Our 'MN Skills-Based Hiring Accelerator' helps employers rebuild their hiring process to attract and retain talent
Hiring for skills is five-times more predictive of on-the-job performance than strictly hiring for education,” according to the Markle Foundation. More and more employers are recognizing the value of skills-based hiring including the State of Minnesota which recently eliminated the 4-year college degree requirement for 75 percent of state positions.
Build hiring processes that focus on capabilities over credentials
Goodwill-Easter Seals Minnesota’s (GESMN) MN Skills-Based Hiring Accelerator , in partnership with the Minneapolis Regional Chamber, St. Paul Area Chamber and Twin Cities Urban League, offers a half-day comprehensive, customizable training for hiring managers, HR professionals, and company leaders interested in solutions to expand their hiring pools to attract and retain the best talent.
The four-year degree filter is a rigid barrier to advancement for many workers. According to the U.S. Census, nearly two-thirds of American adults do not have four-year degrees, and screening by college degrees hits minorities particularly hard – eliminating 76 percent of Black adults and 83 percent of Latinx adults from the job pool. Shifting hiring practices to focus on a candidate’s capabilities rather than credentials also increases diversity and equity among the work force.
“Before we got into this skills-based hiring class, everything we did was siloed,” explained John Johnston, VP of Manufacturing at Brooklyn Tool in Minneapolis, who attended the training. “It has allowed us to take the siloed approach away and really look at our labor force as a whole. What’s really best for the company is to have a diverse cross-trained employee base but that’s also best for the employee.”
A case for success
A case study by the Markle Foundation of our Skills-Based Hiring Accelerator outlined the program’s successes in its first two years as part of the Rework America Alliance concluding that the program:
- Improved support to job seekers by equipping career navigators with a skills-based and equity-driven career-coaching model.
- Removed barriers to employment faced by job seekers by helping employers adopt skills-based hiring and talent management practices.
- Built a broad coalition of workforce practitioners and policymakers to further influence the system from multiple points – including the recent change to eliminate the 4–year degree requirement for most MN government positions.
“I think anyone, any employer, even if they’re further along on their skills-based hiring journey would be able to walk away with so much,” said Melanie Lugo, HR Generalist with Newtrax transportation out of White Bear Lake, about the value she experienced with the training. “They have tools, they have resources, they connected us with local organizations that can also help us build partnerships to be able to find people to fill positions in the future.”
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