Amid rapid technological advancement across industries, employers' hiring needs are changing, requiring them to bring the right talent on board quickly.
Yet many employers are stuck in the old ways of hiring, leaning on degrees and years of industry experience as the main indicators of quality. These outdated metrics don't align with modern hiring practices, and as a result, talented individuals who don't fit the "traditional" mold may slip between the cracks. This can lead to missing out on qualified candidates and even inadvertently biased hiring decisions.
Finding the right candidate is based on many complex factors, but a person's ability to do the job should come first and foremost. Luckily, Indeed data indicates a shift towards skills-first hiring, with fewer job postings on their site explicitly listing a college degree as a requirement.
By evaluating job seekers based on skills, employers can tap into a wider talent pool, ensuring a better match for their needs and increasing retention. The skills-first hiring approach can also ultimately help employers reduce both the time and costs associated with hiring, especially when supported by AI.
Source candidates more effectively and efficiently
While acknowledging some industries require formal education and certifications, "skills-first" hiring focuses on identifying and hiring for the skills required for the job. This includes technical abilities like programming and data analytics, as well as durable skills such as adaptability and effective communication.
Adopting a skills-first hiring model helps companies tap into talent often overlooked, including the 70+ million US workers who gained their skills through alternative routes, known as "STARs" (2). This would encompass skills learned from military service, community college, or other work experience. Beyond that, employees hired based on skills tend to stay in the job longer. A Harvard study found that when companies dropped degree requirements and hired STARs, those employees stayed in their roles 20% longer than their college-educated counterparts.
Skills-based hiring also opens up new ways to use technology for more effective candidate sourcing. According to the study, 74% of hiring managers prefer to match with qualified talent based on skills and relevant experiences, and AI makes that process possible.
Indeed Smart Sourcing facilitates instant skills-based matching, surfacing a list of candidates matched to their job criteria based on information collected from the jobseeker and AI-generated summaries that highlight skill overlaps.
"When Indeed matches candidates to jobs, it can improve its understanding of the job seeker and employer to create better job matches more quickly than ever," said Donal McMahon, VP of engineering and data science at Indeed.
Speed up applications from quality candidates
To get employers' opportunities in front of quality candidates, Indeed's AI Job Description Generator can help write tailored, comprehensive job listings more quickly. The tool uses OpenAI and Indeed's unique data on hiring signals to deliver a job description within seconds.
Once employers hone their job descriptions and review their instant Smart Sourcing matches, they can invite candidates to apply with a single click. Indeed research found that employers who invited matched candidates to apply to their sponsored job were twice as likely to make a hire (3).
After candidates accept those invitations and apply, Indeed's AI continues to help employers move them through every step of the hiring process. Indeed Smart Sourcing's generative AI capabilities deliver candidate highlights for all matched job candidates — which include analyses and summaries of those candidates' resumes — and equip employers with tools to quickly connect with candidates through AI-generated, personalized outreach.
The combination of expedited job posts, broadened candidate pools, and quick application invites can help employers fill positions faster and more easily.
As hiring needs continue to evolve, making the hiring process easier with AI helps companies better plan and staff for the future.
"We are combining the power of AI with the incredible power of human judgment," said Chris Hyams, Indeed CEO. "The power of you. It's smart, it's fast, and it's incredibly effective."
Learn how Indeed is making hiring simpler, faster, and more human.
This post was created by Insider Studios with Indeed.
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(1) Indeed Data, 2024
(2) Indeed data, U.S., 2023
(3) Indeed data, U.S., July 2023 - September 2023
