Why Skills-First Hiring Is Key for Sourcing Marketing and Communications Expertise in the Future
Many employers will recognise this scenario; they have identified a candidate, recruited them and invested time onboarding them into the business. They seem like the perfect fit, but suddenly it becomes clear that they aren’t working out, for one reason or another. This is an issue facing organisations across all sectors, and often comes down to the use of traditional hiring methods that don’t properly ascertain whether someone has the right skills – both soft and technical - to excel in their role and gel with the business.
What’s required is a skills-first hiring approach; but what does this entail, and how can companies work in this way?
Skills-first hiring
Skills-first hiring is Ronseal. It does what it says on the tin, and involves prioritising an individual’s core ability to carry out a role, rather than their prior experience, qualifications and track record. While experience and formal education can still be relevant, they are secondary to the tangible skills a candidate brings to the table. The focus is on what an individual can do, rather than simply what they have done in the past, or where they’ve worked.
With so many businesses facing major shortages– one McKinsey backed study found that 87% of executives report skills gaps within their workforces, or expect them in the coming years – a skills-first approach to hiring can reduce the cost of recruitment, and the time spent sourcing new talent. This is perhaps more important when all markets are evolving rapidly. Marketing and communications, in particular, are not static. What worked last year may be obsolete today, and tomorrow’s best practices could be entirely unknown right now, particularly with the pace of change within technology, consumer behaviours, and industry trends. As a result, traditional recruitment methods, that rely heavily on academic backgrounds or specific job titles, are increasingly inadequate. In this context, skills-first hiring presents a more reliable and futureproof option for organisations.
AI skills
As an example, due to the growth and rising use of GenAI, many employers are now seeking people with experience of working with these platforms. However, that approach is challenging when no one meets this criteria, simply because the technology hasn’t been accessible or around for that long. But AI skills are trainable and can be developed – not by everyone - but by those with core qualities like a willingness to learn, the ability to navigate technology and a logical mind. Whether or not someone has those skills can’t be ascertained by a marketing degree, or prior PR experience. Relying on academic qualifications or previous job titles may not always provide a clear indication of whether a candidate is equipped to tackle the ever-changing demands of modern marketing or communications roles.
On the other hand, a skills-first hiring approach allows employers to target individuals who demonstrate an ability to learn quickly, innovate, and possess an interest in the tools and platforms that matter. Instead of being tied to the past experiences of a candidate, employers can focus on their ability to solve problems and bring fresh, relevant solutions to the table.
More diverse hiring
Skills-based recruitment also has a myriad other benefits. This approach not only ensures a better alignment between the employee’s strengths and the role but also supports the development of a more diverse, inclusive, equitable and adaptable workforce. Traditional hiring models can often create barriers for individuals who didn’t have access to conventional education, or who lack corporate experience in a specific market, despite possessing the raw competencies needed. And then there’s the elephant in the room; diverse candidates, whether in terms of background, education, or career trajectory, are often overlooked by hiring managers who have been overly focused on academic degrees or seek years of experience in similar roles. A more equitable hiring process, as research shows, often leads to more innovative, dynamic, and high-performing teams. In communications and marketing, where understanding a range of audiences and crafting authentic, resonant messages is key, the importance of diversity cannot be overstated.
Decreased attrition
It also reduces attrition by decreasing the number of people who join companies and quickly leave after realising they’re not well matched to the requirements of the position. This benefits employers and candidates alike, particularly in marcomms where hiring can be slow, as firms seek what they consider ‘the ideal candidate’, who ticks every box on their list of qualifications. Skills-first hiring streamlines the recruitment process by focusing on practical, measurable abilities, which leads to fewer mismatches and faster hiring processes.
How to implement skills-first hiring
Skills-first hiring clearly offers far more benefits to employers and candidates than traditional recruitment methods, but many employers are put off by the need to change existing strategies, and by a fear of the unknown. We’re not saying abandon everything that has been done up to now; traditional interviews and CVs still have their place, but they often fail to capture the full scope of an individual's capabilities, particularly when it comes to the technical or creative aspects of marketing and communications.
Instead, to truly integrate a skills-first model, businesses need to place a greater focus on incorporating assessments into the application process. Candidates can be given real-world tasks to demonstrate their ability, whether it's drafting a press release, creating a content calendar, optimising a PPC campaign, or analysing social media data. These assessments provide employers with concrete evidence of a candidate’s proficiency, making it easier to identify potential top performers.
Within marcomms, for example, a content professional may claim expertise in SEO, but how well can they apply those principles to improve organic traffic? A practical task, like improving website metadata, or developing blog content based on keyword research, is a far more accurate indicator than their CV alone. On top of assessments, employers will also need to think more clearly about how they evaluate and define requirements for specific roles, and invest in training and development for staff to interview more effectively, and gauge skills, rather than more traditional metrics. Implementing this change isn’t necessarily easy, but it’s certainly worth it.
As our specialist sectors continue to evolve, the need for a skills-first hiring approach will only grow further, and firms that don’t seek professionals based on their broader attributes will be left trailing behind their competitors that do.
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