Skills-based hiring
What is skills-based hiring? Why is it on the rise, and what are the best practices for adopting it in your organization? Here’s everything you need to know about this revolutionary new approach to recruitment.
Skills-based hiring is the best way to recruit
Our data shows extraordinary outcomes for employers and candidates
of employers say skills-based hiring reduces mis-hires
of companies report a reduction in total cost-of-hire
of employees say skills-based hiring can help them land their dream job
of skills-based hires are happy in their role
The state of skills-based hiring in 2023
Recruitment is changing fast. Over the past year we’ve seen the red-hot candidate market give way to recessionary fears, and the rise of AI-based tools that promise a brand-new world of work. As businesses reshape their workforces to deal with these challenges, skills-based hiring has emerged as the preferred tool to find and secure talent. In the world's only annual report on skills-based hiring, we deep dive into the revolutionary recruitment trend to find out how employers are leveraging this approach, how it’s affecting candidate experience in the current job market, and what the adoption of skills-based hiring practices means for diversity and inclusion efforts across organizations.
Our 2023 report will be launched early October 2023 - watch this space!
What is skills-based hiring?
Looking to make faster, more accurate, and higher quality recruitment decisions? At a time when great talent comes at a significant premium employers are realizing that they need tools to assess candidates’ skills more quickly and reliably. Enter skills-based hiring. Read on to find out how this new approach to recruitment is driving managers to ditch resumes and expand their applicant pools.
Read more
The rise of skills-based hiring and what it means in recruitment
The world of work is changing. With the rise of skills-based hiring, businesses are starting to place a greater emphasis on what potential employees can do rather than on their degrees and where they got them. Although the shift toward skills-based recruitment has been accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic, it’s not new. According to The Burning Glass Institute, employers already reset the degree requirements for 47% of middle-skill and 31% of high-skill roles between 2017 and 2019. This structural change is the result of the demand for talent exceeding the supply, a trend that has been further accelerated by the pandemic. And this trend brings new hiring priorities. As a result, more and more organizations are hiring based on skills and not degrees – and with excellent results. This is also why we believe that the history of the CV is coming to an end. Today, applicants need to show, rather than tell, what they’re capable of. The shift toward skills-based hiring has many implications for both employers and employees: Employers need to reset degree requirements for many jobs and find new ways to assess candidates’ skills and expertise reliably Employees need to be ready to prove their skills – regardless of the diplomas and certificates they hold In this article, we’ll discuss the shift toward skills-based hiring, describe what it means for organizations, and explain how a skills-based approach can help you make the most of your recruitment budget.
The role of personality, attitude, and motivation in skills-based hiring
When it comes to recruiting, most hiring managers take one of two approaches: Hire the person with the best skills, experience, and education (if relevant) for the position Hire the person with the best attitude, drive, and personality for the company There are merits to either approach, and you can build a highly successful company by prioritizing one or the other. But which is the best approach? And are the two really at odds with one another? Or can we build a hiring process that looks at both aspects of each applicant to gain a holistic view of what they can bring to the table? In this guide, we explore the role of personality, attitude, and motivation in recruitment and how they interact with a skills-based hiring approach built around skills assessments.
How skills-based hiring delivers what job candidates want in 2023
Job candidates are putting their desires front and center when searching for a new job in 2023. In the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Great Resignation, keeping track of what job candidates want out of their employer and career is crucial for attracting and retaining talent. Gone are the days when candidates would bend over backward to fill out job applications, endlessly tweak their resumes, and sit through round after round of interviews. Candidates want a speedy hiring process, remote work opportunities, learning and development, and fair pay. The good news? Employers who make these accommodations aren’t taking a hit. They’re building stronger organizations. Skills-based hiring offers significant business benefits to employers and helps them stay ahead of the competition regarding candidates’ desires. This guide explains what candidates have wanted, no longer want, and will want in the future from their employers, and it gives you insight into how skills-based hiring helps employers deliver on these wants.
