Hiring is nearly always an area of focus, if not outright concern, for nonprofit organizations. Because nonprofits are often unable to compete with the private and public sectors in terms of wages, benefits, or schedule flexibility, they need to constantly innovate and find new ways to recruit effectively. On the one hand, the lack of resources can make nonprofits favor a more conservative approach, relying on personal networks to identify people who might be attracted to a mission-driven nonprofit role. On the other, their unique limitations can lead nonprofit recruiters to adopt an experimental approach which attempts to counter this adversity. These can include trying out new approaches, such as the recent emphasis on skills-based hiring.
Although skills-based hiring is still a relatively new paradigm, it has seen widespread adoption, and may already be the status quo for a number of skilled roles. With workforce churn causing significant issues across industries, HR teams and recruiters are being forced to reexamine their traditional approach and processes. If you are dealing with constant employee turnover or just looking for a new method to help you draw in talented, mission-driven individuals, exploring skills-based hiring could offer some significant benefits.
What is skills-based hiring?
While it may seem self-explanatory, the substance and importance of skills-based hiring is a little more complex than the name would suggest. After all, isn’t all hiring skills-based? The practice is intended to move closer to the essence of what hiring should be for, namely hiring someone who can fulfill the duties of a job based on their skills and ability, rather than hiring people based on degrees, certifications, experience level, and other stand-ins for those skills. Depending on the role, a skill-based hiring process would emphasize testing each candidate’s skills for critical job functions and basing hiring decisions on their performance, rather than traditional methods like reviewing resumes, relevant experience, and professional references.
Why are organizations interested in skills-based hiring?
There are a lot of reasons that organizations across all sectors are starting to move towards this approach:
- Hiring from diverse backgrounds: One of the obvious benefits of this approach is that it helps companies bring in people and perspectives that may fall outside the industry or professional norms. By de-emphasizing some of the status quo hiring methods, companies can reduce the effect of implicit bias in their hiring. This can lead to hiring from critically underserved groups, such as those without a high school degree or applicants with a criminal record.
- High cost of college: Because of the high cost of a college degree, a growing number of people are unable or unwilling to invest the time or enter into significant debt to get one. This does not mean they are unsuited for skill-based roles. Because access to loans and college programs can be biased in favor of affluent applicants, a college degree requirement can be a form of implicit bias.
- Skills tracking and testing: The introduction of many new technologies and tools allows recruiters and hiring managers to create and conduct skills-based tests that measure employee aptitude. Tools like GitHub, which acts as a public repository for a person’s software projects, also place practical skills and projects above certifications and other concerns.
- Bringing in younger or newer workers: Another key benefit of skills-based hiring is the way it can give skilled workers who are new to the workforce a chance to prove themselves. Because experience requirements can effectively freeze out otherwise qualified candidates, using the skills-based approach encourages recruiters to more seriously consider less-experienced workers.
Criticisms and challenges
Despite the enthusiasm and support for this approach from high-profile organizations and leaders, some have pointed out that adoption is slower than many realize. This is due to many factors, including the entrenchment of traditional recruiting practices, as well as the limitations of a skills-based approach. For many roles, particularly mission-critical work, legal work, or anything impacting the health and well-being of others, some form of credentialing is not only essential but required. Even if you took away credential requirements, there would be no way to sufficiently skill-test medical professionals, lawyers, or other jobs which require a high degree of expertise.
While job skills are important, they alone may not be sufficient measurements of soft skills, interpersonal skills, long-term investment in the organization, and so on. This is particularly relevant for nonprofits, which succeed thanks not just to the skills of their staff and volunteers but to their dedication to the mission. Many nonprofits need team members to “wear many hats” and work outside their specific job functions from time to time, but it can be difficult to determine this sort of flexibility through skills testing alone.
Additionally, while network-based hiring, credentialism, an emphasis on job experience, and other factors may have well-documented limitations, they are not inherently bad or inefficient. The reduction in college degree attainment, for example, isn’t because it isn’t useful, but rather a decision based on the high cost it represents.
Should you consider skills-based hiring at your nonprofit?
If you are interested in exploring a skills-based hiring process, you should consider the benefits and downsides carefully, as this approach may not be suited for every role or team. It is also possible to borrow pieces of this approach while also keeping some other methods of assessment partially or fully intact. For example, a role which requires both data analysis but also significant collaboration or interaction with the public could be filled with a skills-based hiring process. Aptitude tests and challenges could be emphasized over educational attainment and experience, augmented with interviews with current team members to assess each candidate’s ability to collaborate.
About Us
For more than 40 years, 501(c) Services has been a leader in offering solutions for unemployment costs, claims management, and HR support to nonprofit organizations. Two of our most popular programs are the 501(c) Agencies Trust and 501(c) HR Services. We understand the importance of compliance and accuracy and are committed to providing our clients with customized plans that fit their needs.
Contact us today to see if your organization could benefit from our services.
Are you already working with us and need assistance with an HR or unemployment issue? Contact us here.
