Skills-Based Hiring and Equity

BY BRAD TURNER-LITTLE

RECENTLY, I had the opportunity to spend the morning with a large group of business leaders as part of a regional economic development event. While together, I asked them a question, “what does ‘economic vitality’ look like for you and your community?” Answers came pretty quickly. Initially, concepts like growth, competitiveness, and job opportunities dominated the responses. Then a shift happened. Concepts like equity, prosperity, and economic mobility emerged.

It was an interesting and powerfully aspirational conversation, one that reflected the desire for a better tomorrow for both business and their neighbors. Perhaps the most compelling response from that morning was, “every child has enough to eat.” I think this aspiration captures the importance of this concept both for business and families. A thriving economy is where businesses are growing, and all individuals are afforded the chance to lean into the resulting economic opportunity.

As economists and ‘future of work’ thinkers project forward, they consistently point towards emerging technologies and the corresponding impact on how work will take place. COVID only accelerated the speed of those changes. As a result, digital skills once considered niche have become essential for almost all workers and a pre-requisite for middle skills jobs.

Our economy is transforming; that transformation will create opportunities for workers who are prepared to take advantage of them. But what about workers that are not prepared? What about those who sit on the periphery and risk being left further behind? These challenges are ones that local and state workforce boards are grappling with every day, bringing together business, education, government, and community-based organization leaders to find impactful ways to support their communities.

Nationally one in ten working-age adults have less than a high school diploma. In Delaware, 40% of adults 25 and above have a high school diploma or less, according to research by Statista. How do we create bridges to new opportunity for those in our communities? How do we think differently about showcasing skills that clears the path for businesses to access the talent they need and our neighbors to demonstrate how they can contribute?

One emerging approach appears to be skills-based hiring, a recruitment approach that focuses on evaluating candidates based on their skills rather than on their education or past work experience. We see growing interest in this alternative to traditional ‘degree = competency’ proxy both in companies and in government. Companies making this shift, according to Forbes, see dramatic benefits: better quality of candidates, expanded talent pool, accelerated time to hire, reduced hiring costs, improved retention rates, and a more diverse workforce. At the National Association of Workforce Boards (NAWB), we have begun our skills-based hiring journey by dropping the education requirement in our position descriptions, choosing instead to focus on clearly identifying the skills needed for our various positions.

So, as you consider economic vitality, what comes to mind for you? And how might you work to achieve economic vitality for the business community and your neighbors? I invite you to join us on our skills-based hiring journey.

Brad Turner-Little is president and CEO of the National Association of Workforce Boards.