Skills-based hiring continues to trend.

As you know, skills-based hiring focuses on screening candidates based on their capabilities rather than education or employment history. In today’s hiring environment, if you’re not hiring for skills, you’re missing plenty of potentially high-performing job candidates.

The Benefits of Skills-Based Hiring

When it comes to the benefits of skills-based hiring, the results speak for themselves. In a survey of more than 2,700 employers by TestGorilla, they found dramatic improvements in hiring practices and outcomes when employers shifted to skills-based hiring, including:

• 89% reduction in the cost-to-hire
• 91% reduction in the time-to-hire
• 92% reduction in mis-hires
• 91% increase in employee retention
• 91% increase in hiring diversity

A skills-based hiring strategy also creates a better job-fit for employees, which produces greater job satisfaction, employee engagement, and performance appraisal ratings. Those with high job-fit also tend to better adapt to challenges, seek upskilling, and develop transferable skills.

Shifting Hiring Requirements

In an effort to fill spots in several industries, LinkedIn launched a program guaranteeing job seekers an interview with recruiting teams if they can pass a skills-based test. Look for expansion of this type of strategy in the future.

For years, companies have practiced “degree inflation,” demanding four-year college degrees for positions that didn’t require them. This kept many skilled workers out of the talent pool due to the high cost of higher education. This disproportionately impacted those in lower-income communities, especially people of color, leading to a lack of diversity in the workforce in upwardly-mobile positions. With fewer diverse candidates in entry-level jobs, fewer diverse candidates were being promoted upward in companies.

That’s changing.

A review of job descriptions by the Harvard Business Review showed that employers have started to reduce degree requirements by more than 45% for mid-level employees and about a third for high-skilled positions. Job ads showed a marked shift towards skills rather than specific degrees.

Companies like Google, Microsoft, Apple, IBM, and GM have all shifted their hiring practices and offer some high-level positions to employees without college degrees in an attempt to widen the talent pool and attract different types of candidates. Today, about half of the jobs at IBM do not require a four-year degree.

There’s also a greater emphasis on finding candidates with transferable skills that will help them grow within the organization and upskilling current workers to provide more opportunities for internal movement.

Continuing Need for High-Quality Employees

Employers need workers with the right skills and many are desperate to find quality candidates. Despite some companies cutting back, there are still 11 million job openings in the U.S., according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. At the same time, turnover continues to be an issue with monthly layoffs, separations, quits, and discharges topping 11.5 million monthly.

Employees Want to Develop New Skills

The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania reported that nearly a third of tech workers, for example, say skills and self-improvement are what they value most about their job. 92% of professional says having access to professional development is important or very important.

Current employees are also seeking more upskilling opportunities to stay ahead of changing work environments. A study by Amazon and Workplace Intelligence showed that seven out of ten employees say they do not feel prepared for the future of work.

By providing opportunities for employees to adapt and learn new skills on the job, employers can retrain and retain workers at a higher level.

More Opportunities for Skills Development

One piece of good news for employers and job seekers is that there are more opportunities for skills development than ever before.

Colleges are offering online courses and boot camps in greater numbers than in years past. The number of massive open online course (MOOC) platforms has risen, offering free courses and unlimited participation. Many employers have started their own training and certification programs to attract the next generation of workers.

Skills-Based Hiring Will Continue

Hiring based on skills is on the rise and will remain that way into the future. Employers need to reassess their hiring practices to see whether they are leveraging this growing trend.

The post Why Skills-Based Hiring is on the Rise and Should Remain that Way appeared first on RecruitingDaily.

Better yet, we’ll be there too! We’re excited to see you all live and in-person!

So, What Is Transform 2023?

Transform 2023 is the premier global event for people-driven leaders, entrepreneurs, and workforce tech investors to shape the future of work. With more than 300 speakers and 100 interactive sessions, Transform 2023 will feature:

• Three days of powerful content
• Innovation showcases
• Probing conversations
• Hands-on learning experiences
• After-hours networking

Attendees believe the workplace is not just a set of business problems to be worked out. There are social and even philosophical challenges to consider as we collectively chart the course for the new world of work. Being advocates for that shift in philosophy, and finding allies in that effort, is what makes Transform 2023 a unique event.

