New Courses to Help You Tap into Top Talent Using Skills-Based Practices

Each September, during Workforce Development Month, states across the country recognize the contributions of workforce professionals and highlight events and initiatives that support job seekers and employers. This year, a skills-based approach to talent management is sure to garner even more attention than in previous years, as skills-based practices become increasingly popular among companies. According to LinkedIn data, about one in five job postings (19%) in the U.S. don’t require a college degree, up from 15% in 2021.

Businesses applying a skills-based approach can increase productivity by over 70%, improve retention rates by 34%, and receive 14% more applications per view. So how do you join the move to adopting a skills-first strategy?  Start with taking Markle’s Skillful Talent Series.

At Markle, we’ve been long-time advocates of a skills-based approach, because we understand the value these practices can bring, as they provide workers without a four-year degree more opportunities to obtain good jobs, while helping businesses and public-sector employers adapt to changing labor market conditions ensuring they find and retain great talent. Due to the overwhelmingly positive feedback we received from employers regarding the effectiveness of Markle’s training series on skills-based practices, the Skillful Talent Series, we have introduced three new courses.

This free, online training series is for hiring managers, HR staff or anyone who wants to learn about skills-based practices and understand the business benefits of adopting this approach. The comprehensive set of online courses provide an overview of skills-based talent management practices.

Developed and/or sourced with input from employers, small businesses, and worker-serving organizations, this training offers employers valuable resources and support that can immediately be put to work to help adopt inclusive, skills-based sourcing and hiring strategies to meet talent needs. The first two courses in the series focus on attracting talent and candidate evaluation. Through these courses employers learn how to source and hire competent applicants to their organization, how to evaluate a candidate based on skills, and more. One participant shared,

Expanding a tried and tested training by adding three new courses

The three new courses we have added to the Skillful Talent Series are designed to further empower employers in adopting a skills-based approach to talent management. These courses focus on Skills-Based Candidate Selection, Skills-Based Onboarding, and Skills-Based Development. After completing the new courses, employers will be able to:

• Develop guidelines and selection criteria for conducting skill assessments.
• Learn about the key differences between skills-based onboarding and traditional onboarding methods and the benefits of a skills-based approach.
• Define and calculate key metrics such as retention rates, turnover rates, and turnover costs.
• And much more.

Ready to start learning? Learn more about the Skillful Talent Series and how it can help your organization.