To hire for skills instead of degree requirements, define the work a role must deliver, remove degree screens that are not legally required or demonstrably relevant, and assess candidates with consistent evidence of job-related ability. Work samples, job simulations, structured interviews, and validated skills tests can help employers evaluate what people can do—not just where they studied or how they describe themselves.
What skills-based hiring means
Skills-based, or skills-first, hiring evaluates candidates against the competencies needed to perform a role. A degree is neither a substitute for evidence of ability nor an automatic disqualifier when it is not genuinely needed. Relevant skills may come from paid work, volunteering, life experience, or self-directed learning.
The practical shift is from asking whether someone has a particular credential to asking what the job requires and how an applicant can show they can do it. That does not mean removing every qualification: legal, licensing, safety, or role-specific requirements may still apply.
Start with the work, not the credential
List the role’s important outcomes and recurring tasks before editing its requirements. For each task, identify the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to do it. Separate essential capabilities from preferences, and document any non-negotiable legal or safety qualification.
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Then examine each degree or years-of-experience filter. Keep it only when it is legally required or has a defensible connection to performing the work. A credential can be relevant for some roles; it should not stand in for a capability that can be evaluated directly.
In U.S. federal hiring, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) distinguishes the selection method from the qualifications gate: its “Rule of Many” does not remove qualification standards that OPM requires or that are tied to the job. Those federal rules do not automatically govern private employers, which should check applicable federal, state, local, sector-specific, licensing, and collective-bargaining requirements.
Rewrite the job description around demonstrable capabilities
Describe what a successful hire will need to do and what evidence applicants can provide. Replace vague requirements such as “strong communication skills” with the actual work—for example, explaining a technical issue to a customer or writing a concise project update—if that is what the role entails.
Remove degree and experience filters that function only as proxies. Invite applicants to demonstrate relevant capability through examples from work, education, community activity, or independent projects. Make clear which qualifications are mandatory and which are preferred, so candidates can decide whether to apply without guessing.
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Choose assessments that reflect the job
Use a small set of methods that sample real job requirements. No single method is best for every role; choose based on how directly it measures the work, how consistently it can be scored, candidate burden, accessibility, and the effort required to administer it.
| Method | Useful for | Design consideration |
|---|---|---|
| Work sample or job simulation | Practical tasks candidates would perform in the role | Keep the exercise close to actual work, bounded in scope, and scored against defined criteria. |
| Structured interview | Judgment, reasoning, communication, or role-specific scenarios | Ask candidates comparable questions and use the same scoring criteria. |
| Skills or knowledge test | A clearly defined skill or body of knowledge needed for the job | Use a test that is job-related and validated for the role rather than relying on a generic score. |
Do not rely only on applicants’ self-rated skill claims. Ask for observable evidence, such as a work sample, a structured response to a realistic scenario, or a specific example of relevant work. OPM’s guidance describes work samples, structured interviews, skills tests, and simulations as assessment options; its guidance on AI-enabled assessments likewise emphasizes that tools should be validated, meaning job-related.
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Standardize the process and protect access
- Set criteria before reviewing candidates. Define what a strong, acceptable, and insufficient response looks like for each competency.
- Give comparable instructions and conditions. Tell candidates what the assessment measures, how long it should take, and what materials or tools are allowed.
- Train interviewers and assessors. Have them record evidence against the criteria rather than relying on general impressions.
- Provide reasonable accommodations. Make the process accessible and consider whether the assessment format creates a barrier unrelated to the job.
- Review outcomes by stage. Examine application, assessment, interview, and offer rates for potential adverse impact, and investigate criteria that create barriers without a sound job-related justification.
OPM assessment guidance can inform assessment design, but it is not a universal legal rule for all employers. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s 2010 staff discussion letter on qualification standards and disparate impact addressed a narrow question and expressly was not an official Commission opinion. Employers should obtain advice appropriate to their jurisdiction and circumstances rather than treating that letter as a current, comprehensive legal determination.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Keep candidate effort proportionate
A hiring assessment should be relevant, bounded, and explained. Avoid lengthy assignments that ask candidates to produce usable work for the business without a clear need. Tell applicants why a task is part of selection, provide a realistic time estimate, set a clear timeline for next steps, and share an outcome where possible. Unnecessarily complex hiring steps can burden applicants and delay decisions.
Measure whether the change works
Track the process from application through hiring and follow-up. Useful measures include qualified applicant volume, assessment completion and pass rates, time to hire, later job performance, retention, and candidate feedback. Compare the results with the outcomes the role actually requires, and revise assessments or filters that add effort without useful evidence.
SHRM Foundation’s 2026 publication reporting 2025 U.S. employer research found that 34% of organizations said they often or almost always used skills-first strategies; among organizations that rarely or never used them, 55% expressed interest in adopting them. In the same research, HR respondents most often cited reliance on traditional degree-focused methods and a lack of established assessment tools or processes as barriers, each reported by 29%. The sample comprised 1,184 U.S.-based people, including 108 HR executives, surveyed October 13–27, 2025; it is not a census of all employers.
The Foundation also reported that organizations often or always using skills-first strategies were more likely than the comparison group to say they exceeded financial objectives (35% versus 27%) and had positive company culture (86% versus 78%). These are survey associations, not proof that skills-first hiring caused the outcomes. Evaluate your own process rather than assuming that dropping degree filters alone will improve performance, culture, or diversity.
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