Employers who implement skills-based hiring practices saw an incremental improvement in candidate diversity, equity and inclusion.
The Orlando Economic Partnership (the Partnership) released a new report to highlight the ways Orlando’s employers are thinking outside the box when it comes to implementing new hiring solutions and creating more pathways to prosperity.
Employer Outcomes Implementing Skills-Based Hiring is the fourth report in the Re-Imagining series, which has a goal of helping employers and higher education providers in the region identify tactics that create upward mobility career paths for Orlando’s residents.
Part of the UpSkill Orlando initiative, sponsored by JPMorgan Chase, the Partnership’s report specifically outlines the benefits of skills-based hiring and presents four case studies from local employers who are currently implementing these strategies in their organizations.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, employers were seeking new tools to find the right talent in a tight labor market with a low unemployment rate. Today, the economic situation may be different, but the need for new hiring solutions is still there. Employers across the country are seeking tools and methods for finding talent to meet the shifting work demands while simultaneously being more equitable and intentional.
“We have found that having extremely hard-core requirements closes out our candidate pool. Without extreme requirements, we have over 500 applicants in our pipeline.”
PJ Spelios, Vice President of Talent at Stax
“Overall, when job posts are more relatable, people feel more comfortable applying,” PJ Spelios, Vice President of Talent at Stax, said.
“Each of us identified a position to test the approach on. We, along with the Diversity & Inclusion Champions from each local HR team, created a skills-based job description and are trying to measure if we saw an increase in candidate diversity. Then we will all come back together to discuss what worked and what didn’t,” Ana Villanueva, Senior Recruiter for North America Tupperware, said.
Skills-based hiring is a strategy that generates value for both employers and applicants by creating skill-focused job descriptions and evaluating candidates based on distinct skillsets vs. experience. It requires a mindset shift—one that encourages an employer to evaluate an individual’s skills and abilities instead of background, and rethink job requirements. When implemented, skills-based hiring helps fill jobs quickly, retains talent, diversifies an organization’s talent pipeline, and helps provide a greater awareness of skill attainment and critical upskilling needs.
The report contains interviews with companies including a local tech unicorn, global Fortune 500 brand name, a professional sports team, and a regional non-profit, each of which are currently piloting or implementing more skills-based strategies in their hiring process. Human Resource leaders, talent acquisition professionals, and social impact specialists shared their experiences with skills-based hiring including explaining its challenges but also how they have seen an increase in their talent pipelines and the diversity of the new hires since enacting skills-based changes.
In addition to the report, the Partnership also launched an online and interactive skills-based hiring dashboard that presents users detailed data on the knowledge, skills, and abilities required for various roles and positions to help Orlando employers identify new sources of talent, specifically for in-demand technology roles. The dashboard breaks down jobs into their day-to-day tasks and then matches occupations that have a high percentage of overlap in required skills, regardless of the formal education requirements or job title for those roles.
“We noticed that there are a lot of tools available for jobs seekers, where someone looking for a new position can input their skills to see a pathway of skill-based job options, but not a ton of resources for employers looking to do the same thing in reverse,” Tim Giuliani, president and CEO of the Orlando Economic Partnership, said.
“The new Skills Explorer is meant to help employers identify the skills required of their current technology positions and then find other workers who may have a different job title but are a strong match from a skills perspective.”
Tim Giuliani, President and CEO of the Orlando Economic Partnership
Employers are encouraged to learn from the case studies profiled in this new report to implement skills-based hiring strategies of their own, draft skills-based job descriptions for their job postings and think differently about how they are sourcing talent.
“The Skills Explorer is the first tool of its kind that is hyper-regionalized and specifically geared toward employers,” Danielle Permenter, the Partnership’s Vice President of Talent & Community Development, said. “We are excited to continue to build layers of additional in-demand occupations to the tool through the support of JP Morgan Chase Foundation.”
The dashboard, along with all reports in the re-imagining series, can be found at Orlando.org/Talent.
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About the Orlando Economic Partnership
The Orlando Economic Partnership (the Partnership) is the Orlando region’s economic and community development organization that is seizing the moment to advance Broad-based Prosperity® by growing the diversity of the economy and driving investment into the region. The Partnership catalyzes the collaborative ethos of the region to fuel regional leadership and improve the region’s competitiveness. For more information on how opportunity in Orlando is Unbelievably Real, visit InvestOrlando.org
About UpSkill Orlando
UpSkill Orlando is a regional, skills-based talent strategy driving a pathway to broad-based prosperity™ made possible through the generous support of JP Morgan Chase & Co. and a partnership with Skillful, an initiative of the Markle Foundation. UpSkill Orlando seeks to create upward mobility opportunities by working with local employers and educators together to create skills-based career pathways.
About JPMorgan Chase
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) is a leading global financial services firm with assets of $3.2 trillion and operations worldwide. The Firm is a leader in investment banking, financial services for consumers and small businesses, commercial banking, financial transaction processing, and asset management. A component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, JPMorgan Chase & Co. serves millions of customers in the United States and many of the world’s most prominent corporate, institutional and government clients under its J.P. Morgan and Chase brands. Information about JPMorgan Chase & Co. is available at www.jpmorganchase.com.