States get a helping hand to implement skills-based hiring amid workforce shortages
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A nonprofit is expanding a program that offers state leaders technical assistance and other resources to adopt a skills-based hiring model as agencies try to keep pace with evolving job roles and persistent workforce gaps.
Across the U.S., at least 27 states have adopted a skills-based hiring model for certain state jobs as leaders increasingly recognize that to fill vacant positions in state government, they are going to have to rethink how they recruit candidates. One nonprofit is helping states do just that through a program that offers tailored support and technical assistance to participating states.
The nonprofit organization Opportunity@Work is expanding its Transformers in the Public Sector initiative to offer support and technical assistance to 15 states, helping them plan for and implement skills-based hiring. This year’s cohort builds upon the nonprofit’s inaugural program that included five states — Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut and Louisiana — that are participating for a second year. The initiative is in partnership with the Volcker Alliance.
Skills-based hiring refers to a hiring strategy that relies less on a candidate’s educational degrees or previous job titles and puts more emphasis on a person’s abilities and skills for a job position, a practice that is believed to have started in the private sector.
“As the future of work continues to evolve, skills-based talent practices are going to be core to making sure you have the right people with the right skills to be able to pivot to the skill sets that you need,” said Blair Corcoran de Castillo, vice president of public sector and policy at Opportunity@Work. The growing interest in skills-based hiring, for example, reflects the public sector’s need to fill thousands of empty seats as well as the evolution of new roles, like the chief artificial intelligence officer.
States are realizing that, in order to fill increasingly empty seats, “we’ve got to understand skills in a different way,” Corcoran de Castillo said. Doing so will help Opportunity@Work to achieve its goal of filling 1.5 million public sector jobs with people who gained skills without a degree by 2030.
Under the initiative, 11 states will follow one track through which they will receive assistance to understand why this change management is valuable to their agencies and how to re-evaluate job classifications and descriptions, said Henry Bartholomay, senior manager of public sector partnerships and membership at Opportunity@Work.
Another four states will follow a second track aimed at supporting the launch of their skills-based hiring transformation through peer learning, leadership training and other resources, he said.
Virginia, for instance, will prioritize “identifying the skills needed for each role and developing practical ways to assess those skills, regardless of how candidates gained them,” said Janet Lawson, director of the Virginia Department of Human Resource Management, in a statement.
“Through initiatives like narrative development, toolkits, train-the-trainer resources for HR leaders and refined job analysis and recruitment strategies, we aim to build inclusive practices that help us attract and retain top talent while meeting the evolving needs of public service,” she said.
Indeed, as leaders rely less on candidates’ educational degrees, governments could see a larger pool of applicants that better reflect the communities they serve, Corcoran de Castillo said. Plus, skills-based hires could help agencies better understand what residents want or need in terms of government service delivery.
The more residents see their neighbors, family members or friends working for the state government, for example, “the more willing they are to trust it,” she said.