How the focus on skills in hiring is driving the degree “reset” – and where universities go from here
One of the most controversial calls to action of skills-based hiring is for employers to ditch the typical requirement for a university degree and tear the paper ceiling. Four-year degree requirements have been around for what feels like forever, but they’re not a good predictor of job success. An analysis of 26 million job postings found that college graduates had lower levels of engagement at work and a higher rate of turnover.[1] Even highly technical skills like data science don’t necessarily require a university degree to learn them. Instead, more and more organizations are turning to skills tests to identify candidates who are qualified regardless of their educational background. Our own State of Skills Based Hiring 2022 report found that 76% of companies are already reaping the benefits of skills-based hiring, with 89.8% seeing a decrease in cost-to-hire, 91.4% seeing a decrease in time-to-hire, and 92.5% seeing a reduction in mis-hires. This is part of an overall shift known as the “degree reset.” But what role does skills-based hiring really have in this reset, and where do universities go from here? In this blog, we discuss the role that universities have played in hiring up until now and how we see that changing in the coming decades.
How skills-based hiring can change the way we view retention and internal mobility
Career progression is, understandably, front-of-mind for employees when evaluating whether to stay with their current employer or search elsewhere. In 2022, more than a third of workers said that they planned to ask for a raise in the coming year.[1] Many workers are not afraid to take drastic actions if their raise is withheld or unsatisfactory. There’s a common belief among workforces that when it comes to career progression, “the only way up is out.” If employees want to ascend to a position that utilizes their leadership skills, they expect to have better luck finding one outside of their organization than inside it. This attitude persists because many employers are of a similar opinion. Losing talented employees because they weren’t offered opportunities to progress is viewed as inevitable, with glass-half-full employers seeing it as an opportunity to take on a fresh new hire. To some, overly ambitious employees may be seen as “disruptive” to the business’s operations. Therefore, letting that talent go would be considered beneficial in the long run. However, this blasé attitude to employee retention and internal mobility isn’t sustainable. It comes at a cost to your business and could be hindering your growth. In this blog, we look at the state of employee retention in 2023 and how skills-based hiring can help transform this “only way up is out” attitude among both employers and employees.
How skills-based hiring helps STARs tear down the paper ceiling
We know how this headline sounds, but no, this blog post isn’t about helping Dua Lipa start a new career as a warehouse supervisor. The term “STAR” actually stands for “Skilled Through Alternative Routes” and refers to workers who have gained valuable skills outside the now-expected path of a college education. STARs make up 50% of the American workforce, and yet the traditional hiring techniques used by many employers – including resume review and degree requirements – exclude them from roles where they can demonstrate their value.[1] In this blog, we show how opening your recruiting process to STARs with skills-based hiring not only improves their careers, but helps you create more diverse, innovative, and not to mention happier teams. Most importantly, we discuss how skills-based hiring can help tear the paper ceiling.
Why skills-based hiring?
Our data shows that 76% of employers are ready to make the switch to skills-based hiring. Find out why skills-based hiring is on the rise and the wide-ranging benefits it can bring to your business.
Learn more
10 stories that demonstrate the power of skills-based hiring
We’ve been carefully building a team since TestGorilla launched over two years ago, and today we hired our 100th team member. We practice what we preach, so every one of our people has been recruited for their skills, using our product. And based on their experiences, we know that skills-based hiring has the power to change lives. In order to share some of that power, we asked 10 team members to talk about their careers before TestGorilla, and their experiences with both CV-based and skills-based hiring. Read on to discover 10 stories that demonstrate why companies need to adopt skills-based hiring.
5 business benefits of skills-based hiring
Skills-based hiring requires hiring managers to break from traditional recruitment practices and adopt a new mindset. But as well as being a fairer way to identify and reward the right candidates – and spot the warning signs of a bad hire – it brings tangible business benefits to your organization. Through accurate insights into how well a candidate’s skills match a particular role, employers can reduce hiring costs and build a more engaged and productive team. In this article, we’ll explore the business benefits of employing people based on their ability with key findings from our State of Skills-Based Hiring report – and look at how companies can move to this model.
Skills-based hiring and lowering costs
Hiring costs add up very quickly if an efficient process is not in place. Traditional hiring methods are bogged down with direct costs, like recruiter fees and the cost of resume screening software, in addition to several other indirect costs that lead to delays in time-to-hire, such as unstructured interviews and candidate ghosting. These practices not only waste time, they’re also not accurate predictors of a candidate’s future performance. They end up costing even more in the long run when employers have to rehire for the position. Skills-based hiring cuts these costs down to the bare minimum, hiring more accurately without the need to pay fortunes in recruitment fees or spend valuable hours digging through resumes. Skills-based hiring offers a new way to recruit, where the benefits don’t stop once a candidate is on the payroll. This approach assesses a candidate’s skills and potential to add to the company culture as a means of securing and retaining top-tier talent while keeping costs down.