Learn and discuss diverse people-driven business transformation topics, including:

• Talent Acquisition
• DEI
• Cloud-based and hybrid teams
• Learning and development
• Retention
• Total rewards innovation
• Workplace experience design
• And more

Transform 2023 is not just another HR conference. It provides an opportunity to see cutting-edge innovation and companies that are fostering relationships and human connections, mobilizing companies to do good, and transforming the workforce and workplace.

Why Should You Be There?

It’s an opportunity to meet, learn, and discuss new strategies for the workplace and workforce with industry leaders from some of the world’s most notable people-focused WorkTech companies. Join the more than 3,000 people that will attend the events and conference over the course of the three-day event. You’ll be able to engage with business and people leaders, entrepreneurs, and investors.

A number of companies – including some big names in HR Tech and recruiting spaces –  will be in attendance as well as a lineup of over 250 innovative thought leaders. Some stand-outs include Jeff Diana of Calendly, Greenhouse CPO Donald Knight, Heather Dunn of Gem and more.During the event, a variety of sessions will be available from workshops and training to product showcases, all about changing the future of work for the better.

We’re excited for:

• “Prioritizing Inclusive Hiring to Win in an Evolving Talent Marketplace,” a session featuring talent acquisition and recruiting specialists Israel Gutierrez from Axios, Greenhouse’s Ariana Moon and Elizabeth Shober of Udemy.
• “Talent Pixelation: Continuous Fragmentation of Talent Supply” which discusses how pixelation can help organization to reduce costs and increase efficiency.
• “Roundtable: Expanding & Diversifying Candidate Pools with Distributed Hiring,” a discussion on the latest trends in distributed hiring and how to leverage organizational data, hosted by Datapeople.
• “Should I Stay or Should I Go: Doubling Down on Internal Talent” with Idealis Advisory’s Founder and CEO Sumona De Graaf and David Landman of Goldman Sachs.

Special Offer: Save $200

Join us March 27-29 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas for meaningful connections, impactful innovations, and deep conversations that will continue to shape the future of work all year long.

Recruiting Daily readers and members can take advantage of a special offer. As an official media partner, we are pleased to offer a $200 discount for attending Transform 2023 events.

Learn more about Transform 2023 and sign up for this special offer for Recruiting Daily readers and members.

Recruiting Daily is proud to be an official media partner for Transform 2023.

The post Transform 2023: Let’s Change the Future of Work, Together appeared first on RecruitingDaily.

In our recent webinar, Diversity and Inclusivity to Attract Resourceful Candidates, Sophie Okonkwo, Global Talent Acquisition – Engineering EMEA at Microsoft, shared how to effectively implement diversity and inclusivity into your hiring practices.

To be effective, Okonkwo said D&I strategies have to be end-to-end in recruiting, starting with creating inclusive job descriptions. “I see some job descriptions that are repellant to candidates, using words that are not appropriate,” she said. “You need to use gender-neutral words.” She said to be careful about using phrases such as “strong candidates to work in a fast-paced environment” which can discourage potentially great candidates from applying.

Okonkwo also shared other D&I strategies in recruiting, such as:

• Improving diversity in sourcing
• Using blind hiring tools
• Sharing D&I employment practices
• Leveraging a screening framework for interviews
• Ensuring diverse representation on the interview panel
• Measuring and promoting D&I efforts

Okonkwo also emphasized the importance of investing in the next generation of diverse talents. “You cannot keep hiring out of the same pool if you are not replenishing that pool,” said Okonkwo.

Watch the webinar on-demand to get actionable tips on creating a diverse and inclusive end-to-end hiring process to improve business outcomes.

Watch Now

Other Upcoming Webinars

Hear from other top industry experts in these upcoming webinars:

Brian Fink’s Boolean Beginners Bash 2023

FEBRUARY 28, 2023 @ 2 PM ET
Learn how to Use Boolean operators, modifiers, search characters, and commands to create candidate searches with Brian Fink, Senior Talent Acquisition Partner at McAfee

Register

How to Design Meaningful Moments at Work

MARCH 7, 2023 @ 5 PM ET
New research on the state of connection, trust, and belonging at work and tips for creating meaningful moments for employees with Andrea Dumont, CMO at Enboarder and William Tincup, President at RecruitingDaily.com.

