How to Conduct an Effective Skills-Based Interview

The talent world has all but swooned over skills-based hiring for the past few years. By prioritizing skills, rather than degrees, companies can solve a number of problems: reduce bias, widen talent pools, and address daunting talent shortages. 

Yet despite the hype, few companies have put the idea into practice. A recent report by the Burning Glass Institute and Harvard Business School found that even though many companies have removed degree requirements from job postings, they’ve barely moved the needle on hiring people without degrees. 

The report suggests that hiring managers are resisting the idea of hiring workers without degrees. But it’s also possible that companies struggle with the nitty-gritty of hiring for skills. That is, what do you ask candidates, how do you assess their skills, and how do you make a good hire? 

Much of that comes down to the interview. That’s why we’ve put together five tips on how to conduct a skills-based interview. Here’s our step-by-step guide on how to prepare and what to ask.

1. Identify the skills that are needed for the role 

When prepping for a skills-based interview, you need to know: What skills are required for the role? 

First, review the job description to get a better understanding of the skills, abilities, and behaviors needed. Next, speak to the hiring manager and ask them to create a comprehensive list of all the skills used in the role. They need to be very specific. Instead of saying, for example, that the role requires “web development skills,” clarify that candidates need to know Python or Java. 

Shweta Mogha, instructor of the LinkedIn Learning course Skills-First Interviewing, suggests that you also brush up on your company’s key strategic focus areas. Ask yourself: What customers are my company trying to reach? How does this role impact the business strategy? This information will inform the skills needed for the job. 

Be sure to include both technical and soft skills. If the role requires soft skills such as effective communication, leadership, problem-solving, and curiosity, add those to the list. 

2.  Use the STAR method to write your list of questions 

Once you have a list of skills, use the STAR method to create questions that will help you evaluate the candidate’s past experiences and behaviors.

STAR stands for:

• Situation 
• Tasks
• Action
• Results
  

Focusing on these four things will help you elicit specific examples that illustrate a candidate’s problem-solving skills, leadership abilities, conflict management style, and work ethic. 

In her course, Shweta uses the example of asking a candidate: “Tell me about a challenging situation you faced at work and how you used data to actually influence your stakeholders.” This question addresses a situation, asks what tasks were involved (using data) and what action the candidate took (to influence stakeholders). Implicit in the question is, “What were the results?” 

You could also ask: “Imagine that you’re working on a project that has a defined scope of work. The day before the deadline, the client changes what they want. How would you handle this?” Or: “Give me an example of a time when you had a conflict with a teammate. Were you able to resolve it, and how?” 

With all of these, the point is to draw out answers that clearly demonstrate a candidate’s skills.

3. Develop a structured interview format to use with every candidate

“The most important thing is to remain consistent in your assessment,” says Robert Kaskel, chief people officer at Checkr, “because every candidate needs to be measured by the same ‘stick.’” 

You can reduce bias by developing a structured interview process for phone screens and in-person interviews. In other words, ask each candidate the same questions in the same order. Every time. This will ensure that all candidates are being evaluated on the same criteria. 

4. Give candidates a take-home assignment or skills-assessment test 

One of the great things about hiring for skills is that you can — and should — ask candidates to take a skills assessment as part of the interview process. While these evaluations aren’t foolproof, they can help indicate whether the candidate has the skills for the job. 

When hiring for a software engineering role, for example, you might ask each candidate to take a coding test. If you’re hiring a graphic designer, you might give them a creative brief for an ad campaign as a take-home assignment and give them one week to come up with an image. 

Lee Harding, director of talent acquisition, recruitment enablement, and marketing and talent intelligence at Join Talent, came up with his own assessment for a merchandising role that he was helping hire for. He and the hiring manager presented each candidate with a laptop that had an Excel spreadsheet containing product data, stock levels, projected sales, previous sales, and other merchandising-related data. They gave the candidate 15 minutes to look through the spreadsheet and afterward, talked through what the candidate had found. Very quickly, they could see whether the candidate understood Excel (one of the skills needed) and was good at interpreting data (also necessary). 

You can use an online skill assessment platform or an internally developed tool to measure a candidate’s skills. Be mindful, however, of a candidate’s time. The most in-demand workers likely won’t have time for lengthy take-home assignments or assessments. 

5. Ask follow-up questions

This may seem obvious, but it’s important to ask follow-up questions. “Follow-up questions can help you understand what motivates and demotivates the candidate,” Shweta explains, “as well as their working style and personality.” 

When you ask a candidate about their role in a team project, for example, their answer may demonstrate how they contributed, how well they work with others, and how they manage conflict. But you may want to know more. You can ask:  What motivated you to take the lead in this project? What aspects did you enjoy the most and why? What problems did you uncover in the process? 

Ultimately, follow-up questions will help improve your ability to assess candidates accurately. 

Final thoughts: Why skills-based hiring is a business imperative

While skills-based hiring may seem like a nice idea, it may soon become a business imperative. Korn Ferry predicts that by 2030, more than 85 million jobs could go unfilled because there aren’t enough skilled people to take them. As a result, companies could lose up to $8.5 trillion in revenue.  

“To truly make skills-based hiring work for your business, you need to change how you find resumes, evaluate them, and interview applicants,” says Greg Todesco, a sector leader at Korn Ferry. “It’s a comprehensive, integrated shift.” 

But companies that act now and hire for skills could have a big advantage later.