Companies are no longer just looking for traditional degree but are now focusing on skills sets that employees bring with them.

According to a Linked in report, a ‘skills-first’ approach to hiring also increased an employer’s number of potential candidates by nearly 10 times.

“Skills-based hiring is the great white whale, the holy grail of the labor market,” said Harvard Business School management professor Joseph Fuller.

Linkedin Trends

What has triggered this is basically an ongoing labor shortage. The US economy added 339,000 jobs in May but there aren’t enough fans to fill them.

Director of global employment policy and special initiatives Stephanie Ferguson said that even if every unemployed person in the country found a job, we would still have more than four million open jobs.

The US Chamber of Commerce reports that early retirement and better savings during the Covid-19 pandemic is holding people from coming back to the workforce.

According to a LinkedIn report, more than 45% of employers searched for candidates using skills data on the platform in the last one year, a 12% jump from last year.

How to capitalize on this?

LinkedIn recommends workers build on their existing skills to maximize their potential. LinkedIN members added 380 million skills and certifications to their profiles in the past year.

This includes both tangible and intangible skills such as digital marketing and business development as well as storytelling and problem solving.

One more good thing to do would be to sign up for certificate programmes or anything similar to upgrade your skills and knowledge. Adding new certifications to your current resume will definitely improve your chances of being hired even without a traditional degree or diploma.

Also don’t forget to keep updating your LinkedIn profile accordingly as well your resume.

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