Candidates: Are you interviewing and need support?
In this era of hiring, “AI solutions” and “skills-based hiring” seem to be a package deal. And while today’s teams accept the promise of skills-based approaches and the efficiency of AI, others are still wondering what skill validation really means.
“Each type of skill measurement, whether it's inferred, self-reported, or validated, has value but varies on a continuum of certainty from least to most certain,” said Mike Hudy, Chief Science Officer at Hirevue.
Learn more about the different types of skills and how teams can use AI-driven technology to hire quality candidates at speed and scale.
What are inferred skills?
Inferred skills are the least certain but aren’t without value. These are skills suggested by AI based on data from millions of resumes and job descriptions. Essentially, people with skill A also tend to have skill B, C, and D based on evidence across those millions of resumes and job descriptions.
For example, if someone lists “financial forecasting,” algorithms might infer they also possess “budget planning” based on data from millions of other profiles.
“These skills are speculative, not definitive and serve as a jumping off point for a discussion, prompting recruiters or hiring managers to dig deeper,” said Hudy.
Think of inferred skills as a hypothesis: interesting and useful but requiring validation.
What are self-reported skills?
Self-reported skills are those skills that a candidate has explicitly said they have based on experience.
“These skills are descriptive, not predictive. Similar to how a resume is descriptive of a candidate, no one is going to hire a person simply based on a resume, but they give you insight into how candidates view their own capabilities and experience.”
The challenge? Candidates may overstate or understate their skills, so turning to skill validation is the optimum way to become most certain on the skills they truly possess.
What are validated skills?
“Validated skills are backed by evidence and offer the greatest level of certainty. They’ve been tested through structured interviews, job simulations, skills assessments, or verified credentials,” continued Hudy.
For example, when someone claims financial acumen and backs it up with a CPA license or demonstrates it through an assessment, hiring teams can be far more confident in their decision.
Validation reduces guesswork and improves fairness. It better levels the playing field for candidates who may not have traditional job histories but do have the required competencies.
Solutions designed for validation
At Hirevue, we’ve been taking a skills-based approach to hiring for over 20 years—long before it was mainstream. We’ve spent decades developing assessments designed to validate skills and better predict success. Our team of Industrial Organizational Psychologists and Data Scientists has conducted over a thousand validation studies that measure the effect assessments have on turnover, sales performance, and almost any other key metric you can think of.
“We aren’t just hypothesizing fit. We are analyzing data from thousands of different interview questions, coding challenges, job simulations, and correlating this data to outcomes like turnover and quality of hire.”
Hirevue kicks your hiring process off with success with our candidate engagement software. Our AI agents match the skills candidates have learned from past experiences and suggest roles they could fit. Then, our assessments and structured interviewing can take it a step further to validate those skills.
Assessments are designed to verify and validate the skills that drive success, giving talent teams the most predictive, powerful candidate insights. Hirevue offers Virtual Job TryoutsⓇ, game-based assessments, technical assessment software, and Language Proficiency Tests to help make smarter hiring decisions.
In a market flooded with AI hype, what’s lacking isn’t more speculation but rather proof. At Hirevue, we don’t just guess which skills matter. We test them using data to ensure we’re tapping into the capabilities that drive real business results.
Learn more about the science behind our AI in recruiting here or take a self-guided tour of our assessments. Or if you’re ready to take it one step further, request a demo and see how Hirevue can validate the specific skills your employees need.
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