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.

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Skills-based hiring is the best way to recruit

Our data shows extraordinary outcomes for employers and candidates

88%

of employers say skills-based hiring reduces mis-hires

82%

of companies report a reduction in total cost-of-hire

86%

of employees say skills-based hiring can help them land their dream job

76%

of skills-based hires are happy in their role

The State of Skills-Based Hiring Report 2023 (TestGorilla's annual thought leadership report)

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 efforts across organizations.

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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.

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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.

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Who is using skills-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.

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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.

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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.

The State of Skills-Based Hiring Report 2023 (TestGorilla's annual thought leadership report)

Report

TestGorilla's annual report: The State of Skills Based Hiring

Webinar

Is this the end of resumes? The State of Skills-Based Hiring in 2023

Science series

Explore our science series to learn more about the science behind skills-based hiring

Glossary

Read our free skills-based hiring glossary

Skills-based hiring FAQ

Latest posts on skills-based hiring

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What these 5 US states can teach us about skills-based hiring

Skills-based hiring is the latest US hiring trend – and these 5 states are getting it right

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

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What businesses can learn from skills based hiring trends in Asia Pacific

Is skills-based hiring the latest APAC hiring trend?

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 2023,

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Fast-growing companies need fast recruitment: 6 efficient hiring solutions

Fast-growing companies need fast recruitment: 6 efficient hiring solutions

Sure, scaling fast is a “good problem to have.” But it can also quickly become your worst nightmare. When your company is experiencing a growth spurt, you may not have the workforce needed to meet escalating business demands. You’ll need more employees ASAP – and not hiring fast enough could mean losing business, damaging customer trust, and angering investors.  However, the pressures of fast recruitment can also lead to rushed decision-making and mis-hiring. This then disrupts growth, stifles r

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Hire faster and better with skills-first hiring featured image

Hire faster and better with skills-first hiring

Ask any recruiter about the importance of skills and they would say it’s one of (if not the most) important factors when selecting a candidate. However, in traditional hiring, skills assessments come a lot later in the process than resume screening.  And indeed, for decades, candidate selection has been synonymous with resume screening. Evaluating resumes and looking at degrees, job titles, and years of experience have been the cornerstones of the selection process. However, if that’s your way o

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How job crafting benefits your organization and employees featured image

How job crafting benefits your organization and employees

After a few years at your company, business development representative (BDR) Alisha isn't feeling fully satisfied with her current role. However, she appreciates the company culture, values her colleagues, and believes in the company's mission.  Alisha wants to stay within the company but would love for her role to align more closely with her passions and strengths: being a good networker and relationship builder. While being a BDR offers elements of that, she’s not loving the regular rejection

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Do DE&I quotas still work? Pros, cons, controversies – and solutions featured image

Do DE&I quotas still work? Pros, cons, controversies – and solutions

After onboarding Antonio, your newest tech hire, you're excited to report to your leadership team that you're one step closer to fulfilling your company's diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) quota. It’s part of a push to make your organization more diverse in light of growing awareness of the positive impact on innovation, employee morale, and overall business success. However, after a few weeks on the job, you notice Antonio's skills on paper don't match his expertise in real life. He’s str

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Internships: Exploitative practice or essential leg-up?

Internships: Exploitative practice or essential leg-up?

Your growing SaaS startup is at a pivotal point: You need to start thinking about ethically hiring interns to help support your business's growth. You also want to nurture and empower the next generation of talent in a responsible and socially conscious manner. To do this, you know you need a new way of testing and measuring skills that goes beyond traditional, unequal hiring practices like relying on resumes, connections, or degrees. Internship programs can effectively support your teams and gi

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How to prevent candidates from cheating on applications

How to prevent candidates from cheating on applications

White fonting – aka “the small white word trick” – is the practice of stuffing resumes with relevant keywords in white font. This means they get picked up by resume screening tools but can’t be seen by humans.  While it’s not new, white fonting has gained in popularity recently thanks to TikTok influencers claiming it’ll help you get noticed.  Unfortunately, it’s not the only “black hat” trick candidates use to game the system. At best, these tactics erode trust and waste time and resources. At

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Women at work face the broken rung – here's how to fix it

7 ways to fix the broken rung for women at work

Picture two professionals. The first is a man working his way up in his career. He rises through the ranks quickly and feels supported and celebrated by his peers. When he pitches an idea, people run with it, and he’s trusted to lead teams even though he doesn’t have management experience.  Now picture a woman who’s also trying to progress through the ranks. Although she’s led teams in the past, that experience seems to be invalidated or not taken into consideration. When she proposes an idea in

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5 ways to build connected teams in the age of AI

AI could lead to a crisis of disconnection – 5 ways to build connected teams in the age of AI

If you’re a software developer, a few years ago you’d hop onto a pair programming session when you were having issues with your code. Today, you can use AI for debugging without having to reach out to a coworker for their help.  This is just one of countless examples of how AI is driving people to interact more with machines at work and less with each other. This shift in workplace practices will only accelerate as AI eliminates more and more support roles and diminishes the need for people to s

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47 key skills-based hiring statistics

If you’re interested in anything skills-based hiring-related – whether it’s rate of adoption, employee attitudes, or the benefits and impact of this hiring practice – then you’re in exactly the right place.  We collected responses from 3000 employers and employees to bring you The State of Skills-Based Hiring 2023; now, we’re bringing you 47 key skills-based hiring statistics.

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17 resume statistics

17 essential resume statistics

We collected responses from 3000 employers and employees to bring you The State of Skills-Based Hiring 2023. The data paints a clear picture of the state of play when it comes to how we hire: Skills-based hiring is on the rise, and mistrust in resumes is growing – but the majority of employers are still using them. In this blog, we’ve pulled specific data from our report to bring you 17 essential resume statistics.

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