Skills-first Hiring To Prevail In India In Next 18 Months, Say 75% Recruiters In LinkedIn Study

A new LinkedIn study has revealed 75 per cent of recruiting professionals in India predict skills-first hiring to be a priority for their company in the next 18 months.

As the requirement for skills evolves with a massive paradigm shift in technology, skills-based hiring has been on the rise. The LinkedIn report noted that the share of recruiter searches on LinkedIn that include a ‘skills’ filter has grown by 25 per cent since 2019.

Today, recruiters are 50 per cent more likely to search by skills than they are to search by years of experience.

About 86 per cent of recruiting professionals in India told LinkedIn that understanding employee skills is required to make informed talent decisions — with the same number saying it is currently a priority at their company.

But despite this prevalent feeling among recruiters, it was found that they are unable to accurately assess candidate skills today. In fact, just 62 per cent feel they can accurately assess candidates’ skills today.

“Part of having a skills-first strategy is going beyond just hiring to ensure you’re looking at the larger picture. First, you need to understand the skills that your business needs. Then understand what skills your employees have, or that they can develop, and what skills you need to hire for so that you build your talent strategies accordingly," said Jennifer Shappley, VP, Global Talent Acquisition at LinkedIn.

A recent jobs report by World Economic Forum highlighted that more than 75 per cent of companies are looking to adopt new technologies including big data, cloud computing and AI in the next five years. Over 85 per cent of organisations surveyed identify ‘increased adoption of new and frontier technologies and broadening digital access’ as the trends most likely to drive transformation in their organisation.

“The current reset (increasing prevalence of skill-based hiring) occurring in the hiring process is paramount. Eliminating barriers to high-paying jobs is crucial for promoting equity in the labour market. One such obstacle in recent years has been the use of excessively high degree requirements,” Daya Prakash, founder at IT contract staffing agency TalentOnLease told BW Businessworld.

He explained that companies needed to reconsider the effectiveness of outdated methods and any underlying assumptions before creating job descriptions and evaluating candidates.

“A successful reset would be mutually beneficial: Overlooked workers would have the opportunity to pursue appealing career paths, even without possessing a four-year degree, while companies would be better able to fill open positions,” Prakash added.

“A successful reset would be mutually beneficial: Overlooked workers would have the opportunity to pursue appealing career paths, even without possessing a four-year degree, while companies would be better able to fill open positions," said Daya Prakash, founder at TalentOnLease

Compensation – A Priority For Indian Candidates 

For job candidates in India, compensation remains to be the #1 top priority at 53 per cent, ahead of opportunities to learn new skills (52 per cent), advancement (49 per cent) and job security (46 per cent)), found the LinkedIn survey.

According to Michael Page Talent Trends 2023 India study, the number of people switching to new jobs has risen steadily after the pandemic. About 23 per cent of the surveyed employees switched to new jobs in 2022, compared to 20 per cent in 2021 and 10 per cent in 2019. In 2023, 98 per cent of all employees are open to new opportunities.

This particular study also found that 75 per cent of the workforce was in ‘active job seekers’ category and the number is expected to continue to rise as we get deeper into 2023.

“Recruiting leaders in India know the competition for talent has not let up, even as hiring has slowed down. While less hiring typically means less power for workers, recruiting teams see that dynamic swinging back in the opposite direction over time,” noted LinkedIn’s ‘The Future of Recruiting 2023’ report.

About 77 per cent recruiters said that the future of recruiting will be more favourable to candidates and employees (as opposed to employers) over the next five years.

Nearly, 60 per cent of in-house recruiting professionals predict their recruiting budget to increase this year.