Why is skills-based the next workforce frontier? Simply put, traditional, antiquated job description-defined roles are ineffective in today’s volatile business landscape. Enterprises require agility and flexibility to respond appropriately to operational and market changes. A skills-based workforce architecture supports that requirement by aligning employee skills with project-focused initiatives. Deploying employees with specific skill sets to solve problems and ensure business continuity is a Future of Work vision.

Purpose of Work Redefined

With a nimble and responsive workforce, enterprises can leverage their talent using a more holistic approach while generating a greater sense of work purpose for employees. According to an article in Training magazine, “Skills-based organizations have a more agile and employee-centric approach to work where employees are valued for their skills rather than their job title, level, or educational qualifications.”

“It is a new operating model of work where employees are matched to tasks and projects based on skills, capabilities, and interests. Focusing on skill sets instead of job experience can help organizations optimize their talent pool.”

However, the success of this workforce model depends heavily on the ability to define work within the enterprise. What is the work that can ultimately provide a competitive advantage in the marketplace? Where in the organization does the most critical work reside? What skillsets and capabilities are most valued to accomplish the work required? How does the enterprise capture, structure, and utilize skillset data?

The critical answers to these questions are all part of the foundation of a skills-based structure.

Core Tenets of a Skills-Based Organization

The foundational elements of the skills-based organization revolve around the concepts of rethinking the parallels between talent and work; thus, the very future of the skills-based organization depends on forward-thinking strategies, ideas, and, of course, technology, according to Chris Dwyer, senior vice president of research at Ardent Partners and the managing director of the Future of Work Exchange.

Consider the Future of Work Exchange’s six key elements of skills-based organizations and how they impact the greater business (and its staffing, recruitment, and hiring efforts).

Candidate Centricity

A candidate-centric talent strategy ensures that businesses place the utmost emphasis on the candidate experience and the candidate journey, thus positioning them to attract and engage top-tier skillsets and expertise. Employee development opportunities are essential in retainment and career progression initiatives.

A Shift to Skills-based Hiring

Job-based hiring has long been the foundation of talent acquisition. However, for skills-based organizations, prioritizing expertise as the core of hiring enables a deeper range of total talent. An important part of this strategy is diversity, equity, and inclusion in the hiring process as well. DE&I should be communicated by leadership as an enterprise priority.

A Foundation of AI and Data

Deeper, AI-furled technology allows businesses to execute more effective candidate matching, identify critical skills gaps, and provide leaders with predictive insights into the organization’s future talent. Rather than reactively responding to operational and market changes, AI and data enable a proactive approach to talent identification and deployment.

Expansion of Skills

Hard skills are crucial, but “soft” skills are critical for productive and engaged workers. SBOs expand their candidate searches to prioritize behavioral skills just as much as traditional expertise. The need for strategic problem-solving and collaboration across business units is an inherent characteristic of a skills-based enterprise.

Enhanced Experiences

Skills-based organizations not only prioritize the candidate journey but also the hiring manager experience to ensure that consistent, scalable methods are leveraged to catalyze a frictionless talent acquisition experience.

Omni-Channel Talent Acquisition

Skills-based organizations leverage “omni-channel talent acquisition,” in which hiring strategies revolve around a variety of talent sources, including direct sourcing, talent marketplaces, digital staffing, etc. Cultivating those pipelines with diverse candidates, while also using source prioritization for specific requirements will streamline the talent acquisition process.

A skills-based organization is a major transformation from the traditional approach of job-defined roles and responsibilities. Core to a successful skills-based workforce model is comprehensive talent assessments of existing skillsets, integration of workforce technologies, and structured processes for identifying projects and deploying needed skillsets. And of course, there’s change management that is necessary to make the transformation sustainable, a topic we’ll tackle in a later article.

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The foundational elements of the skills-based organization revolve around the concepts of rethinking the parallels between talent and work; thus, the very future of the skills-based organization depends on forward-thinking strategies, ideas, and, of course, technology. And it all begins with skills-based hiring.

I’m excited to join my friend and fellow Future of Work expert Mark Brodsky on an exclusive Q&A panel discussion on Wednesday, March 15 at 11am ET. The staffing and recruitment expert panel, hosted by innovative skills intelligence platform Glider AI, will address:

• Migrating from a job-based to a skills-based hiring strategy.
• How to identify the required skills.
• How to assess candidate skills.
• Evaluating skills-based hiring tools and AI.
• Uncovering hidden skills from current employees.
• Securing executive and finance stakeholder alignment.

Next week’s event will also feature some brand new Future of Work Exchange research and statistics that will illuminate the criticality of the skills-based organization and its role in the evolving world of talent and work. Join us!

The post Getting Started With Skills-Based Hiring appeared first on The Future of Work Exchange.

