Why Matt Alder still believes in the skills revolution

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We’ve been hearing for quite some time that skills will dominate in recruitment. That future selection will purely be based on skills. That it can help solve the structural labour market shortages. And even that A.I.-driven skills-based hiring will make everything easier. But in reality, progress has been slow. Research shows that in practice, only a handful of companies have abandoned traditional diploma requirements in favour of skills tests.

Yet many remain optimistic about the numerous possibilities of skills as a means of communication in the labour market. Take, for instance, Matt Alder, known from The Recruiting Future Podcast and recently a guest on another podcast, Psych Tech @Work, specifically discussing this topic. He did so in response to research by Vector, a TA software company that examined the gap between theory and practice through 11 qualitative interviews and two focus groups with Heads of Talent Acquisition, collectively responsible for over 1 million employees.

Pain Point: the Hiring Manager

According to the research, skills-based hiring still holds great promise for organizational agility, workforce diversity, and competitive advantage, as indicated by the respondents. However, there is also a strong need for better definitions that apply across different functions and industries. Current approaches often fail to align closely with the specific needs and goals of organizations. Additionally, the research identifies a significant pain point: the hiring manager. Many hiring managers still prefer to see traditional diplomas and are not fully embracing the revolution, as noted by the respondents.

The hiring manager appears to not fully embrace the skills revolution yet.

“The role of the hiring manager is crucial in recruitment, but all too often, a lack of skills and poor practices undermine an organization’s ability to attract talent,” as Vector CEO Neil Kelly puts it. Therefore, if organizations want to transition towards more skills-based hiring, they must at least guide and train the hiring managers in this direction, according to the respondents. They believe hiring managers should also play a significant role in identifying the required skills. Otherwise, the transition will fail.

What is hard? And what is a soft skill?

What complicates skills-based hiring in practice is the sometimes unclear distinction between hard and soft skills, and the taxonomy of all these skills. “One vendor had as many as 50,000 skills in their taxonomy!” the researchers exclaimed with great surprise. However, because of the significant demand for new skills and the structural scarcity, they remain optimistic about its opportunities in the labour market. “Although there is little evidence for it, most respondents see the principles of skills-based hiring as a chance to democratize the job market and provide more people with access.”

There is hardly any evidence to be found of the flexibility that skills-based hiring was supposed to bring.

In practice, they still encounter numerous obstacles. For instance, companies barely measure which skills are needed for which positions and how they can bridge the gap between demand and supply. There is also scant evidence in practice of the assumed flexibility that skills-based hiring was supposed to offer, nor of the (presumed) financial benefits such an approach might bring. Moreover, many organizations often lack targeted training when hiring based on skills rather than experience.

Great promise

The conclusion of the research is clear: skills-based hiring still holds great promise. However, if one aims to turn that promise into tangible benefits, there’s still a long way to go. “Skills-based hiring challenges many ingrained beliefs and behaviours. Therefore, an evidence-based approach and providing appropriate training are necessary for successful implementation within the organization.” According to the researchers, clear metrics are also crucial, not only concerning company performance but also in terms of employee engagement and actual diversity.

‘Skills-based hiring challenges many ingrained beliefs and behaviors.’

This aligns with Matt Alder’s prediction, who anticipates that by 2034, recruitment and selection will be heavily data-driven, with AI and automation playing a central role. “While it presents a challenge, skills-based hiring can lead to a fairer and more effective recruitment process, enabling organizations to find and retain the right talent. Organizations need to look beyond current processes and explore how technology can fundamentally transform their operations.”

Read the entire study

Read the entire study here: ‘Skills-Based Hiring Report, The Gap Between Theory and Practice‘.

Skills Based Hiring

 

 

The Belgium Series Part 2: Recruitment and selection

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Werkgevers in de omringende landen verkijken zich nog wel eens op de verschillen tussen hun land en België.

Language and cultural differences

Employers in the surrounding countries such as France, Germany and the Netherlands often underestimate the differences between their country and Belgium. The most important thing to remember is that Flemish is not the same language as the eerily similar, but completely different language spoken in the Netherlands. If a very talented applicant, towards the end of an interview, says he has reservations or ‘bedenkingen’ in Flemish, he is not doubting whether to accept the job or not. The word simply means he has a couple of ideas that he would like to put forward, even though the very same word in Dutch has a completely different connotation. 

