received the same distinction, along with the Employer Brand and Best Talent Solutions Firm to Work For awards at the TIARA Talent Solutions Awards – Europe in October 2023.
“We are incredibly honored to not only be recognized for our exceptional service and effective talent strategies, but to also receive the distinction of Talent Solutions Provider of the Year,” said Rick Betori, President of PeopleScout. “These awards are a true testament to the tremendous work our people do every day to elevate our clients’ connection to top talent, and the trust our clients put in us to deliver custom solutions to achieve their short- and long-term talent goals.”
Judges praised PeopleScout’s exceptional service, thorough understanding of their clients’ business, effective strategies and sustainable results. The panel also shared the following award-specific feedback:
Talent Solutions Provider of the Year –One judge said, “PeopleScout delivered the type of service that every RPO and MSP provider should aspire to.”
Best Talent Attraction Strategy – Judges applaudedPeopleScout’s talent strategy, which “diversified the candidate pool in a male-dominated industry and lowered the cost-per-hire”.
Client Service – Judges noted that PeopleScout “took the time to understand the business and its challenges by investing time in visiting sites, incorporating customer feedback and leveraging technology to deliver sustainable results.”
Ethan Taylor, Senior Talent Strategist for multinational tire manufacturer and PeopleScout client Goodyear, echoed praise for PeopleScout, saying, “PeopleScout exemplifies what it means to be a true partner. They deeply understand our business, and act as a true extension of our team to provide innovative solutions to our unique talent challenges. Their commitment to our success is evident as they continue to evolve our talent strategies to drive meaningful business impact today and into the future.”
The TIARA awards recognize companies across the RPO, MSP and Talent Solutions market and are open to independent providers and business units of recruitment solutions providers. The TIARAs set a standard of excellence and recognize exemplary growth, innovation and leadership.
A three-stage judging process ensures credibility and enhances prestige for all award winners. TALiNT Partners’ senior team conducts an initial review to shortlist finalists from all entries. Finalist entries then go to a second round of judging by a panel of distinguished industry professionals. Judges then attend a judging day event to determine winners in each category.
See the full list of 2024 TIARA Talent Solutions Awards US here.
About PeopleScout PeopleScout, a TrueBlue (NYSE: TBI) company, is a global talent solutions leader that provides unmatched scalability to meet the hiring needs of organizations of all sizes. It connects clients with top talent through Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO), Managed Service Provider (MSP), Total Workforce Solutions, and talent and technology advisory services. PeopleScout is helping talent leaders harness the power of data, drive decisions and exceed expectations through tech-charged solutions founded on machine learning and AI. PeopleScout’s legacy of service and partnership has led to consistent recognition as a leader by industry analysts. For more information, visit www.peoplescout.com.
Press Contact Taylor Winchell Senior Manager, External Communications pr@trueblue.com 1-253-680-8291
By Patti Woods, Sr. Implementation Training Manager, & Chad Getchell, Director of Technical Solutions Architecture & Tech Implementation
Ready or not, AI is coming for the recruiting world. A whopping 81% of HR leaders are already exploring or implementing AI in their processes according to Gartner. That’s a lot of companies jumping on the train with AI for recruiting. And there’s a good reason for it—AI has the potential to make your talent acquisition team’s jobs easier by taking those mundane, repetitive tasks off their plate.
However, not everyone is as excited. We hear from many clients who are overwhelmed with the combination of how powerful these tools are and the ethical and legal considerations that they need to keep in mind while still getting the benefits.
Are you ready to jump on the AI train? Or are you still feeling unsure? Don’t worry, we’re here to cut through the hype and talk about the practicalities of implementing AI in recruiting.
AI for Recruiting: What it Is and What it Isn’t
Artificial intelligence (AI) is technology that can perform tasks that would otherwise require human intelligence. AI can “learn” complex tasks without being explicitly programmed to do them. AI includes the sub-fields of machine learning, speech and natural language processing and robotic process automation.
However, most definitions of AI don’t include the words “ethical” and “responsible.” Because AI lacks emotions, morals, empathy, compassion, historical context and more—things humans are great at. So, for anyone who is concerned about AI taking over their jobs—while we can’t guarantee this won’t happen someday—we want to remind you that humans have an important role to play, acting as the ethical and responsible parties making decisions throughout the recruitment process.