Digital transformation depends on the evolving talent ecosystem, and businesses must embrace this symbiotic link to truly optimize how work is done.

For the past decade, I’ve defined the Future of Work in both simplistic and more intricate manners; the simple definition is “how enterprises optimize how work gets done through the advancements in talent acquisition, the advent of new technology and innovation, and the transformation of business leadership/business thinking.” The more complex version follows a cascading revolution of reimagining the very elements of work, including talent, diversity, workplace structure, technology and innovation, collaboration, etc.

It’s much more complicated than simply automating facets of the business. And it’s so much more than shooting for the “digital enterprise” goal. We’re at an inflection point when it comes to work, talent, and technology: embrace the linkage between these elements, or, lose the agility and flexibility afforded by the power of this convergence.

Businesses learned a harsh lesson in 2020: those that could not adapt to the major shifts in work optimization were the ones that could not survive months of extreme disruption. While we are now nine months into 2021 (wow…time flies, doesn’t it?), another new year is on the horizon, and businesses must prepare for perhaps the most critical year of their history given the direction of the economy and the labor market. The shift towards “flexibility as the Future of Work” means that enterprises must execute in a more dynamic manner. The companies that thrived and continue to thrive are the organizations that understand and embrace 1) how they want to get work done, 2) the talent and technology needed to get that work done across both the short- and long-term, and 3) the proper balance between human and automation. In addition:

• It’s not just about remote work, but rather the way remote workers collaborate, improve their productivity, and share intelligence. Digitization isn’t just for the office. With upwards of 44% of all workers telecommuting today (according to new Future of Work Exchange research), these critical professionals require the proper tools, technology, and software to be productive and connective with the greater organization. So much of the focus on hybrid work models has been on trust, communication, and productivity, when it should rightfully be on priming these workers for success.
• Businesses must tap into the full ecosystem of talent-led technology, including AI-led candidate assessment, digital staffing, talent marketplaces, etc., to drive a better alignment between work and skillsets. Using one outlet of talent technology won’t cut it moving forward. With so many job openings and “The Great Resignation” hopefully receding as we move into 2022, businesses are nonetheless faced with continued pressure to deepen human capital and future-proof skillsets within their total workforce. The only way to solve this incredible challenge is to invest in reskilling and upskilling, validate skills through AI-fused assessment tools, augment the total workforce by tapping into on-demand talent marketplaces, and developing a long-term digital staffing roadmap that ensures all talent gaps can be addressed from both internal and external channels of expertise.
• And, speaking of skillsets: “talent sustainability” is developed through data science, next-gen analytics, artificial intelligence, and data oceans that provide executives with real-time snapshots of their total talent. Talent sustainability is a keystone of the Future of Work moving further, as businesses require the ability to plug-and-play talent across a hypothetical future whilst maintaining, developing, and retaining the necessary skillsets to thrive. This is only possible through a thorough mix of talent management, skills assessments, next-gen solutions (like AI), and a commitment to harnessing data science to uncover core expertise gaps in both the general workforce and the leadership behind it.
• Digital recruitment depends on automated marketing, seamless referral campaigns, and full linkage of talent acquisition systems. “Digital recruitment” differs from “digital staffing” in that the former relies on more elegance and strategic capabilities rather than an external channel or talent network. As such, businesses must develop a positive and seamless “hiring manager experience” that allows these leaders to build pipelines of talent through automated referral campaigns, digital marketing initiatives that promote the company culture and brand, and full linkage of these efforts into greater talent acquisition strategies (and associated talent engagement, ATS, VMS, etc. platforms).
• Direct sourcing must move from “strategy” to “embedded architecture.” A straightforward notion: move direct sourcing from being a bolted-on workforce management strategy to one that is embedded in the digital architecture of the greater organization. Talent pools should be segmented and available on-demand in enterprise recruitment streams, while talent pipelines should be contributed to and accessed by any hiring manager across the organization for total visibility and proactive planning. Talent nurture should be a natural series of seamless processes that are automatically designed to facilitate open communication with candidates to foster engagement and continually reflect the strength of the enterprise brand.

And, finally, a fundamental shift in the role of digitization: technology should not be the total linchpin to organizational success, but rather a realm of interconnected functionality, data, and intelligence that reinforces true business agility and workforce flexibility. Problem-solving has long been the gateway for businesses to invest in, adopt, and leverage next-generation technology; the Future of Work dictates that businesses execute more forward-thinking strategies in the vein of innovation. The symbiotic link between digitization, talent, and the Future of Work is what will allow business to be more proactive as they build a dynamic infrastructure that is built on elements of new technology platforms, real-time data and intelligence, and an overarching desire to develop a truly agile workplace culture.

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