How skills-based hiring can build a culture of belonging
When employees feel like they belong at work and are an integral part of a close-knit team, the results are far-reaching: Their job performance increases by 56%, their turnover reduces by 50%, and they take 75% fewer sick days.[1] Belonging is also cited as a leading driver of employee engagement, and 91% of employees who feel they belong are engaged at work as opposed to 20% of those who don’t.[2] However, creating a culture of belonging at work involves more than offering a friendly welcome to new team members. It’s about building a diverse team and ensuring that everyone is treated equally and feels included. Objective and data-backed recruitment practices like skills-based hiring help you do that by helping you hire for skills and ability, not subjective factors like background or connections to existing staff. In this article, we’ll examine how skills-based hiring helps companies increase diversity and improve employee happiness and retention. We’ll also look at how to use a skills-based approach to identify and develop the soft skills necessary for creating an inclusive and welcoming work culture, as well as provide practical tips for building a culture of belonging.
Skills-based success: 10 case studies for skills-based hiring
The working world has been turned on its head with the pandemic, the Great Reshuffle, and the resulting skills shortage. Companies are searching for a powerful, sustainable way to attract and retain talent, and many of them are opting for skills-based hiring practices. According to TestGorilla’s State of Skills-Based Hiring report, 76% of companies used skills-based hiring practices in 2022 – which are taking the world by storm and shaping up to be the future of hiring. Recruitment practices that focus on skill aren’t just for one type of company, so your organization can see success no matter if it’s in healthcare, sales, or manufacturing. Don’t believe us? Let’s take a look at 10 success stories from different individuals, industries, and regions and how they show the benefits to both employees and employers alike.
The impact of skills-based hiring on hiring speed
Traditional hiring methods that focus on a candidate’s education, degrees, and certifications consume a great deal of both the recruiter’s and the candidate’s time, and still fail to adequately assess a prospect’s skills**.** Job seekers spend hours tweaking resumes, catering cover letters to specific positions, and sitting through interviews, just to be ghosted down the line or ignored completely. Recruiters spend their days sifting through these materials for each candidate without gathering any relevant information about what a candidate’s actual skills are. Skills-based hiring, however, cuts right to the chase by skipping the resume and instead assessing and hiring for a candidate’s skills by using multi-measure assessments and structured interviews. Skills-based hiring has a positive impact on hiring speed because it removes arbitrary barriers, keeping top talent interested and enabling employers to fill positions quickly, for the long term.
Who is using skill-based hiring?
Skills-based hiring has quickly become a global trend helping reshape recruitment practices across many regions and industries. From the United States to Singapore, recruiters are embracing skills-based hiring to attract and keep top global talent. Reasons for its popularity differ across regions. Some use it to streamline high-volume hiring, while others are using it build fairer, more diverse teams. Read on to find out who is using skills-based hiring and how they will benefit.
By region
Skills-based hiring around the world: Who’s leading the charge?
If you aren’t doing it yet, that’s ok: 58% of companies we surveyed only just adopted skills-based hiring in the past two years. But from the United States to Singapore, a skills-based approach is quickly becoming a popular way for recruiters to attract and retain global talent. The reasons for using skills-based hiring vary from region to region. In some parts of the world, organizations use it to streamline high-volume hiring. While in others, the focus is on making teams more diverse and equitable. Let’s take a closer look at how skills-based hiring works in the USA, UK, and the Asia-Pacific region. We’ll compare the reasons for implementing the practice—and the results of doing so. We’ll also highlight what these examples can teach us about creating a more diverse and higher-performing workforce.
What these 5 US states can teach us about skills-based hiring
States across the US are implementing a skills-based approach to hiring and rewriting the rules to traditional hiring practices. Instead of evaluating candidates on their education and background, they’re going in search of diverse talent who have the skills needed for the job. This opens up opportunities to people who might miss out because they’ve been skilled through alternative routes (STARs) or don’t have a degree. However, not all states are created equal in their approaches to hiring and progress. In this piece, we look at five states leading the way in skills-based hiring and what you can learn from them to attract the best talent for your own business.