Some other limitations of AI include:
Biased Algorithms: If AI models are trained on biased or incomplete data sets, they can unintentionally perpetuate inequality. It’s important to keep an eye on the outcomes of AI-enabled résumé or CV sifting or sourcing to ensure there’s no bias present.
Lack of Accuracy: Generative AI (GAI) tools, like ChatGPT, are prone to making up statistics and sources—known as hallucinating. Human review is crucial when leveraging GAI tools for creating content and communications.
Data Privacy Issues: Collecting and analyzing extensive candidate information required by AI systems can raise concerns around consent, data protection and ethical usage. Work with your legal and compliance teams to ensure you’re in line with the legal and regulatory requirements in all the areas where you’re hiring.
Disproportionate Impact: Certain demographic groups face higher exposure to the potential harms of AI in recruitment. This can happen because lower income communities often lack access to digital tools which can create an adverse impact during the recruitment process when technology is in place. Analyzing recruitment data, like application and pass rates, will help to identify if any groups or individuals have been adversely impacted.
AI + Humans: The Recruitment Dream Team
Having humans as reviewers and approvers following AI-enabled stages of the recruitment process will mitigate risks that come from these limitations. In fact, AI should not be making decisions on behalf of a recruiter. While AI is great at repetitive tasks, it lacks that special something that only humans possess—context, empathy, ethics and good ol’ common sense. Your recruiters must use their moral compass to make sure the interests of candidates and your company are protected. It’s a critical role, no matter where AI is being used in the process.
AI is just another tool in your belt, but it has the power to elevate the recruiter’s role. It’s about using AI to maximize efficiency, so they can really focus on the human touchpoints that are crucial to the candidate experience. It also lets recruiters spend more time focusing on the parts of the job that are more relational, impactful and enjoyable, making them happier in their roles.
Job satisfaction goes up. Turnover goes down. You get the best of both worlds—the efficiency and computational power of AI that empowers better relationship-building, trust-earning and ethical-hiring. They’re a perfect pair!
Collaboration is Crucial
If you’re feeling intimidated by launching a new AI tool, remember you don’t have to go it alone—and shouldn’t. Your friends in legal, compliance and IT can ensure you’re staying on the straight and narrow. With legal covering your back, compliance double checking everything, IT implementing the solutions, and your recruiting team actually putting it all into practice, teamwork is essential for AI to work.
Consulting with your legal team and external partners is a critical move to ensure you’re being appropriately transparent without overwhelming candidates. They’ll help you navigate those tricky ethical waters and put guardrails in place to make sure you’re compliant with relevant laws and regulations.
Getting Started with AI for Recruiting
If there’s one thing that we want to make sure is crystal clear about our perspective, it is that you can’t take a blanket approach to implementing an AI-based solution. This is why being slow to adoption is totally okay. So, if you feel like you’re jumping in late, you are not. There’s a lot on the line and adoption needs to be carefully vetted, tested and communicated before you go for it.
The key to adopting AI is taking it slow, testing the waters with a pilot and controlled rollout. A great way to begin could be using AI for sourcing support, reviewing that first round of résumés or CVs, or even drafting template communications for your team. Easy wins like this let you get a feel for how AI can simplify your processes without adding too much risk.
While every project is different, when helping clients, we follow this basic five step process for implementing an AI tool:
Identify: Identify the business problem you want to solve or the business practices you want to improve with AI. It could be speeding up the first-round review of résumés or applications. It could be drafting communication templates for a team to use. It’s also imperative at this stage to define what a successful outcome looks like.
Plan: Research available AI tools that can solve your business problem and plan the journey to get started. This should include what metrics you will use to measure success. It’s important at this stage to include representatives from across the business from teams like HR, talent acquisition, IT, legal, compliance, department heads or hiring managers, etc.
Manage Risks: Evaluate the risks that may pop up for all applicable groups and create a plan to address them directly.