Beyond the language barrier, there are multiple cultural differences that also play a role. Not just between Belgium and the Netherlands, but also between Belgium and other Northern European countries. Despite the language gap that divides Walloons and Flemings, they do have an awful lot in common. It is said that both Flemings and Walloons are actually South-Europeans, even though the Walloons speak French and the Flemings speak Dutch. In another article on this website, we go more into detail with regards to these cultural differences. 

To successfully recruit a Belgian, it would be smart to really grasp and take note of these general language and cultural differences. But as so often is the case, it is not where the proverbial buck stops. The Belgian labour market has its own set of characteristics, that are deeply rooted in the Belgian culture. 

The oddities of the Belgian labour market

Even in a time where a lot of countries have moved towards flexible contracts and job-hopping, a Belgian employee generally likes to stay put, according to the findings of Institut pour un Developpement Durable, as quoted in De Morgen in June, 2019. It turns out that a remarkable 30% of Belgian employees have worked for the same company for more than 15 years. And a staggering 13% has worked for the same company for 25 years. On top of that, since 2011, the number of employees that work for five years or less at the same company, is declining. All of that makes the Belgian employee one of the least flexible employees in Europe. 

On the other side, however, the Global Talent Acquisition Monitor of Intelligence Group (GTAM, 2018) found that when offered their ‘dream job’, Belgians are above average in pursuing opportunities abroad, and thus are willing to move to another country in order to do so. 

Compared to other European countries, it will generally prove to be more difficult to successfully hire a Belgian – especially now, due to a growing economy and a tight Belgian labour market, where the amount of job seekers is at an all-time low. Moreover, within industries such as IT, health-care, lorry-driving and callcenters, they still face challenges filling jobs within the country. The shortage of construction workers, on the other hand, is relatively small. (GTAM, 2018)

Distinctive recruitment channels

The recruitment and selection of employees in Belgium also varies from other countries. 

Corporate job sites

Corporate job sites are the main instrument in Belgium to recruit new office staff, according to LinkedIn research among Belgian employers (Recruiting Trends België, 2015). They state that corporate job sites deliver a staggering 55% of candidates for a vacancy, compared to an international rate of 38%. Another remarkable result is the fact that 43% of all Belgian employees generally prefer to grow and develop within their own company, rather than moving elsewhere to pursue a promotion of sorts, compared to an average of 29% in other countries. 

Employment agencies

Employment agencies and recruitment and selection agencies are also popular, particularly amongst young people. 14% of Belgian job-seekers use an agency in order to find work, compared to a European average of 10%. Only the Netherlands, who leads that category with 17%, is more agency-minded than Belgium. (GTAM, 2018)

Online job sites

Online job sites are less popular than usual in Belgium. Only 36% of Belgian employers views these ‘job-boards’ as important, compared to a more consistent rate of 50% internationally (Recruiting Trends België, 2015). According to the GTAM, the five most-popular vacancy sites are: vdab.be, jobat.be, indeed.com, leforem.be and vacature.com. 

The first-placed vdab.be, the public employment service of Flanders, owes its position to the fact that Flemings are mandated to sign up as soon as they finish school and/or want to qualify for unemployment benefits. 

With the exception of indeed.com, all other websites in the top 5 are based in Belgium. If we expand the list of sites to a top 10, we finally see more internationally-based companies. Stepstone is still popular in Belgium, finishing 6th. Monster.be, LinkedIn and randstad.be all follow in 7th, 8th and 9th. References.be rounds off the list, with leforem.be being the only Belgian job site in French. 

Social media

Social media as a way of recruiting is also rising fast in Belgium. With that, Belgium is no different than other countries; LinkedIn’s high position (3,7 million users in Belgium) in the list of job sites confirms this idea. Other social media websites such as Facebook (7,1 million users) and Instagram (3,3 million users) would also likely score high, even though there are no numbers that confirm that notion. 

The informal circuit

Finally, many people in Belgium find a job through friends or acquaintances, through the informal circuit. But how many? And would it be more compared to other European countries? Unfortunately though, no such figures exist – as can be expected when something is called informal. Considering the other things we know about the Belgian culture, which is generally a little less individualistic and thus more relationship-oriented, you would be inclined to say yes. However, evident details on that matter are simply missing. 

Stay tuned for parts 3 and 4 in this exclusive ToTalent series about Belgium. If you missed part 1 of the Belgium Series, click here.