Register

How Pay Transparency Makes or Breaks Your Talent Attraction

MARCH 14, 2023 @ 2 PM ET
Learn how pay transparency is a good kind of change and how to use it to your advantage when attracting high-caliber talent.

Register

Sourcing Effectiveness: Benchmark Your Process for Strategic Recruiting

March 28, 2023 @ 2 PM ET
Learn how to create strategic benchmarks throughout your recruiting process to be a more effective sourcer with Todd Davis, Executive Talent Sourcing Researcher at ServiceNow.

Register

The post Webinar Recap: Diversity and Inclusivity to Attract Resourceful Candidates appeared first on RecruitingDaily.

Hiring mistakes aren’t the only reason startups fail to succeed, but they play a significant role. Here are eight of the most common errors companies make when hiring for startups and how to overcome them.

1. Hiring by Resume, Not Experience

Experience will be a determining factor in success, but it requires the right kind of experience. While interviewers will want to examine a resume and a candidate’s background, it’s more important that they have the experience startups need. Just because someone has a degree or worked somewhere else, it doesn’t mean they can hit the ground running.

Another hiring mistake startups often make is hiring for a particular skill. While that skill may be essential, they must have a depth of experience beyond that skill as well. Employees must be able to juggle multiple roles and responsibilities within startups.

2. Ignoring Red Flags

It’s also easy to ignore the red flags that emerge when talking to candidates, especially if they have the skills the startup needs. It can be tempting to ignore the warning signs that come up and figure it won’t matter if they can get the job done. It does matter.

While companies need to make sure they are treating candidates fairly and without bias, hiring the wrong person can undermine a startup, especially in the early-growth stages.

3. Hiring Within Your Network

When starting a business, it is common for a founder to recruit a few people they know and trust. As companies expand, however, they need to go beyond their personal networks to find qualified workers. Hiring friends and family members can make it difficult when it comes to managing them, especially if it’s not working out.

4. Going Too Big, Too Fast

Many startups want to come out of the gate strong, so they go on hiring sprees even before they are ready. Often, startups are looking to grow in size to show investors that they are serious. Other times, ego proceeds profits.

Hiring for startups should be methodical and aligned with strategic goals. Lean and agile teams have guided some of the world’s best startups.

5. Mismanaging High-Volume Hiring

When it is time to grow, startup hiring often includes bringing on board a large number of employees at the same time. High-volume hiring can be a challenge and hiring mistakes are common.

Prioritize the essential, non-negotiable skills, then look for the right cultural fit. Even when companies need to hire people quickly, they must meet the startup ethos to be successful.

6. Ignoring Cultural Fit

Cultural fit is critical for all hires. Startups often have limited resources when they’re growing, so anyone startups hire has to be willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done. Employees must be OK with having to clean the workplace, go buy supplies, take out the trash, run to the post office, or do anything else that comes up.

Hiring for startups also needs to focus on agile and flexible workers. It’s not uncommon for startups to pivot or change priorities as the company evolves. Startups can’t afford to hire workers who can’t adapt quickly when situations change.

7. Hiding Negative Information

Employees want to work for startup founders that are passionate and driven. However, it’s easy to let passion obscure potential roadblocks. During the interview process, make sure to talk about the upside but also discuss any potential negatives about the job.

Employees need to know the reality of the job. They’ll find out soon enough. If a company hasn’t been honest or neglected to tell them negative information, they may not stick around.

If they need a “perfect environment” to thrive, they aren’t suited for a startup.

8. Waiting for Unicorns

While startups need to find key individuals that will drive the company forward, waiting for that unicorn to walk in the door is not a good idea. If unicorns do exist, they’re exceptionally rare. Don’t postpone hiring for key positions hoping to find this mythical individual that may never emerge.

Hiring for Startups

Finding the right employees is challenging in any environment. For startups, it’s essential. Large companies can overcome hiring mistakes, but hiring the wrong people can slow down or cripple startups before they start to gain momentum.

Avoid these common hiring mistakes and improve the odds of startup success.

