Look, even the business owner reviewing resumes for her first hire gets it. She needs a quality person to keep her business successful.

But humans are more than just a bulleted list of words. Past the qualifications, past the experiences, people often have skills that aren’t easy to find room for on a single side of a page of paper.

A skills-based talent strategy finds those hidden skills and maps them to opportunities inside the organization.

Here’s why you should adopt a skills-based talent strategy:

Flexibility and Adaptability

A skills-based talent strategy lets your organization be flexible and adaptable when yesterday’s high-demand skills are no longer needed (alas, poor File Clerks. We knew you well).

Companies need agile, employee-centric approaches to workforce management. Focus on assessing employee abilities, not job titles or experience.

This approach means you’ll make better hiring decisions and be able to deliver personalized training programs. It will optimize your workforce and help you stay competitive.

AI for Talent Development

Recently, one of our clients developed their hiring and talent development structure using Artificial Intelligence (AI). Using AI allowed them to analyze large volumes of data to identify skill trends, talent potential, and future workforce demands.

Previously, if they were looking for an experienced candidate in a desired role, performing an internal search required manual effort.

The new AI-based approach works much faster, quickly responding to market shifts, changing demands, and emerging technologies.

AI-Driven Personalized Training

AI-driven learning platforms, with personalized recommendations and content, can provide employees with relevant training opportunities.

Using AI in learning and development can help optimize training content, provide real-time feedback, and track employee progress, enhancing skill development and knowledge retention.

By prioritizing skills development, organizations create a culture of continuous learning.

Employees are encouraged to enhance their capabilities through training programs, workshops, and mentoring, ensuring they remain at the forefront of their respective fields and maintain a competitive edge.

Workers receiving personalized learning opportunities are 2.9 times more likely to be engaged.

Engaged workers lead to even more business benefits.

Improved Employee Engagement

Have you ever gotten a “Happy Birthday” message or card from a business, only to realize it was automatically generated with printed signatures?

It’s almost worse than not getting a card at all.

Employees want the real card with real signatures. They want to feel valued and know their skills are being used to their full potential.

Unfortunately, for many employees, feeling valued isn’t always the case.

“While 82% of employees say it’s important for their organization to see them as a person, not just an employee, only 45% of employees believe their organization actually sees them this way.” – Gartner.com

A skills-based talent strategy allows you to see your employees as people, harness their skills, help them feel more engaged, and improve their engagement and job satisfaction.

The best part?

More engaged and satisfied employees are more productive.

A Gallup study found that improving employee engagement led to an 18% increase in productivity, an 81% reduction in absenteeism, and a 23% increase in profitability.

Enhanced Innovation and Problem-Solving

A skills-based talent strategy promotes a culture of innovation and problem-solving within your organization. By using skills, you encourage cross-functional collaboration and knowledge sharing.

Individuals with diverse abilities and perspectives are more likely to create innovative ideas and approaches to solving problems when they come together.

AI integration can significantly enhance this effort by providing data-driven insights and streamlining processes.

Reskilling is Becoming the New Norm

Reskilling is on track to becoming mainstream. Fifty-six percent of survey respondents reported that their organization is now actively implementing reskilling initiatives, often in conjunction with the hiring of fresh talent from the external labor market and other skill-sourcing strategies. And 82% of these adopters described themselves as keen to continue. Harvard Business Review, May 2024

Is your company heading down the reskilling path?

Need Reskilling Help?

If your organization needs help building out a reskilling help, we can provide input on:

  • Trends in skills development
  • How organizations are using AI and talent intelligence to stay ahead of the competition
  • Tips on beginning your transformation to a skills-based talent evaluation

Contact us today!