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What is skills-based hiring, and how can a UK degree help?

Skills-based hiring is on the rise, particularly for tech roles – but a degree from a UK university is still the key that unlocks many careers. Here, we take a look at how higher education institutions are meeting the demands for hard and soft skills in today’s workplaces, giving graduates the right basis for rewarding careers.

Skills-based hiring: an overview

The concept of skills-based hiring is simple: rather than relying solely on candidates’ qualifications and experience to determine their suitability for jobs, employers look at their skills.

So some job adverts no longer state that a degree is an essential requirement. Instead, you might have to take tests to determine your technical abilities, which AI-powered recruitment tools can assess at speed.

Skills-based hiring aims to widen participation, and solve the skills gap problem in certain hard-to-fill positions in IT and other fields.

The amount it is used varies widely. A recent study looked at postings for a sample job, that of a software quality assurance engineer. It found that only 26% of Accenture’s postings included a degree requirement, compared with 94% for Intel and 100% for Oracle.

Hard and soft skills

So should you be worried that this devalues your UK degree? Far from it!

First of all, the advent of skills-based hiring comes after a period of degree inflation, when employers started insisting on university education for jobs that had not previously required it. So in many ways, the new approach merely redresses the balance.

Furthermore, research from the Harvard Business School found that skills-based hiring is most notably used for ‘middle skill’ positions – namely, those that require only some post-secondary training. If you have higher career aspirations, a university degree is still the gold standard.

Plus, the Harvard research found that many top employers do still require degrees, even though it would be easy to test whether or not an applicant has the technical skills required for the job.

The researchers say this could be because employers “believe that college graduates possess more refined social, or ‘soft’ skills — the ability to work in groups, say, or to communicate efficiently in real-time, or to prioritise tasks.

“These skills are far harder to assess, and our analysis strongly suggests that as a result many employers are using college degrees as a proxy for them.”

Skills training at UK universities

Most importantly, UK higher education institutions are increasingly designing courses with in-demand skills in mind. So if your dream employer is switching to skills-based hiring, your degree will give you everything you need.

Universities are working with employers and official bodies such as Skills England to ensure that degree courses meet the needs of the future workforce. Thus, you’ll acquire all the latest technical skills you’ll need for your dream position – and, if you choose a course that includes an internship, you’ll get to apply them in a real-world setting.

Furthermore, universities are the perfect place to experiment, honing in-demand abilities such as analytical and creative thinking that are far harder to acquire in shorter training courses.

And that’s before we even consider all the other benefits of university, such as learning from experts, gaining in-depth and broad expertise, networking with fellow students, and exploring different career avenues in a supportive setting.

An international graduate’s view on skills

Libyan graduate Sanad is confident that his IT degree from UWE Bristol gave him the skills he needed for his role as integrated technology consultant for Oracle.

He says: “My university course played a crucial role in helping me secure my job at Oracle. The comprehensive curriculum provided a solid foundation in both biomedical science and health technology, equipping me with the technical expertise required for my role. The hands-on experience gained through various projects and labs was invaluable in understanding real-world applications of the concepts I learned.

“Additionally, the university environment, with its wonderful people and supportive community, significantly enhanced my communication skills. Regular group projects, presentations, and interactions with faculty and peers helped me develop the ability to convey complex ideas clearly and effectively. This skill has been essential in my role as a consultant, where clear communication with clients and team members is critical for successful project implementation and troubleshooting.

“Overall, the education and experiences I gained at university were instrumental in preparing me for and helping me secure my current position.”

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