By Brian Hinchcliffe, VP & Senior Career Management Consultant 

Discover how skills-based hiring expands your talent pool, reduces bias, and strengthens workforce diversity. Learn inclusive recruitment strategies that drive ROI and business results.

There is a shift away from traditional hiring practices to skills-based hiring. This does not diminish the value of formal educational qualifications such as degrees and certifications, instead challenging job seekers and recruiters alike to focus on matching the value of what this individual has achieved with the needs of the organization. This leads to greater inclusivity in the hiring market for both the job seeker and the hiring organization – and during Disability Employment Awareness Month, it’s worth recognizing how this approach creates pathways for candidates who may have faced barriers in traditional credential-focused systems. 

Those job seekers who hold formal qualifications should see their qualification as the underpinning for their success, by highlighting their actual experience in addition to their qualifications. The 62% of Americans who do not hold a four-year degree should not feel left out as they too can showcase their actual experience. For hiring organizations, this shift enables them to broaden their search to a much wider talent pool by considering a wide range of capabilities, including degrees, certifications, and skills – regardless of the candidate’s background, disability status, or non-traditional career path. 

Understanding the Job Seeker’s Mindset 

Today’s job seekers are increasingly drawn to organizations that practice skills-based hiring, and understanding why helps you attract stronger, more diverse talent pools. When candidates encounter your skills-based job postings, they read them differently than traditional postings, and that difference works in your favor. 

Candidates see opportunity, not barriers. Traditional postings with rigid degree requirements or narrow industry experience criteria cause talented people to self-select out of your pipeline. Skills-based postings signal that your organization evaluates what candidates can actually do. That professional who pivoted from hospitality to project management now sees their customer service excellence, crisis management abilities, and stakeholder coordination as relevant – because you’ve made clear that transferable skills matter. You’ve just expanded your applicant pool to include people who would have scrolled past your posting yesterday. 

Candidates can demonstrate their value on their terms. Skills-based approaches that incorporate portfolios, work samples, or skills assessments give candidates multiple ways to prove capability. This is particularly powerful for attracting talent who built expertise through self-directed learning, vocational training, military service, volunteer work, or lived experience. These candidates are often highly motivated and bring fresh perspectives – but traditional resume screening would have filtered them out before they could show what they’re capable of. 

Candidates recognize your commitment to fairness. When job seekers see a skills-based posting, they’re looking at an employer that has done the work to remove bias from the hiring process. You’ve thought through what actually predicts success in the role, not just what’s always been required. For candidates from underrepresented groups who have faced barriers in traditional hiring, this signals an organization where they can compete on merit. That perception attracts applicants who might otherwise assume they wouldn’t be considered. 

Expanding Your Talent Pool Beyond Borders 

The shift also requires a focus on more than the job title. The hiring organization needs to specify the skills required of applicants. To broaden their pool of qualified applicants, they should be willing to consider applicants from outside their specific industry path, considering qualified people of different skill paths, ages, genders, abilities, and ethnicities than typically hired. 

Organizations that embrace remote and hybrid work arrangements are discovering an even broader advantage: access to national and international talent rather than limiting themselves to local candidates. This geographic flexibility not only increases the diversity of your workforce but also brings in perspectives shaped by different markets, cultures, and problem-solving approaches. The skills learned in other industries, regions, or contexts often transfer in unexpected and valuable ways. 

Job seekers need to respond by spelling out their skills, giving evidence in terms of actual results achieved – demonstrating how their unique background and capabilities translate into value for the organization. 

Rethinking the Hiring Process 

For organizations to adopt skill-based hiring requires re-thinking many factors in the hiring process.  

These include re-thinking: 

• Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) 

• Salary bands 

• Career growth 

• Leadership 

• Verifying skills through accessible assessments 

• Accommodation processes and flexible work arrangements 

Skills should not be limited to the technical but should also include people management and business acumen.  

They should also consider: 

• Interests 

• Passions and aspirations 

• Motivations 

• Work styles 

• Cultural styles 

• Location preferences 

• Professional development goals 

The Cultural Impact: Building Trust Through Fair Practices 

When an organization commits to skills-based hiring, the impact extends far beyond the candidates you attract. Your current employees are watching. They see when their employer takes meaningful action to find the right people without bias. They notice when the new hire who joins their team got there because of what they can do, not because they fit a traditional mold. 

This builds trust and reinforces culture. Employees in skills-based organizations understand that their company values merit and capability over credentials and connections. They see their colleagues’ diverse backgrounds as strengths. They know that when their own career growth is evaluated, it will be based on the skills they’ve developed and the results they’ve delivered, not on where they started or what their resume looked like when they were first hired. 

For organizations serious about inclusive talent strategies, skills-based hiring isn’t just a recruitment tactic. It’s a cultural statement that signals to everyone – current employees, candidates, customers, and communities – that this is a place where talent is recognized in all its forms. 

The Inclusive Advantage 

When organizations commit to skills-based hiring, they create opportunities for candidates with diverse life experiences, whether that’s someone who built technical skills outside a university setting, a professional transitioning from another industry, or someone whose disability shaped their approach to creative problem-solving. These diverse perspectives strengthen teams, drive innovation, and reflect the varied customers and communities that organizations serve. 

Skills-based hiring isn’t just about finding qualified candidates. It’s about recognizing that talent comes in many forms, from many places, and through many different paths. Organizations that embrace this reality position themselves to compete for the best people, regardless of where those people learned their skills or where they’re located. 

About Keystone Partners:

Keystone Partners helps organizations meet business goals and maximize ROI through leadership development and career transition services. Our expertise in inclusive talent strategies ensures you build teams positioned for long-term success. Contact us to learn how we can support your organization’s talent initiatives.