What businesses can learn from skills-based hiring trends in Asia-Pacific
The global skills shortage is ongoing. Many skilled workers are being turned away by employers because of a lack of formal education or experience on their resumes. Many employers are not offering workers learning and development opportunities even though 45% of workers say they would stay at their company longer if it invested in their growth.[1] Skills-based hiring is a proven strategy to locate, retain, and develop skilled workers. In fact, our report, the State of Skills-Based Hiring 2022, found that more than three-quarters of employers globally are using skills-based hiring to identify talent. But do Asian-Pacific (APAC) countries, where the bulk of the world’s working population lives, fit into this? This article dives into the current skills-based hiring situation in prominent APAC countries to identify how companies are adapting, the role that governments play, and the cultural and social factors that are driving (or preventing) the benefits of skills-based hiring. Finally, we’ll take a look at how skills-based hiring can fill the gaps that the majority of APAC economies are experiencing and the lessons the rest of the world can learn. Before we begin, “APAC” can be an ambiguous term, so in this article, we’ll use it to refer to East and Southeast Asian countries as well as Oceania.
By role
How to use skills-based hiring for blue-collar jobs
Employers are finding it increasingly difficult to fill their blue-collar job openings. The Covid-19 pandemic and the Great Resignation have contributed to this hiring shortage, but attracting and retaining skilled blue-collar workers was an issue even previously. With older workers retiring and many younger workers opting for four-year degrees or white-collar work, companies need to adjust their traditional hiring methods.[1] Skills-based hiring locates talented workers by focusing on skills instead of education and prior job experience. Although white-collar jobs commonly use skills-based hiring**, the strategy is equally effective, sustainable, and financially viable for blue-collar jobs**. Using skills assessments and structured interviews, and investing in upskilling and employee development can fill your blue-collar job openings in the long term. This article explores different types of blue-collar jobs that can be filled by following skills-based hiring best practices.
Skills-based hiring and white-collar jobs
Skills-based hiring has proven to be a strong predictor of job performance outcomes while reducing time-to-hire, cost-to-hire, and employee turnover. That’s great for “blue-collar” jobs where workers can be trained to accomplish clearly defined tasks in specific roles. But what about more complex, multifaceted, “white-collar” jobs, where roles and responsibilities require a blend of high-level hard and soft skills and experience? Traditional hiring practices seem to ignore this crucial question by gathering the fluid work responsibilities of white-collar jobs into singular job titles and organizational hierarchies. In other words, they use blue-collar hiring practices for white-collar jobs. With rapid ongoing changes in technology, consumer behaviors, and employee demands, this overly simplistic view of white-collar work compromises organizational agility, growth, innovation, diversity, and a positive employee experience.[1] On the other hand, adopting skills-based hiring practices caters to the fluid responsibilities and requirements of white-collar work by centering skills over reductive hiring methods like degrees, resumes, and cover letters, for example. Let’s take a look at the skills necessary for such jobs before diving into six different white-collar jobs that can be filled with a skills-based hiring approach.
How skills-based hiring is transforming entry-level recruiting
Entry-level jobs are historically difficult to fill, with 41% of recruiters reporting that they are the hardest positions to hire for.[1] Although many employers blame entry-level talent shortages, the real culprit is traditional hiring methods that aren’t optimized to locate and retain entry-level talent. Outdated practices like inflating the worth of degrees, resumes, and interviews, disregard workers who may have little to no experience but have the skills to succeed. The result is a hiring catch-22: Candidates need experience to get a job and a job to get experience. This isn’t just a nightmare for job-seekers. It severely limits your talent pool, causing you to miss out on diverse candidates with fresh perspectives. Skills-based hiring levels the playing field by opening up entry-level positions to any skilled candidate, regardless of their background. Experience, education, resumes, and cover letters don’t matter. What does matter is a candidate’s ability to perform well in a role and their potential to grow within your organization. Skills-based hiring fills entry-level positions with skilled candidates, identifies natural talent, and lowers turnover with skills assessments, structured interviews, and upskilling.
By industry
Hiring for startups: Should you hire for a short-term fit or the potential to scale?
