75% of recruiters anticipate that skill-based hiring will take centre stage in the coming 18 months: HirePro report

With competition increasingly rife in the search for top-tier talent, resumes have traditionally stood as the fulcrum on which companies have relied to fulfill their recruitment efforts. HirePro, a leading AI-powered recruitment solutions firm, recently conducted a market study to examine the current landscape of resume centric hiring. The findings highlighted in the report ‘No Resumes Please: Paving the way for talent-centric recruitment’ reveals the limitations of using resumes as a primary tool for hiring.

According to the report, a job posting approximately receives 250 applicants, but less than 10 get shortlisted. This means recruiters are significantly overburdened with resumes vis-a-vis job openings. It highlights that job seekers often adopt a ‘spray and pray’ approach, with a candidate approximately sending out 110 applications. As a result, overwhelmed recruiters may rush their decisions, leading to substandard hires and genuinely qualified candidates getting unintentionally overlooked.

The report uncovers that despite including a plethora of skills on their resumes, many candidates lack substantial professional experience or subject-matter expertise in those areas. A significant 56% of candidates claim proficiency in skills they have limited knowledge of. Furthermore, the study highlights a concerning trend, with 85% of job seekers making false claims in their resumes, up from 65% a decade ago. The use of standard resume templates, ‘professional’ resume writers, AI tools like ChatGPT etc. exacerbate this problem. Consequently, recruiters have expressed their reservations on resumes, with merely 1% of recruiters relying solely on resumes.

Notably, the findings of the report reveals a trend where job descriptions are increasingly emphasising on behavioural skills, but this emphasis is not reciprocated in resumes. While a substantial 92% of job descriptions specify the need of behavioural attributes, only 38% of resumes actually mention these traits. Furthermore, while approximately 40%-45% of job descriptions mention behavioural requirements, a mere 6% of resumes mention behavioural attributes.

Over the past five years, recruiters have also shifted their focus areas while evaluating resumes. Five years ago, factors like job stability and keyword matching were considered critical, with a weightage of 49% and 39% respectively, which have since declined to 33% and 27% respectively. Presently, emphasis is placed on individual assessments, which has surged from 26% to 49% over this period. Although relevant experience continues to be important, its significance has decreased from 63% to 48%. Additionally, with the emergence of generative AI and autocorrect tools, the importance given to formatting and grammatical accuracy has reduced from 19% to 14%.

The report also brought to light that making a career-switch proves to be near impossible in a resume-centric hiring process. A substantial 60% of recruiters are hesitant to consider candidates who lack relevant experience, even if they possess certifications. Consequently, 92% of career switches predominantly happen within the same organisation, as resumes play an insignificant role in such cases. In this scenario, candidates proactively acquire new skills, undergo training, earn certifications, and embark on a new career path in pursuit of new challenges.

However, they encounter a formidable barrier in the form of resume-based judgements when they seek new organisations as many recruiters assume that past experience is a reliable indicator of future-success.

Commenting on the report, Mr. S. Pasupathi, Chief Operating Officer of HirePro, said, “Recruitment in today’s job market demands a fresh approach. Relying solely on traditional resumes has proven to be a precarious endeavour, carrying a high risk of leading employers astray. Surpassing resumes, skill assessments has become a more reliable tool in the recruitment process and prove to be a highly effective and efficient approach”.

“Candidates selected through skill assessments outperform their counterparts in their roles. Notably, our report highlights a substantial difference in performance review scores when comparing individuals hired through skill-based assessments with those hired through traditional methods. This serves as a strong indication that customised skill-based assessments are essential for bridging the skill-gap in most organisations”, he added.

Within the IT sector, employees selected through assessments outperformed those who had been hired through traditional methods by a whopping 73%. An analysis of performance evaluations across different industries favoured skill assessments, showing that such candidates outperformed others significantly – 64% in GCCs, 97% in BPO (Support) and 46% in Start-ups.

The report also highlights how resume centric hiring can lead to biases. With traditional recruiting methods, 44% of recruiters reported encountering biases related to factors such as the candidate’s educational background, prior experience, gender, location, and shared connections. However, by focussing exclusively on individual skill assessment, a reduction of 78% has been observed in the biases associated with conventional approaches.

Furthermore, resume-based hiring proves to be a tedious process for recruitment teams. Around 52% of interviewers find the most challenging aspect of recruitment to be screening candidates from a large pool of applicants. The integration of assessments has led to a 82% reduction in effort. This has streamlined the process as candidates with the highest skills rise to the top of the funnel, resulting in significantly improved success rates in subsequent rounds.

The report clearly indicates that the recruitment trend gaining credence is emphasis on skills rather than pedigree. Presently, 90% of recruiter searches are skill-centric. While education and experience are used as initial screening criteria, assessments play the decisive factor in the hiring process. A significant 75% of recruiters anticipate that skill-based hiring will take centre stage in the coming 18 months. This year itself, 65% of recruiters have already prioritised skills over work experience. Companies are realising that candidates’ employability is chiefly determined by their skills, prompting a shift in recruitment procedures.

The study is fortified by the analysis of 45,000 candidate resumes, 3,000 job postings, a survey involving more than 3,000 hiring managers, and feedback from over 500 corporate customers.

Key takeaways from the report:

● For each job listing, there are 250 candidates, only 10 get shortlisted.
● 75% of candidates don’t get past the initial screening, and 30% don’t get a chance despite having the required skills.
● 56% of candidates claim skills in their resume, that they barely know.
● 85% of job seekers make false claims in their resumes, up from 65% a decade ago.
● 70% of recruiters go through resumes but mostly rely on interview/candidate interaction.
● 92% of job descriptions specify behavioural requirements, and 38% of resumes mention behavioural traits.
● 92% of career switches happen within the organisation.
● 60% of the recruiters are not likely to consider candidates with non-relevant experience, even with certifications, while only 6% consider candidates for junior roles.
● 44% of recruiters observe bias in traditional recruiting methods.
● 78% reduction in recruiter biases after implementing assessments.
● Candidates perform better when chosen via assessments as against traditional methods. Analysis of performance statistics proves such candidates exhibit a better performance – GCC (64%), startups (46%), IT services (73%), and BPO support (87%).
● 90% of searches by recruiters focus on skills; 75% of recruiters believe that skill-based hiring will be a trend; and 65% of recruiters now depend more on skills.

About HirePro

HirePro is a leading recruitment automation and assessments solution provider to corporates, educational institutions, and governments. Established in 2004 and headquartered in Bengaluru, we have been offering pre-eminent technology platforms and allied services to companies that require expert support to navigate the talent landscape. At HirePro, Fearless Hiring is at the heart of everything we do. We firmly believe that our bold pursuit of excellence, combined with cutting-edge technology and committed team, is the key to helping our clients recruit top-tier talent and build exceptional teams. Our product, technology, and services teams are driven by a fearless dedication to automation and elimination of challenges that might arise at any stage of the hiring journey. Today, HirePro is reckoned as an AI-powered recruitment platform that stands as a global beacon of Fearless Hiring. Serving as the partner of choice for businesses worldwide, we help fearlessly navigate the intricate phases of the recruitment supply chain.

Link to the company website: https://hirepro.in/about-us/