Pilot: Start with a small pilot user group and timeline. This might be a particular job family or location. How long do you want the pilot to last? What are the expected results? What threshold must be met for you to say, “OK, the pilot went well. Let’s expand.”? Address issues and iterate as you go until all your stakeholders are comfortable with moving forward.
Manage Change: Here is where you plan to scale your new AI tool and process to more parts of your recruitment program. Develop training materials on how to use the AI tool, the new process and expectations so everyone understands their role—whether they’re a recruiter, hiring manager, IT support or beyond. It’s about putting in place intentional, consistent accountability.
It doesn’t end there. There really isn’t a finish line with AI, or any other technology for that matter. Make sure that you are evaluating on an ongoing basis and measuring progress. It’s an ongoing exercise to ensure you’re finding risks, mitigating them and maximizing the value of your investment.
An RPO Partner Can Help You Navigate AI for Recruiting
As a recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) partner and trusted talent advisor to our clients, we help companies implement AI-enhanced hiring with less disruption and a faster return on investment. PeopleScout has experience implementing recruitment tech like AI software, advising on the best options for your needs, integration requirements, data needs, ethical usage, and workflow design. We do our due diligence with every client to make sure that we’re looking for the right way to embrace any technology, including AI, so that it benefits them based on their unique needs.
If you’re interested in RPO, look for a partner that is moving at your speed when it comes to AI in recruiting. AI solutions are meant to augment—not replace—human decisions in recruitment. Cultivating ethical and responsible usage of AI for recruiting is key when it comes to delivering real impact on talent acquisition.
The information provided in this article does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal or other professional advice; instead, all information, content, and materials available in this article are for general information purposes only. Readers of this article should contact their attorney or legal advisor to obtain advice with respect to any particular legal matter. No reader of this article should act or refrain from acting on the basis of information in this article without first seeking legal advice from counsel in the relevant jurisdiction. All liability with respect to actions taken or not taken based on the contents of this article are expressly disclaimed by PeopleScout, Inc.. The content in this article is provided “as-is”, and no representations are made by PeopleScout that the content is error-free.
TACOMA, Wash., June 17, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — TrueBlue (NYSE: TBI), a leading provider of specialized workforce solutions, today announced that its global talent solutions brand, PeopleScout, has been named a global Leader in leading research firm Everest Group’s 2024 Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) Services PEAK Matrix® Assessment for the sixth consecutive year.
“PeopleScout’s steady geographic expansion and expertise in hiring for a wide variety of roles across healthcare, retail, and manufacturing industries have enabled it to develop a comprehensive value proposition for RPO buyers,” said Arkadev “Arko” Basak, Partner, Everest Group. “Its recent launch of tech-driven agile and modularized RPO solutions, as well as continued investments in its talent advisory and proprietary Affinix technology platform, have helped it to maintain its position as a Leader in Everest Group’s Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) Services PEAK Matrix® Assessment 2024 – Global.”
Everest Group classifies RPO service providers into three categories: Aspirants, Major Contenders and Leaders, the highest designation. The firm’s proprietary PEAK Matrix® characterizes Leaders as being ahead of the curve in “demonstrating strong vision and capability to support their clients” and at the forefront of “investing in developing emerging capabilities, including consulting, value-add services, skill-based support and generative AI.” Leaders are also selected for their multi-regional capabilities and significant global presence.
“We are honored to again receive a Leader distinction from Everest Group, which is a direct reflection of the continued dedication and best-in-class service our team delivers every day,” said Rick Betori, President of PeopleScout and EVP of TrueBlue. “As we forge stronger connections throughout the talent ecosystem with our best-fit technology, scalable offerings and unrivaled in-house talent advisory expertise, we remain unwavering in our commitment to building sustainable talent strategies that drive results and improve business outcomes for our clients.”
Everest Group’s assessment of PeopleScout on this year’s PEAK Matrix® highlighted the following key strengths:
PeopleScout has significant global capabilities, with proven expertise supporting large and mid-size enterprises across a variety of sectors, with solutions rooted in their partnership-led approach.
PeopleScout recently launched two agile RPO offerings in response to evolving buyer demands:
PeopleScout Accelerate™, a tech-enabled, quick implementation RPO solution.
