More than two thirds (67%) of job seekers and more than half (51%) of hiring managers believe that skills, or rather, on-the-job experience, carries more weight than degrees, job titles, or years of experience.

This is according to new global data from hiring platform Indeed.

In an exclusive interview with Matt Burney, Senior Strategic Advisor at Indeed, UNLEASH explores what HR leaders should take from this research.

Businesses must understand and embrace skills-based hiring

The workplace is clearly seeing the value in skills-based hiring, with more employees and hiring managers noting its importance.

However, Indeed’s report found there is still much confusion around what skills-based hiring involves, with 55% of those polled expressing a lack of understanding and 52% still showing unwavering trust for degrees as a proxy for quality.

Despite promising signs that employers are more aware of skills-first hiring strategies, our research shows that many are still relying on degrees and education requirements to make hiring decisions,” Burney explains.

“This trust proxy is limiting employers’ pool of talent and ruling out candidates who are qualified for open vacancies based on their skills, but may not have the right education requirements or qualifications.”

However, Indeed’s research found that businesses that hire based on a skills-first approach have a critical barrier to adoption; more than a quarter of employers lack the right evaluation tools to hire based on skills.

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Read the full article here.