When you’re launching a startup, building the right team is everything: 14% of startups fail due to not having the right people on board.[1] And yet, it’s fraught with complications. Let’s say you’ve identified social media as a key engine for your brand’s growth in the next six months. You know you need a dedicated team member to craft your strategy and manage your channels, but when it comes to hiring, you find yourself in a bind. One of your candidates is highly skilled in social media management and would undoubtedly maximize the effectiveness of your social media push in the short term – but their long-term career goals don’t align with your vision for the role. Your other candidate isn’t as experienced, so their effectiveness in the short term might be less impressive. However, they’re keen to progress with your company, and they have a broad range of additional marketing skills that could inform your other initiatives. Who do you prioritize: the candidate who provides the best short-term fit, or the one with the most potential to scale with you? This dilemma is one of the most challenging parts of HR for startups, and we’re here to help you navigate it. In this blog, we take you through the benefits and drawbacks of hiring for short-term fit vs. the potential to scale, when it’s appropriate to use each strategy, and the best practices for doing so.
A deep dive into skills-based hiring in the healthcare sector
The healthcare industry is one of the largest in the US. The market size was valued at $359.2bn in 2022 and is projected to reach $781.5bn by 2030.[1] This massive industry is currently facing a massive talent gap. Thousands of healthcare workers are leaving the industry, and too few are coming in. This means the healthcare sector needs to attract talent, stay competitive, improve working conditions, and retain top employees. It’s certainly a tall order, but there’s a solid solution to each of these issues. Many different industries are rapidly adopting skills-based hiring, and the healthcare industry is no different — and the healthcare organizations that have adopted it are seeing amazing results. Let’s take a look at the current state of the healthcare industry and how skills-based hiring helps fill talent gaps, hire better candidates, and retain workers.
What’s causing inequality in STEM, and is skills-based hiring the solution?
It’s well-known that STEM industries – industries under the umbrella of science, technology, engineering, and math – are some of the least diverse industries out there. Despite that the skills needed for a software engineer are not inherent to any race, gender, or other demographic categories, 93% of professional developers are men, more than 40% are White, and more than 98% do not have a disability.[1] Given that more than 90% of organizations that switched to skills-based hiring in 2022 saw an increase in diversity, it’s understandable for STEM leaders to consider skills-based hiring as an antidote – but can it work? This blog explores the different diversity issues plaguing STEM industries and how skills-based hiring can help.
How to implement skills-based hiring
Skills-based hiring is a broad hiring approach that covers everything from job descriptions and talent assessments, to structured interviews and work samples. Find out how to implement skills-based hiring for your organization in the best possible way.
Read more
How to adopt skills-based hiring practices in your organization
You’re hiring for the position of Head of Marketing. Candidate A has a four-year degree in marketing and five years of experience working for another firm. Candidate B has a Bachelor’s Degree, but his CV is patchy – but that’s because they’ve been traveling the world, growing their own business, and raising a family. Let’s imagine that Candidate B’s real-life marketing skills make them a better candidate for the role. Employers who focus too heavily on experience and qualifications would dismiss their application. But degrees and education don’t always translate to performance, so a hiring strategy centered around them could hold you back. You need a fast, efficient method to identify the ideal candidate (say, one with flawless email marketing skills) – without unconscious bias getting in the way. Skills-based hiring practices keep your recruiting efforts focused on competencies and talent. Our step-by-step guide shows you how to adopt skills-based hiring practices in your organization so you can start filling positions effectively and efficiently.
10 best practices to apply skills-based hiring in your organization
Skills-based hiring is a growing trend that has the potential to revolutionize the recruitment process and put you ahead of the pack when it comes to attracting and retaining global talent. Our 2022 State of Skills-Based Hiring report reveals that both hiring teams and candidates are increasingly dissatisfied with ineffective and unfair traditional recruitment methods. Overemphasizing the role and reliability of resumes has led to mis-hires, low employee retention, and recruitment biases that stop talented people from being placed in roles suited to their strengths. But hiring methods are changing. We found that 76% of companies are already embracing skills-based hiring. The best part? Candidates hired in this way are happier in their roles, stay longer, and perform better. We know skills-based hiring increases hiring ROI while reducing time-to-hire and employee churn. But we’re no strangers to its challenges either since we practice what we preach in our own organization. That’s why we’ve put together 10 skills-based hiring best practices to apply in your business.