PeopleScout Amplifiers™, a suite of modular talent solutions, providing customizable and stand-alone services for talent mapping, talent sourcing, Recruiter On-Demand™, candidate assessments, and onboarding and retention.
PeopleScout continues to invest in its proprietary and cloud-based technology platform Affinix™, which offers functionality across the talent acquisition spectrum, from candidate sourcing and matching to customized reporting and analytics.
PeopleScout’s talent advisory services include consulting and value-added services across employer branding, recruitment marketing strategy and activation, talent insights and workforce planning, DE&I strategy and candidate assessments.
By capitalizing on its contingent talent acquisition capabilities and technology, PeopleScout successfully delivers total talent solutions, and helps buyers with early careers hiring and high-volume recruitment.
Everest Group’s research is based on three key sources of information, updated annually: its database of approximately 6,400 RPO deals, the operational capability of the 50+ assessed RPO service providers, and buyer references interviews and ongoing buyer surveys and interactions. The analyses in the report are presented at two levels: overall market analysis and current market trends based on deal activity in the last five years.
To learn more about the RPO Services PEAK Matrix® Assessment 2024, visit the Everest Group website.
About PeopleScout PeopleScout, a TrueBlue (NYSE: TBI) company, is a global talent solutions leader that provides unmatched scalability to meet the hiring needs of organizations of all sizes. It connects clients with top talent through Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO), Managed Service Provider (MSP), Total Workforce Solutions, and talent and technology advisory services. PeopleScout is helping talent leaders harness the power of data, drive decisions and exceed expectations through tech-charged solutions founded on machine learning and AI. PeopleScout’s legacy of service and partnership has led to consistent recognition as a leader by industry analysts. For more information, visit peoplescout.com.
About TrueBlue TrueBlue (NYSE: TBI) is a leading provider of specialized workforce solutions that help clients achieve business growth and improve productivity. In 2023, TrueBlue served 67,000 clients and connected approximately 464,000 people to work. Its PeopleReady segment offers on-demand, industrial staffing; PeopleScout offers recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) and managed service provider (MSP) solutions to a wide variety of industries; and PeopleManagement offers contingent, on-site industrial staffing and commercial driver services. Learn more at trueblue.com.
Supporting Annual Graduate Recruitment for a Government Agency
PeopleScout supports the assessment center for a UK government agency’s annual graduate recruitment campaign for policy advisors to ensure candidate quality and fairness.
3,500+applications assessed
140candidates supported in assessment centers
4weeks of assessment centers completed
Situation
This UK government agency runs an annual graduate recruitment campaign to hire quality early careers talent across their policy advisor team. They turned to PeopleScout to ensure this process remained consistent, fair and unbiased.
Solution
The PeopleScout talent assessment team supports the agency’s graduate recruitment program each year, continuously improving campaigns year-on-year.
Prior to the assessment center, PeopleScout organizes assessors to sift written exercises. Successful candidates then complete a bespoke Situational Judgement Test, which we designed specifically to assess how candidates would respond in true-to-life scenarios that employees will encounter in their roles at the agency. This sifts out approximately 30% of applicants who would be unlikely to succeed at the assessment center.
Candidate then complete the assessment center, for which we provide assessors. The assessment includes a variety of exercises like role plays, interviews and structured policy conversations. These are freshly designed by the client each year, and PeopleScout supports by reviewing the materials for consistency and best practice.
Our experienced assessment team provides an end-of-campaign analysis, adverse impact analysis and recommendations for continual improvement. For example, off the back of these recommendations, we worked collaboratively with our client to create an integration between Tazio and Microsoft Teams to create a smoother candidate and assessor experience in their virtual assessment centers.
Results
For this annual graduate recruitment campaign, PeopleScout assessed 3,697 applications, with 140 people completing the assessment center over 4 weeks. Ultimately, 53 candidates went on to work for the agency.
At a Glance
COMPANY: UK Government Agency
INDUSTRY: Government & Public Sector
PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS: Recruitment Process Outsourcing, Talent Advisory
ANNUAL HIRES: 50+ graduate policy advisors
ABOUT THE CLIENT: This UK government agency employs over 3,000 civil servants.
