The science behind effective hiring: validated skills & behaviors

As global labor markets shift and digital disruption accelerates, the role of talent acquisition is evolving dramatically. Leaders in recruitment are seeking to build agile, future-ready workforces that contain the essential business skills of tomorrow. There is also a fundamental redefinition of how talent is identified, evaluated, and hired, taking place. 

Amid this change, two powerful forces have emerged as the cornerstones of the future: skills-based hiring and artificial intelligence (AI). Together, they represent a significant opportunity for organizations.

The rise of skills-based hiring

In the past, employers often defaulted to degree requirements and linear career histories as proxies for talent. Today, that model is rapidly losing relevance. Skills (not credentials) are becoming the currency of the labor market.

Why the shift is happening

A number of factors are driving this transformation:

• Labor shortages, turbulent hiring, and skills gaps: The race for talent persists, driven by an aging population, rapidly changing skills, workforce expectations, and technology advancements. Uncertainty demands clarity. Strategic, data-driven decision-making isn’t just a best practice, it’s a necessity.

The challenge hiring leaders face isn’t that they don’t have enough skills data – it’s that they don’t have validated skills data they can trust and use to make successful hiring decisions. You need to know precisely and reliably what a candidate can actually do.

Challenges with skills-based hiring (Source: A New Conversation on Skills)

• Non-traditional career paths: With the gig economy, bootcamps, and online credentials gaining ground, candidates increasingly acquire relevant skills outside formal education systems.
  
• Equity and inclusion: Removing degree requirements opens the door to more diverse and underserved talent pools, aligning hiring with DEI goals.

The industry consensus

Research from Deloitte emphasizes that “organizations that prioritize skills over degrees are seeing a measurable competitive advantage,” citing improved agility and resilience (Deloitte 2024 TA Trends). Survey respondents in ‘A New Conversation on Skills‘ reported a 68% improvement in quality and a 62% reduction in bias when using assessments.

Josh Bersin’s analysis echoes this sentiment, pointing out that companies using a skills-first model are “building more dynamic internal mobility systems and seeing greater employee retention” (Bersin: Reinventing Talent Acquisition).

AI as a talent acquisition game-changer

Artificial intelligence is no longer an emerging trend—it’s rapidly becoming the engine behind modern recruitment. From intelligent automation to predictive analytics, AI is reshaping how organizations attract, engage, and select talent.

Transformative Applications of AI in TA

• Candidate screening and matching: AI has the ability to scan large volumes of applicants to identify the best fit based on skills, experience, and behavioral indicators.
• Bias mitigation: Structured AI tools help reduce unconscious bias by focusing on data and the competencies proven to predict success in a role, over subjective impressions.
  
• Recruiter productivity: AI-powered chatbots and scheduling assistants automate time-consuming tasks, allowing recruiters to focus on relationship-building.
  

Emerging Capabilities

According to Deloitte’s 2025 Global Human Capital Trends, AI is central to enabling “frictionless, personalized talent experiences” and driving cost efficiency (Deloitte Human Capital Trends).

AI also plays a critical role in helping companies validate skills in hiring. Recent research shows that already, 41% of companies have made a significant investment in AI to support their skills-based hiring program (A New Conversation on Skills). 

Key challenges in the talent acquisition landscape

While the momentum is real, the road to transformation isn’t without roadblocks. Talent acquisition leaders are navigating complex challenges, including:

1. Lack of strategic partnership

Bersin’s research identifies a troubling trend: many TA functions operate reactively, seen as execution arms rather than strategic partners. This limits their ability to drive workforce transformation and leverage data for business impact.The Talent Acquisition functions at Arm and Marsh McLennan are two examples of organizations bucking this trend and operating effectively as strategic partners to the business.

2. Rising employee expectations

The modern workforce demands more meaningful work, more flexibility, and more opportunities to grow. PwC’s research shows that workers increasingly expect tailored experiences and continuous skills development. Failing to meet these expectations can lead to attrition and disengagement.

3. Talent data issues

Although data is abundant, many organizations struggle to extract actionable insights from their recruitment processes. Without a strong analytics foundation, efforts like skills-based hiring or AI-enabled screening can fall short. Critical first steps are to identify the skills gaps in your business, and then build an effective process that can validate if these skills are present, both in new and existing talent.  

Holcim case study

Holcim created the “Polaris” project as a strategic initiative that gave them a North Star by which to assess all internal and external talent. This is based on the skills and behaviours that have proven to predict success at the organization. Polaris enabled Holcim to increase hiring speed by 89%, assess 9X more candidates, and produce a pipeline of diverse and validated talent.

Opportunities for forward-thinking organizations

Despite these challenges, leading organizations are embracing the following opportunities:

A. Building a skills-based talent ecosystem

Understanding what skills exist, what are needed, and how to fill the gaps enables smarter hiring and more strategic workforce planning. Organizations that do this well are able to re-skill, up-skill, and mobilize talent more effectively. Emirates was able to bring a 60-day time-to-hire period down to zero by building validated talent pools.

B. Personalizing the candidate journey

AI enables scalable personalization, from tailored job recommendations to real-time feedback. This not only enhances the candidate experience but also boosts employer brand equity.

C. Elevating TA to a strategic role

By leveraging data, insights, and the right technology, TA can step into a leadership role in workforce strategy, aligning closely with business goals and DEI objectives.

Emirates case study

By modernizing its recruitment with skills-based hiring and AI, Emirates was able to build validated talent pools and transform its TA operation. This gave them a strategic edge in aviation’s talent race.

Technology built for the skills and AI-driven future

To realize today’s opportunities, organizations need a partner that combines deep talent expertise with cutting-edge technology. Hirevue offers an integrated platform designed to empower talent teams in the era of skills-based hiring and AI.

Skills assessments

Hirevue’s skills assessments help recruiters objectively measure candidates’ capabilities—technical or cognitive—aligned with the competencies linked to specific job roles. Solutions include the Virtual Job Tryout, Coding Challenges, Games-Based Assessments, and AI-Scored Video Assessments. Arm uses several of these solutions to assess for both soft skills and technical skills using a flexible candidate experience.

Behavioral assessments

Hirevue’s behavioral assessments, grounded in industrial-organizational psychology, identify traits linked to job success and cultural fit, enabling fair, predictive hiring at scale. Hirevue i Nestlé to look beyond a CV for a growth mindset.

On-Demand video interviewing

Hirevue pioneered structured video interviewing, dramatically reducing time-to-hire, increasing candidate reach, and improving candidate and recruiter experience. Using Hirevue’s Video Interviewing, Assessments, and Workday integration, Philips is able to identify and hire for potential rather than experience, across a range of roles and use cases.

Conversational AI

Through chat-based AI recruiting agents, Hirevue automates early-stage tasks like screening and scheduling, improving efficiency and candidate responsiveness. With a chat experience powered by organizational psychology data to predict success, this chatbot reduces drop-off rates, matches more candidates to more opportunities, and enables the re-engagement of runner-up candidates.

Hirevue recently won Best Skills Assessment Provider, Best Behavioural Assessment Provider, and Best Video Interviewing Provider and the In-House Recruitment Industry Supplier Awards 2025 (Learn more).

Conclusion

The future of talent acquisition is skills-first, data-driven, and AI-powered. TA leaders who embrace these shifts will attract, validate, and retain the best talent while redefining their strategic value within the organization. 

Please request a demo to learn more about how Hirevue and see how it can help you validate the skills and behaviors that drive successful recruitment.