The post 8 Common Hiring Mistakes Startups Make and How to Avoid Them appeared first on RecruitingDaily.

Studies also show that diversity hiring helps organizations:

• Expands their talent pool
• Increase skills, talents, and experiences
• Improve innovation and creativity
• Improve problem-solving capabilities

Harvard Business Review research shows that more diverse organizations are significantly better positioned for companies looking to grow and expand into new markets. Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are also important to employees. Nearly three-quarters of employees agree or strongly agree that diversity in the workplace is essential.

Implementing and Ensuring Diversity in Hiring Strategy

In today’s job market, companies need to refine their hiring strategy if they want to attract a diverse pool of candidates.

Companies need to assess the marketplace and set realistic diversity hiring targets. This brings diversity to the forefront and helps organizations evaluate their current and future needs. How companies achieve those goals often comes down to how they communicate.

Setting clear expectations, objectives, and goals should be a top priority for organizations that want to improve workplace diversity.

Avoid Poor Communication

So, how do organizations avoid poor communication? Here are a few areas to evaluate to get started.

Review Job Ads

Poor communication can enter hiring practices inadvertently. To attract diverse talent, businesses need to be aware of how this happens. For example, Hewlett Packard’s tracking showed that men tend to apply for jobs if they have 60% of the qualifications. However, women tend to apply only if they meet 100% of the qualifications.

So, the more job qualifications listed, the fewer women are likely to apply. Stick to the core, must-have requirements, and avoid the laundry list to attract more diverse candidates.

Candidates from different countries may also have different skills, training, or degrees. So, requiring a specific educational background may discriminate against candidates that have different backgrounds.

Check Brand Messaging and Reputation

If companies have a poor reputation when it comes to diversity or send the wrong brand messages, diversity hiring is going to be an uphill battle. Take proactive steps to foster diversity within the organization. Review branding to ensure the images and messages used appeal to diverse candidates. For example:

• Is there true diversity within your organization?
• Do pictures of team members on websites or job boards reflect a diverse staff?
• Do time off policies include more religious holidays or important events for diverse employees?
• Are pay scales within the organization equitable?

Improve Listening Skills

Cultural groups may communicate differently, so it’s crucial to ask probing questions and listen carefully to the answers. Understand that when two people from different cultural groups are talking, the process may be slower and require follow-up questions to extract additional information.

This also helps to overcome any potential language barriers that exist.

For example, business communication styles in Western cultures tend to be direct, while other cultures tend to be more discrete in how they communicate. Active listening skills will be essential to avoid confusion.

This is especially important for employees that have to communicate in a language that is not their native language. They may be subject matter experts but have difficulty communicating in a second language.

Be Aware of Body Language

Different cultural groups have different norms for body language. Job applicants in the U.S. are coached to have a firm handshake and maintain eye contact with the hiring manager. Yet, many Far East countries perceive a strong handshake as aggressive. In some cultures, a limp handshake is a standard. Eye contact also varies across different groups. In some countries, strong eye contact is considered inappropriate and even confrontational.

There are plenty of other cultural differences when it comes to body language and gestures. Nodding is seen as a sign of acceptance or agreement in Western cultures, and in other cultures, a nod may signify acknowledgment rather than agreement. The OK sign and thumbs up may be perfectly acceptable in the U.S., but they are seen as extremely offensive and insensitive in some cultures.

HR teams and hiring managers need to be aware of these cultural differences and how they communicate when interviewing. So, next time a candidate doesn’t look you in the eye or offer a firm handshake, don’t judge them based on body language alone.

Help Diverse Hires Succeed

Some workplaces may struggle to successfully integrate diverse employees into their organization. This requires effective communication with current employees and the onboarding process for new hires.

Current employees need to understand the value of diversity in hiring and develop an appreciation for cultural differences. This is especially important for managers that may have to adapt their communication style to use inclusive language and account for cultural practices and norms. It can be easy to offend someone unintentionally by using the word words or communication styles.

New employees may need a mentor to help them navigate the existing cultural differences. Workplace norms that are taken for granted may be foreign concepts to those from different cultures. Mentors can help new hires better understand expectations and provide new hires with a person they can go to when they have questions or concerns without judgment.