Creating a Values-Based Interview Framework for More Equitable Hiring
This UK airport wanted to create a more standardised process for interviews based on their organisational values. As their long-time RPO partner, PeopleScout’s Assessment Design team created a values-based interview framework to support hiring for six levels of seniority from entry level to director.
Situation
The airport’s talent acquisition leaders noticed that different teams across their organisation were conducting different types of interviews. They wanted to create a standardised process for interviews, which both measured potential and ensured fairness. They also wanted to embed their company values into their assessment process to secure talent who are in alignment with their organisational culture.
This company turned to their RPO partner, PeopleScout, to transform their values into a multi-level interview framework.
Solution
Our Assessment Design team got to work conducting desk research into the client’s existing values and created a template which was populated throughout the project. Consulting with the client in an iterative way, the designers set clear definitions for the values and created a collection of questions for each value. The client’s team reviewed a variety of options for interview question styles and decided what worked for them.
These questions also corresponded to six levels of seniority—from entry level to director—totalling 36 banks of question. The question banks were organised in such a way that interviewers at the organisation could easily pick and mix questions for their needs. We also delivered scoring criteria to ensure fairness for all candidates.
Results
In the recruitment process, the new values-based interview framework has standardised and streamlined the interview stage. Now, our client is building the questions into an internal tech platform to make the interview process even easier for hiring managers.
Beyond recruiting, the new framework has applications across the entire organisation to help employees understand how the organisation’s values are manifested in their role. This has catalysed a cultural change within the organisation as employees at all levels are thinking more about how they embody this company’s values in their daily work.
At a Glance
COMPANY: UK Airport
INDUSTRY: Travel & Tourism
PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS: Recruitment Process Outsourcing, Talent Advisory
ABOUT THE CLIENT: This UK airport has nearly 75,000 employees, making it one of the country’s largest single-site employers.
Revolutionizing Healthcare Staffing: The RPO Advantage
Attracting and retaining top talent is a massive challenge in today’s competitive healthcare landscape. Unlike other sectors, a miscalculation in hiring the wrong candidates can have severe consequences for patients.
That’s where Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) comes in.
In this ebook, Revolutionizing Healthcare Staffing: The RPO Advantage, you’ll discover how RPO can revolutionize your healthcare organization’s talent acquisition strategy. We’ll explore:
The unique hiring challenges facing the healthcare industry and how RPO addresses them head-on
The benefits of partnering with an RPO provider, from cost savings to improved candidate quality
Real-world case studies showcasing RPO’s impact in healthcare settings
Join the growing number of forward-thinking healthcare talent acquisition and HR leaders who have partnered with RPO providers to stay ahead of the competition. Download our ebook today!
PeopleScout’s scalable recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) solutions are backed by experience, insight and action to connect you with the talent you need.
Our latest research shows a detailed picture of the current state of skills in the global workforce and how HR leaders are preparing for the impending skills crisis
Global talent solutions provider identified as a global leader for the sixth time in a row
Chicago – May 20, 2024 – TrueBlue (NYSE: TBI), a leading provider of specialized workforce solutions, today announced that its global talent solutions brand, PeopleScout, has been named a leader, the highest rating, in every category of NelsonHall’s global 2024 NEAT Vendor Evaluation for RPO. PeopleScout was recognized for its transformational business strategies, broad range of RPO solutions, deep Talent Advisory expertise and best-fit technology solutions.
“PeopleScout’s positioning as a Leader within NelsonHall’s Next Generation RPO NEAT reflects its innovative technology and process solution designs helping its clients compete in the evolving employment landscape, said Jeanine Crane-Thompson, Principal HR Analyst, NelsonHall. “The company’s recently introduced Amplifiers modular recruitment solutions and turnkey RPO solution, PeopleScout Accelerate, offer flexibility and scalability to meet clients’ immediate and longer-term requirements.”
NelsonHall’s NEAT Vendor Evaluation provides companies around the world with a comprehensive assessment of vendors’ offerings and capabilities. The RPO evaluation compares providers across a range of criteria and business situations to identify the best performing vendors overall, with a specific focus on candidate experience, technology innovation, service innovation, multi-country delivery and talent acquisition transformation.
