Work It Podcast: Skills over certificates? How skills-based hiring will change the hunt for talent

Good grades and a fancy degree may not be enough to get you that dream job or sustain a successful career.

Asher Ling, Chief Technology Officer and Managing Director, Singapore at Princeton Digital Group, and SGTech’s Talent Steering Committee member explains what and why skills-based hiring is on the rise. 

Here’s an excerpt from the podcast:

Tiffany Ang:
You said (that) there is a guide to help companies move towards a skills-based hiring approach. But realistically, how many companies are we seeing now that will go okay, we are looking for a specific skill set, rather than just focusing on the paper.

Asher Ling:
I would say it depends on (the) industry. Within the tech industry, and especially within the infocomm tech industry, where certain skill sets, whether it’s cybersecurity or AI capabilities or certain specific engineering expertise in my fields, those skill sets are extremely important beyond just having an engineering degree. 

I have a project director who runs very large-scale, complex engineering designs. When I first hired him, he came to me with a Higher Nitec (qualification) and he was a draftsman.

But he had the right skill sets. We hired him, and then we developed him along the way. He went on to get his diploma and then in his 30s, he went on to do his degree, and that helped him to pivot his whole career to where he is. 

Tiffany:
So, on the topic of hiring, how do you assess them right at the point of the interview, though? Do employers, let’s say, throw them a set of simulations? What do they do? And isn’t that a lot of work for the employer too? 

Asher: 
From a skills-based hiring approach, the general approach is to consider instead of just a straightforward interview where you look at the paper and then just do that interview. I’ve also done interviews, for example, for specific skill sets that we need, which is unable to be clearly identified from the qualifications, we put it as a situational test in the interview. 

For example, if I’m hiring a customer success manager, what I’ll do is I’ll take a real case, problem, situation, or crisis that I’m dealing with.