7 barriers to implementing skills-based hiring in your organization – and how to overcome them
A switch to skills-based hiring brings major incentives. Our own research shows that not only is it the norm, with three-quarters of businesses already using it, but of those businesses: 89.8% saw a reduction in cost-to-hire 91.4% saw a reduction in time-to-hire 91.1% saw an increase in diversity However, like any transformation, it can’t happen overnight. To get these big results, you first have to make big changes. You can’t simply swap resumes for personality tests and find motivated candidates right away. In this post, we discuss the barriers that are standing between you and skills-based hiring. These include the roadblocks to prepare for, the systems you need to put in place, and the proper approach to get buy-in from senior executives. First, we need to talk about where resistance to skills-based hiring comes from.
How to prepare job descriptions for a skills-based hiring approach
Nearly every role starts with a good job description. It’s there to display job responsibilities, cover important skills, and attract the right applicants. Job descriptions prepare candidates for success and reduce the chance of mis-hires. But how are they different when you take a skills-based approach to hiring? Skills-based job descriptions focus on skills and responsibilities, avoid listing unnecessary degree requirements, and promote learning and upskilling. Skills-based hiring is the future of hiring, with 76% of companies using it. If you’re considering making the switch from traditional to skills-based hiring, then you need to know how to write skills-based job descriptions. Let’s discuss what differentiates a skills-based job description, how they attract better candidates, and our top tips for writing a job description focused on skills. As a bonus, we’ve included a detailed skills-based job description template at the end of the article.
Skills-based compensation: A fairer way to pay
In a bid to compete in the war for talent, more companies are removing degree requirements from job descriptions, adopting skills-based hiring, and implementing pay transparency measures. According to our 2022 State of Skills-based Hiring report, 76% of employers across the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand are using competency-based recruitment to build more diverse, resilient, happier teams.¹ This means that traditional compensation models based on qualifications, experience, or tenure may no longer be fit for purpose. But how do you fairly compensate people when these factors are removed from the equation? Enter skills-based compensation, which rewards people based on the skills they bring to or acquire in the role. It can also give your company a competitive advantage, make you more attractive to candidates, and help create a fairer work environment that makes for happier employees. Applying skill based pay isn’t always straightforward, though. For example, how do you ensure it’s implemented in a way that’s equitable and sustainable? We’ll look at what skills-based compensation is, the benefits and challenges of applying it, and six strategies to help you do just that.
How to create an ideal candidate profile when using a skills-based hiring approach
An ideal candidate profile (ICP) is a common recruiting tactic used by hiring managers. These documents include the ideal requirements to complete a role successfully, such as skills, work experience, education, motivation, and career goals. But a few of those points can be problematic. When you make assumptions about a candidate’s “required” experience and education, it narrows your talent pool – or even worse, it leads to a bad hire. So what about a skills-based ideal candidate profile? An ICP focusing on skills and competencies is not only possible; it’s an effective recruitment tool that helps you quickly determine if the candidate meets the job requirements and aligns with the company culture. This article goes in depth into the issues with traditional candidate profiles and how to revamp your process to create ones focused on skills and capabilities. We’ve also included an example template for a skills-based ICP at the end.
Skills-based hiring resources
Skills-based hiring is a growing trend that shows no signs of abating, with 53.4% of respondents believing it will be the dominant hiring method in the future. Stay ahead of the curve by reading all the insights from our annual report, and explore our range of resources to help you make better skills-based hiring decisions.