“We are honored to be recognized by NelsonHall for our scalable offerings, industry-leading technology and unrivaled in-house talent advisory expertise,” said Rick Betori, President of PeopleScout and EVP of TrueBlue. “These differentiators drive tangible value for our clients and elevate their connection to top talent as we help them build sustainable talent strategies to achieve their short- and long-term workforce goals.”
Highlights from NelsonHall’s evaluation of PeopleScout on the 2024 NEAT Vendor Evaluation for Next Generation RPO include:
A business transformation strategy that applies learnings from market trends and client behavior to develop near- and longer-term product and service offerings, such as its recently released Amplifiers™ and Accelerate™ solutions
The broad range of RPO and talent solutions, including those offered across the TrueBlue family of brands, that provide comprehensive solutions and synergistic business development opportunities
Deep expertise in its Talent Advisory services, including employer branding, recruitment marketing, talent insights, DE&I consulting, candidate assessment services and TA strategy consulting
PeopleScout’s proprietary technology platform, Affinix™, and established third-party partnerships. that provide best-fit talent technology solutions
Pragmatic business development strategies that target established markets and identify expansion opportunities in recession-resistant industries
A Leader designation on NelsonHall’s NEAT vendor evaluation is based on a combination of analyst assessments and client feedback. Client interviews focus on the vendor’s proven ability to deliver immediate benefits and demonstrated suitability to meet future requirements.
NelsonHall is the leading global analyst firm dedicated to helping organizations understand the ‘art of the possible’ in digital operations transformation. With analysts in the U.S., U.K., Continental Europe, and India, NelsonHall provides buy-side organizations with detailed, critical information on markets and vendors (including NEAT assessments) that helps them make fast and highly informed sourcing decisions. And for vendors, NelsonHall provides deep knowledge of market dynamics and user requirements to help them hone their go-to-market strategies. NelsonHall’s analysis is based on rigorous, all-original research, and is widely respected for the quality and depth of its insight.
About PeopleScout
PeopleScout, a TrueBlue (NYSE: TBI) company, is a global talent solutions leader that provides unmatched scalability to meet the hiring needs of organizations of all sizes. It connects clients with top talent through Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO), Managed Service Provider (MSP), Total Workforce Solutions, and talent and technology advisory services. PeopleScout is helping talent leaders harness the power of data, drive decisions and exceed expectations through tech-charged solutions founded on machine learning and AI. PeopleScout’s legacy of service and partnership has led to consistent recognition as a leader by industry analysts. For more information, visit www.peoplescout.com.
About TrueBlue
TrueBlue (NYSE: TBI) is a leading provider of specialized workforce solutions that help clients achieve business growth and improve productivity. In 2023, TrueBlue served 67,000 clients and connected approximately 464,000 people to work. Its PeopleReady segment offers on-demand, industrial staffing; PeopleManagement offers contingent, on-site industrial staffing and commercial driver services; and PeopleScout offers recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) and managed service provider (MSP) solutions to a wide variety of industries. Learn more at www.trueblue.com.
Recruiting the right talent has always been a tough nut to crack for any company. And it’s becoming an even bigger challenge. Low unemployment rates, shifting workforce preferences and skills gaps make recruiting harder than ever. However, a proven solution has emerged that can expand access to talent and meet diversity goals while fueling business performance—skills-based hiring.
The goal of skills-based hiring is to match candidates not based solely on degrees or past job titles, but rather on their current, demonstrated skills aligned with role requirements. It aims to judge applicants equitably on what they can do rather than what’s on their résumé or CV. This approach opens your talent pool to a wider range of qualified candidates who may have been overlooked using traditional hiring methods.
Let’s explore what skills-based hiring entails, why more employers are embracing it and how you can get started.
What is Skills-Based Hiring?
As the name implies, skills-based hiring focuses on a candidate’s demonstrated skills and competencies rather than traditional qualifications like education, years of experience or work history. The emphasis is on relevant skills rather than “paper” credentials. For example, instead of requiring a college degree, a skills-based employer might list must-have abilities like sales, communication, analytical thinking, etc.
