Urgently Required: Skills-First Hiring
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UK businesses face a persistent skills crisis, with 80% struggling to recruit. Traditional hiring based on CVs and experience is failing.
Skills-first hiring prioritises potential, transferable skills, and future-proofing, supported by collaborative, agile recruitment practices. Astute partners with Power, Nuclear, and Renewables firms to implement flexible strategies, reducing time-to-hire and attracting top technical talent efficiently.
As the UK’s skills crisis continues, with four in five firms struggling to recruit, traditional hiring practices need adjustment to enable a skills-first approach.
According to APSCo OutSource, outdated SLAs and reliance on CVs are preventing agile talent solutions.
Skills-First Hiring
APSCo OutSource outlines best practices for shifting to skills-first hiring:
- Start with the foundations: Map the skills and potential of talent pools, including adjacent and non-technical skills that can fill gaps.
- Integration and collaboration: All stakeholders—hiring managers, HR, L&D, and suppliers—must align to a skills-based strategy.
- Shared ownership: Every part of the resourcing supply chain should contribute to solutions, with SLAs adapted to current realities.
- Future-proof skills: Embed upskilling, reskilling, and potential-based identification into company culture.
- Transparent communication: Honest discussions across all talent supply chain partners are essential for flexible skills strategies.
Melanie Forbes, Managing Director, APSCo OutSource, stated, “The skills challenge isn’t going to be solved overnight. Now is the time to rethink talent strategies, challenge norms, and collaborate across the supply chain.”
Skills-First Hiring: Astute’s View
Matt Dickens, Sales Director at Astute Technical Recruitment, added, “The talent shortage isn’t slowing down. Companies using agile recruitment processes attract top candidates more successfully.”
“Flexible hiring includes considering candidates with transferable skills, using contractors for urgent gaps, and partnering with recruitment experts to demonstrate commitment to the role.”