Hiring and Retaining a Diverse Workforce

In most cases, improving hiring diversity and retaining a diverse workforce can be summed up in one word: Respect. When companies show respect for different cultures and genders, they provide a more positive, inclusive culture. That starts with the way leaders, managers, and team members communicate with each other and demonstrate respect.

The post Diversity in Your Hiring Strategy: The Importance of Communication appeared first on RecruitingDaily.

Recruiters aren’t being spared either. Many of these layoffs included sourcers and recruiters. In some cases, entire teams were let go.

Apple is seeing much of the same challenges other tech companies are facing. Its stock price dropped 27% in 2022 and the company’s latest earnings report showed the first decline in quarterly sales in more than three years.

Yet, Apple is avoiding layoffs. Why and how?

Apple Operates and Hires Differently

Apple runs a little differently than other companies. For example, compared to its tech rivals, Apple tends to operate very lean. They don’t tend to offer the laundry list of perks that other tech companies do, and they tend to hire at a slower pace.

More Methodical Hiring

Compare the hiring patterns at some of the major tech companies over the past three years:

• Meta employment expanded by 94%.
• Google employment grew by 57%.
• Microsoft employment increased by 53%.

Yet, Apple only grew its staff by 20% during the same period. Although the company did scale back 100 contract recruiting jobs last August, so far mass layoffs have been avoided.

Industry analysts say Apple’s restraint in hiring during the pandemic is key to its ability to withstand economic challenges. While other companies added huge amounts of employees, Apple held off.

CEO Pay Cuts

There’s another significant step Apple took amid economic uncertainty. Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, took more than a 40% cut in pay. While still set to earn an astounding $49 million in 2023, his comp package was reduced from $84 million in 2023. You can save a lot of jobs that extra $35 million.

FYI, CEOs at Alphabet (Google), Meta, and others didn’t take pay cuts.

So, No Layoffs at Apple?

 “We manage for the long term,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said during a February call with analysts. “We invest in innovation and people.”

That long-term thinking has paid off so far.

Tom Forte, senior research analyst at DA Davison predicts there will be reductions in headcount at Apple. Forte told Bloomberg Radio that the cutbacks are more likely to occur through attrition. Apple’s been vocal about employees returning to the workplace full time and that may shrink the ranks of employees who want to continue to work remotely. Forte expects any layoffs to occur at the retail level based on consumer demand.

Still, Forte says he sees an underlying structural shift in the tech industry. Despite record gains over the past five years, he says you can no longer count on these companies to automatically outperform other industries. “I think it’s a change in dynamics,” he said. “I think it’s something that’s going to continue to play out over the next 12 months.

Cook says they will work hard to avoid layoffs. “I view layoffs as a last resort kind of thing,” Cook told the Wall Street Journal. “We want to manage costs in other ways to the degree that we can.”

Still, he said, “You can never say never.”

What’s Next?

Right-sizing an organization and balancing employee headcount versus bottom-line expectations is always a challenge. Many companies overhired in the wake of the pandemic as consumer behavior changed. Now with slowing in eCommerce sales and digital advertising, companies are seeing growth patterns that align more closely with pre-pandemic levels.

What will happen next in hiring and recruiting? Expect more cutbacks across industries as companies right-size their organizations for the future. While mass hiring and layoffs in the tech industry get a lot of attention, hiring shifts are happening across nearly every industry.

Apple was more cautious than other tech competitors when it came to hiring and it looks like that decision is paying off so far — for both the company and its employees. As Cook notes, Apple is still hiring for strategic positions.

The post Can Apple Continue to Dodge Mass Layoffs? appeared first on RecruitingDaily.

Chipotle is gearing up and announced they’re looking to hire 15,000 restaurant workers — about a 15% increase in their total workforce. The company is looking to staff up existing restaurants and overcome the quick-serve industry’s consistent challenges with turnover.

Is This Mass Hiring Strategy a Smart Move?

This sounds like great hiring news for those looking for restaurant jobs, but is it a good move for the company?

Many companies in 2021 and 2022 worried about finding qualified workers and over-hired. Mass hiring also turned into mass layoffs in several industries in the latter part of 2022 and the start of 2023, especially in the tech sector.