The hiring process itself focuses on skills fit. Interviews and talent assessments gauge how a candidate’s skillset maps to a role’s requirements. In this way, skills-based hiring removes barriers for underrepresented groups and instead gauges whether someone can actually perform well according to the role’s core skills. The goal is to judge candidates objectively and find the best match for the job.
Skills in the Workplace
So, what skills should companies actually evaluate with skills-based hiring? Skills in the workplace are made up of three key components:
Hard Skills / Technical Skills: These are the expertise areas like programming languages (i.e., phython, Java), data analysis, financial modeling, and other role-specific knowledge. While they’re crucial for many jobs, they actually make up a small fraction of the overall skills picture.
Soft Skills: Often undervalued, soft skills in the workplace, like problem-solving, emotional intelligence, communication and critical thinking are the grease that allows hard skills to operate smoothly. For most roles outside of niche specialties, these human skills make up the vast majority of what’s needed for success.
Values Alignment and Organizational Fit: Less about executing the day-to-day work, this is about whether someone’s personality, mindset and motivations mesh with the company culture and values. It’s about determining if the candidate embodies the attitudes and behaviors you want to see in the role and at your organization.
Benefits of a Skills-First Approach: From Engagement to Productivity
The potential benefits of skills-based hiring are plentiful. It can expand your talent pool, increase diversity by reducing bias toward pedigree over performance, improve internal mobility, and better align employees to roles they’ll thrive in.
Organizations that embrace skills-based recruiting experience:
Not only does skills-based hiring boost performance and quality of hire, but it also enhances your employer brand, accelerates ramp up and improves retention.
3 Steps to Get Started with Skills-Based Hiring Today
The good news is that it doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing, enterprise-wide overhaul. Here are three steps to start putting skills-based hiring in focus:
1. Understand the roles that you have.
The first step in skills-based hiring is to break down the roles you’re looking to fill into the specific skills required for success. Start with one role or a set of roles. What hard skills (technical abilities) and soft skills (personal attributes) drive top performance in each position? Collaborate with your high performers to identify these key competencies and create detailed skills profiles for each role. These profiles should be action-oriented, specific, and avoid vague or subjective requirements.
With skills profiles in hand, you can craft job descriptions that communicate the essential abilities candidates need upfront. This transparency not only attracts better-matched applicants but also sets clear expectations from the start. Consider removing degree requirements if they’re not absolutely necessary, as LinkedIn data shows that job ads listing skills tend to receive more applicants.
2. Understand people.
In a skills-based approach, you’ll evaluate candidates based on their personal skills profiles – their demonstrated hard and soft skills relevant to the role. Implement validated, data-driven assessments like coding tests, writing samples, or Excel modeling exercises to consistently measure these abilities during the hiring process. Grade candidate responses objectively against your predefined skill criteria on a scale. This data-driven approach helps minimize unconscious bias.
3. Align roles with people.
Structure your interviews to probe candidates’ proficiency in key skills through situational judgment questions and opportunities to demonstrate their competencies. Skills-based interviews, combined with detailed skills profiles for both roles and candidates, will help you make smarter, more informed talent decisions. Hire skilled individuals who match the role requirements, identify reskilling needs for existing employees, or reject candidates who don’t meet the necessary competencies.
Skills-based hiring is still an emerging practice, but it offers companies an intriguing way to modernize talent acquisition. By focusing on what people can actually do instead of just their past experiences and credentials, you may uncover hidden gems and build higher-performing teams.
While making the shift to skills-based hiring practices takes time and effort, partnering with a recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) provider can accelerate your transition to building a future-fit workforce through this approach. An RPO partner offers the strategic guidance and operational expertise to embed skills at the core of your talent practices. They can help you carefully define and communicate role-specific skills and design fair and consistent talent assessments.
With the support of an RPO partner like PeopleScout, you can embed fairness and future-readiness into your talent strategies, building a more skilled, capable workforce prepared to drive your organization’s success.
Global talent solutions providing unmatched scalability to meet the professional, specialist, volume and contingent hiring needs of organizations of all sizes and sectors.
