A focus on competencies can be the changemaker for HR leaders seeking to attract, develop, and retain top talent to their organisations.
By Simon Kent
Skills-based recruitment is now ingrained into the DNA of many organisations. Employees are no longer judged on where they came from or what they have achieved, as it’s far better to consider what they can do: the skills they have, the skills they could develop, and how those skills can be best used by the employer. However, the lexicon of skills can go further, transcending the onboarding process to underpin many other stages of the employment cycle. Employees should not just be judged on their skills when they come to an organisation, but how their skills can be used to chart their path throughout an organisation, guiding their career and ensuring they will always contribute positively.
According to Jonathan De Kryger, leader of NextGen recruitment at payments company Worldline, the use of skills as a reference point for talent offers a common language for each people process across an organisation. From rewards and internal mobility to learning and succession planning, the same standards and abilities can be referenced to move the employee forward. This can be key as a business develops or evolves since talent can be easily redeployed rather than replaced. “When a project finishes, its members can be matched to new assignments that need the same or adjacent skills, avoiding the cost and delay of recruiting from scratch,” he says.
In the context of business mergers and acquisitions, says De Kryger, the skills approach makes integration more straightforward. A newly acquired team can be easily mapped against existing skills frameworks, showing immediately where individuals may be able to contribute to the new organisation, where their strengths lie, and where reskilling may be appropriate.
All of this contributes to what De Kryger calls a “real-time inventory” of skills for the organisation, giving HR the ability to support a more agile and responsive business. He describes how each employee maintains a digital “skills passport” which can be updated when new training or certification is completed. This means HR has a live heat-map showing where skills supply and demand come together or diverge. “When a product line needs a sudden influx of, say, DevSecOps engineers, HR can run a query in the skills platform and assemble shortlists within days rather than weeks,” he explains. Faster staffing decisions can be made, and forward planning is easier. Training and development can also be provided to key in closely with organisational need as continuous reskilling is offered to all.
Judy Gosnell, vice president of human resources at Telehouse Europe, agrees that the skills approach impacts the development, deployment, and retention of talent. “It supports every stage of the talent journey,” she says, “not just hiring, but also learning, growth, and long-term workforce planning.”
Gosnell argues that the focus on skills can guide training and career development, identify skills gaps, enable the setting of clear goals, as well as ensure upskilling and reskilling takes place to support organisational and career growth. But at the same time, she sees internal mobility becoming easier because skills data will match employees to new roles or projects as they emerge. “This encourages career growth within the company, allowing employees to move into new roles or secondments that fit their abilities, not just their job titles,” she says.
For a business looking to maintain equity and diversity, the skills approach can also present a fairer way to manage talent. Performance reviews rely on clear demonstrated skills, thereby giving managers a precise yardstick against which to measure their people. Moreover, there’s potential for frequent and meaningful feedback to employees, geared towards driving real progress among them and the attaining clear goals.
“Organisations must continuously map both current and future skill requirements, then design targeted development pathways, such as technical training and leadership programmes, to close any gaps.” – Mark Simmons, SVP of HR, GXO UK and Ireland
Skills-based training paths also enable organisations to draw on a variety of learning experiences, creating a blended learning solution for employees. Skills can be gained in diverse ways—through classroom study, independent study, external certifications, and on-the-job experiences such as mentoring, secondments, and shadowing. “With a skills-based approach, each intervention is chosen to close a specific gap, ensuring learning time and budgets are used efficiently while employees gain clear, evidence-based routes to new opportunities,” says Gosnell.
Roy Shelton, CEO of IT managed services provider Connectus Group, is clear that to make skills-based recruitment work across the HR function, organisations must integrate it holistically into their talent strategy, making sure it is there from workforce planning to onboarding and development.
“It’s vital to start by identifying core and emerging skills critical to your organisation’s success,” says Shelton. “Collaborate with business leaders to develop detailed, forward-looking skills taxonomies and role profiles. This helps HR departments move away from generic job descriptions to precise, outcome-based skill requirements.”
A strong change management strategy is also essential. The benefits of a skills-based approach can be shared across internal stakeholders, but it requires HR to lead the cultural shift by modeling inclusive, skills-first language and practices.
Mark Simmons, SVP of HR, GXO UK and Ireland, notes how the skills-based approach can be used to help HR plan for the future. “Organisations must continuously map both current and future skill requirements, then design targeted development pathways, such as technical training and leadership programmes, to close any gaps,” he explains. For GXO, apprenticeships have proved a powerful method blending formal education with hands-on experience in fields like robotics and IT. “Recently, several GXO colleagues embarked on the UK’s first degree-level robotics engineering apprenticeship, gaining advanced skills that are critical to the industry’s future,” says Simmons. “Initiatives like these benefit both new hires and existing employees, cultivating a culture of continuous learning and knowledge sharing.”
Simmons goes on to say that embedding the skills-first mindset across all levels of an organisation is essential if businesses want to anticipate market shifts and unlock the full potential of their talent. “To build a resilient, adaptable, and engaged workforce, businesses must prioritise ongoing learning and flexible development,” he says, “empowering people to grow alongside the organisation and meet the demands of a rapidly changing landscape.”
This, then, is perhaps the central reason why skills should permeate organisations rather than job titles and the consequent hierarchy. In any business there is change, and change right now is rapid and significant. Job titles cannot keep pace with change, and an employee may find the job they’re doing shifting under their feet. The skills focus keeps pace with this change, ensuring the right priorities are always addressed, whether that is organisational need or the ability of the employees themselves.
