COMPETENCY-BASED HIRING
SHIFTING THE FUTURE OF TUFTS MEDICAL CENTER
RESEARCH SHOWS THAT IN HIRING, THE DECK IS OFTEN STACKED AGAINST LOW-INCOME AND MINORITY CANDIDATES.
Tufts Medical Center is one of the first healthcare organizations in the country to adopt an innovative competency-based hiring method to make the hiring process more open and equitable. Tufts Medical Center (Tufts MC) is an academic medical center located in downtown Boston, MA. Employing about 5300 people, more than a quarter of its employees are in entry-level or frontline positions that typically do not require a college degree or advanced certifications. In 2017, Tufts MC began looking for a better way to fill some of these positions to increase patient care and serve its local community.
Innovate+Educate (I+E) is a national nonprofit implementing evidence-based, employer-led strategies to drive competency-based hiring for in-demand jobs. Their work with competency-based hiring began in 2011 when they identified a need for employers to find talent based on competencies and skills, specifically those that were not seen through traditional methodologies such as resume, years of experience and educa-
tion. Since then, their work has led a national focus on employers shifting their hiring strategies and adopting a framework that leverages assessment to help identify qualified, job-ready candidates. They are fueling a nationwide adoption of new industry-driven, competency-based hiring processes and alternative job seeker training and credentialing. I+E believes that competency-based hiring is critical to creating pathways to employment for the many workers struggling or left behind in the current education-to-employment system. THE WORK As a member of I+E’s Innovative Business Hiring Council (IBHC), an initiative funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, Tufts MC validated and piloted a competency assessment for the healthcare industry. The Tufts Medical Center Core Score assessment helps Tufts MC identify and hire qualified candidates – individuals who might otherwise be overlooked based on their education or work experience. Core Score is an assessment first piloted and validated by Innovate+Educate in 2016. It measures key competencies including customer service, critical thinking, communication, adaptability, driving for results, and leading people. Employers have identified these competencies as critical to both entry- and mid-skill jobs. The assessment has been validated to measure both competency and performance on the job. The aim of the assessment is to help employers identify and hire qualified candidates for open positions based on their Core Score report, which notes their competence in each key area. Employers that have participated in piloting Core Score in hiring and/or training and advancement include CVS, Kroger, Starbucks, Lowes and Lyft. Tufts MC evaluated job categories with Core Score to match candidates’ knowledge, skills, and abilities to individual positions. The assessment allowed the candidates to better understand their skills and changed the conversation between the candidate and hiring manager in the interview to focus on these skills categories. Tufts MC applied I+E’s “Assess/Train/Hire/Advance” framework, an approach that is designed to identify a new talent pool and create opportunities for both job seekers and hiring managers to have a common language based on competencies and skills. In the Fall of 2017, Tufts MC held its first competency-based hiring fair where over 500 job seekers took Core Score. To date, over 100 contingent job offers have been made, and 83% of candidates said taking Core Score and discussing their competencies and skills with hiring managers was valuable in helping get them a job.
“Simply looking at a job application doesn’t give an employer enough information to adequately assess what a candidate might bring. Often good people are weeded out just because they don’t have a degree or meet some other generic metrics,” said Sean Sullivan, Vice President of Human Resources at Tufts Medical Center. “Using this new assessment tool, developed by Innovate+Educate, we can hire new team members that are job-ready based on their true capabilities.”. THE FUTURE In 2018, Tufts Medical Center will continue to integrate I+E’s innovative framework and is committed to using Core Score as part of its competency-based hiring and advancement strategy to open the talent pipeline and increase economic mobility for candidates and employees. They will expand Core Score’s use from entry- and mid-level positions to areas that have degree and licensure requirements such as nursing, pharmacy, research, and lab. Across the country, healthcare remains a high demand industry with hundreds of jobs going unfilled. Competency-based hiring can help fill many of the positions that have remained open, and Tufts MC will be a leader in this research-based project on the impact of skillsbased hiring and reducing barriers to employment and advancement. “Competency-based hiring will continue to show ROI to the employer – in reducing time and cost to hire, and even more importantly, will provide a diverse candidate pool to employers that previous methodologies have overlooked. We look forward to the continued work with Tufts MC and will always be thankful to the Rockefeller Foundation for their support in advancing this work,” said Jamai Blivin, CEO of Innovate+Educate.
83% of candidates said that taking Core Score and discussing their competencies and skills with hiring managers was valuable in helping get them a job. EARLY ROI STUDIES INDICATE A MORE DIVERSE CANDIDATE POOL WITH THE USE OF CORE SCORE.