Hiring fast and scaling quickly can be a recipe for trouble, but the company says there’s a method in its madness within the Chipotle hiring process. The company has an aggressive plan for expansion that would nearly double its stores nationwide to 7,000. They’re hiring en masse now to find those with leadership potential to be team leads and store managers.

Chipotle has found the best candidates for management come from within the company. More than 90% of management roles were internal promotions in 2022, including 100% of regional VPs, 81% of team directors, and 74% of field leader positions. To find tomorrow’s leaders, they need to hire and evaluate today’s workers.

Upskilling and promoting from within are increasingly part of the trends for frontline hiring within many industries today.

What Happens When Busy Season Ends?

Despite the company’s desire to grow, expansion takes time. It’s impossible to construct and open thousands of stores between now and the end of the busy season. Will Chipotle be looking at its own mass layoffs when the burrito season ends?

Maybe. Maybe not. When you consider that turnover rates at Chipotle for hourly crew members average more than 140% annually and turnover for salaried workers and managers can run between 31% and 49%, it may be a smart plan.

The company currently has 100,000 employees. If turnover’s that high, they might easily need to add 15,000 new workers a quarter just to stay on par. With such a significant amount of turnover, Chipotle can evaluate workers during the burrito season and then likely absorb most if not all of the workers that want to stay with the company.

Continued Industry Shortages

The National Restaurant Association says the industry still needs about 450,000 workers. Despite nearly across-the-board wage increases in the QSR and fast-food industry, hiring continues to be a challenge. A growing number of jobs outside the restaurant industry are also hiring workers from a similar talent pool.

While other restaurants may not be hiring at the same rate as Chipotle, the Association’s recent survey of operators showed that 87% would hire additional employees if they could find qualified workers.

The post Chipotle’s Hiring Surge: What Happens After Burrito Season? appeared first on RecruitingDaily.

If you’re a company trying to hire a high-quality recruiter, you want someone experienced and knowledgeable. If you are a recruiter, you want a way to demonstrate that expertise to separate yourself from others. And you might think that certifications are the way to do this. 

However, most of what’s available is more in line with training for human relations teams. HR certification may touch on recruiting, but it’s not going to provide the depth of knowledge to master recruiting. There are plenty of training courses online, but the quality can vary significantly. 

Unlike other industries, such as a CPA for accountants, there’s no formalized standard for earning a certification or even an industry association that is accepted by the industry as a whole and sets standards for certifications. 

So, Are Certifications Worth It? 

Maybe. 

If you can get the training and coaching you need to be a better recruiter, then they are worth the investment. If they can help you learn new skills and strategies to improve the way you perform, then definitely. 

For example, the online learning center from Jobvite Academy provides a more structured approach to developing recruiting skills and core competencies for recruiters. It goes beyond talent acquisition and TA certification. There are also training courses and modules from AIRS by ADP, LinkedIn, Coursera and online certificate programs from some Universities. 

The right skills and training can help you better serve your customers, whether that’s your employer or a company that contracts with you, and that’s the most important thing. 

Saying you are a certified recruiting specialist can help you stand out from others. That may get you in the door with a company, but it’s what you do after you land the job that will determine your success. Just as a college degree is beneficial to separate a job candidate from someone without one, it doesn’t guarantee success. It’s what you do with the training and education that makes the difference. 

Can You Be a Successful Recruiter Without Certification? 

You can. Much of the skills needed to work effectively as a recruiter or sourcer can be learned from experience, especially if you have the right mentor or team to teach and coach. 

It may be a little tougher for someone looking for that first job without certification, but most companies would value someone with a track record of sourcing, recruiting and landing top-caliber candidates over someone with a pedigree that doesn’t have such a history. 

The Best Recruiters Are Lifelong Learners 

As the job market changes, it’s important to stay on top of evolving trends and stay up-to-date on best practices. Fortunately, that’s what we do. 

Regardless of whether you seek certifications, the best recruiters and sourcers are inquisitive and lifelong learners — always looking for ways to polish their skills and gain an edge when it comes to attracting, nurturing and closing top performers. 

The post Are Certifications Worth It for Recruiters and Sourcers? appeared first on RecruitingDaily.