Report
TestGorilla's annual report: The State of Skills Based Hiring
Webinar
Creating a culture of neurodiversity
Glossary
Read our free skills-based hiring glossary
Skills-based hiring FAQ
Latest posts on skills-based hiring
Tell me if this hurts: How the gender pain gap affects your employees and business
Forty-eight percent of people believe there is a "gap" in the identification and treatment of pain between genders. Often, this is due to women’s pain not being taken seriously.[1] This “gender pain gap” can negatively impact women and feminine-presenting employee’s well-being, confidence, attendance, productivity, and career opportunities. For Black women, the issue is further compounded by the racial healthcare gap and stereotypes that Black people feel less pain.[2] In this piece, we’ll look
From recruitment to retention: A skills-based approach to the employee lifecycle
Creating a diverse and inclusive workforce isn’t just a box-checking exercise or something to feel morally proud of. Diverse teams come up with better ideas to solve customers’ problems and make companies more innovative, productive, and profitable.[1] The value businesses see in diversity is evidenced in the 91% of Fortune 500 companies that have now adopted nondiscrimination policies with gender identity protection.[2] However, achieving true diversity and inclusion (D&I) goes beyond recruiti
How to keep AI's gender biases out of hiring
Generative language models like ChatGPT have quickly become an integral part of our working lives, with 43% of workers having already used an artificial intelligence (AI) tool for work. As you’d expect, this includes HR departments and automating parts of the hiring process.[1] However, since AI tools are fed with publicly available information, their results can sometimes perpetuate biases and discriminatory attitudes – particularly when it comes to gender. For example, a user was experimenti
Why sexual harassment in the workplace is a DE&I issue
No matter how well you think your organization deals with sexual misconduct, measures like regular training and strict policies may not be enough to prevent it. Anything from inappropriate workplace relationships to crude jokes can create a hostile work environment where your employees don’t feel comfortable, which is why it’s essential to start at the root of the issue – the inclusiveness of your company. This is because sexual harassment is ultimately a DE&I issue, with these incidents dispro
The benefits of skills-first onboarding
Thirty percent of people quit a new job within the first three months.[1] This is a huge waste of hiring resources, especially as it can cost $4,683-$28,329 to fill those gaps in your workforce.[2] This means a new employee’s initial experience with your company is crucial for retention. Effective onboarding programs can make a big difference to employee productivity and their sense of belonging. Yet many companies still cram onboarding into a few days or weeks and focus only on the practical
Crystal clear? How to prevent your women leaders from falling off the glass cliff
In 2012, Yahoo appointed Marissa Mayer as its new chief executive, a move which, at the time, seemed like a step forward for women in leadership. This was, of course, before it became clear that Yahoo was doomed to lose the battle against Google. The upshot? Mayer was left teetering at the edge of a “glass cliff” with an impossible job to do and no parachute. The "glass cliff" refers to the phenomenon of appointing women like Mayer to leadership positions during times of crisis or difficulty
6 ways skills-based hiring can help you identify hidden gems in your organization
The most skilled and capable individuals aren’t always the people you’d expect, or the loudest people in the room. As a result, in the quest to build high-performing teams, you might often overlook the hidden talent within your existing workforce. This is particularly the case for STARs (people skilled through alternative routes), individuals from underprivileged backgrounds, or those with impostor syndrome who find it harder to advocate for themselves despite having the skills necessary to move
Don’t touch my hair: How hair bias affects Black women in the workplace
Hair discrimination remains a widespread issue for Black women in the workplace with a 2023 CROWN Workplace Research Study finding that Black women’s hair is 2.5x more likely to be perceived as unprofessional.[1] Sixty-six percent of Black women would change their hair for a job interview, and over 20% of Black women aged 25-34 have been sent home from work because of their hair. In this article, we look at the societal causes and detrimental effects of hair discrimination on Black women in the
How microaggressions impact workers’ mental health – and how to stamp them out
Microaggressions are subtle but insidious forms of discrimination. They can inflict profound harm on workers' wellbeing and contribute to burnout, reduced job satisfaction, and resignations. Exclusionary behavior like microaggressions is often aimed at marginalized groups. It might target a person’s race, gender, sexuality, parental status, socioeconomic background, mental health, etc., and tends to be inflicted on underrepresented groups. Seventy-three percent (73%) of people that identify as
How culture committees help build more diverse teams
“If I define her, I limit her,” said Argentinian actor Chino Darín of his girlfriend, something that’s also true about a company's culture. How can you describe your organization without reducing it to a few common employee characteristics? Companies need to pay close attention to cultivating the right culture so that their employees feel safe to speak their minds and motivated to achieve better results.[1] You want your workers to live shared values, but also to add their unique perspectives a
How skills-based assessments can help teams overcome imposter syndrome
What comes to mind when you hear the name Albert Einstein? Physics, the theory of relativity, massive intelligence, that out-there hair? For sure, “impostor” isn’t one of the words that cross your mind. However, Einstein himself thought he was an “involuntary swindler” and believed the appraisal of his work was exaggerated.[1] You’d never think someone who discovered the relationship between space and time would question his right to be thought of as a genius, but that’s what imposter syndrome i
7 ways to close the funding gap for women-led startups
For women and feminine-presenting people in the startup world, it can be easy to get discouraged about turning a brilliant idea into a long-term business due to the difficulties many encounter in securing funding. This has nothing to do with their ability to innovate, run a company, or launch a successful business, and everything to do with the funding gap for women-led startups. While the number of deals made by teams with a woman founder hovers around 5-6%, women-only startups receive only 1
