Skills-based hiring and recruitment

Creating a skills-based job posting

A well-crafted job posting is key to attracting a diverse, highly qualified talent pool. Skills-based job postings focus on what candidates can do rather than where they worked or what degrees they hold. This approach helps eliminate unnecessary barriers, ensures fair hiring practices, and increases access to a broader range of applicants.

Best practices

Focus on essential skills, not credentials

• Define the must-have skills and abilities needed for success in the role.
• Remove unnecessary degree requirements unless legally required. Instead, you could state:
  • “A degree is not required—relevant skills and experience will be considered.”
• Consider skills gained through on-the-job training, military experience, apprenticeships, certifications, or self-study.

Use clear, inclusive, and accessible language

• Avoid jargon or technical terms unless essential for the role.
• Use plain language and write job duties as action-based statements:
  • Instead of: “Leverages analytical frameworks to assess operational efficiencies.”
  • Use: “Analyzes workflows to improve efficiency and reduce costs.”
• Emphasize mission-driven work to appeal to candidates motivated by impact.

Describe the work, not just the requirements

• Provide a realistic job preview that helps candidates understand what they will do daily.
• Include key responsibilities in an easy-to-read list of action-oriented tasks.
• Example:
  • “You will collaborate with cross-functional teams to develop and implement new policies that improve public services.”
• Use testimonial videos or employee quotes to showcase workplace culture (see an example).

Expand access and reduce barriers

• Promote telework and hybrid options to attract talent from across Washington.
• Ensure job postings are screen-reader friendly and avoid images with embedded text.

Replace years of experience with performance expectations

• Instead of: “Requires 5+ years of project management experience.”
• Use: “Ability to manage projects from start to finish, coordinate teams, and meet deadlines.”

Skills-based job posting example

Job Title: Community Engagement Specialist
Location: Remote/hybrid within Washington State
Salary: $65,000 – $75,000 per year
Application Deadline: MM/DD/YYYY

About the role

We are looking for a Community Engagement Specialist who can develop outreach programs that connect Washington residents with critical public services. This role involves public speaking, stakeholder coordination, and digital content creation.

What you’ll do

Build relationships with community partners to expand outreach efforts.
Plan and deliver presentations to various audiences.
Develop accessible, engaging digital content for social media and websites.
Analyze engagement data to improve outreach strategies.

Skills we’re looking for

• Strong communication and public speaking skills.
• Ability to develop community partnerships.
• Experience using social media for professional outreach.
• Comfort analyzing data to improve engagement efforts.

What we don’t require

A specific degree—if you have the skills, we want to hear from you!
A traditional career path—skills gained through volunteer work, self-learning, or non-traditional jobs are valued.

By following a skills-based hiring approach, you can attract the best talent based on real-world abilities, not just credentials. Start creating job postings that focus on skills, expand opportunities, and build a more inclusive workforce!

Examples of how to eliminate degree requirements on job postings.

Browse our diversity recruiting resources page for help reaching candidates at hundreds of various diverse organizations!

Skills-based candidate sourcing for public sector recruiters

Sourcing is a proactive strategy for identifying and engaging qualified candidates who may not be actively job searching or who may have missed your job postings. The goal is to connect with skilled individuals and encourage them to apply, helping to fill hard-to-hire positions and improve diversity within your applicant pool.

While sourcing is still underutilized in the public sector, it is a critical tool for finding top talent—especially for roles requiring specific skills. By adopting a skills-based sourcing approach, you can expand your pipeline, improve candidate experience, and reduce time-to-hire.

Best practices

Start with your own talent pool

• Search your applicant tracking system for previously qualified candidates who were not selected for past roles. These individuals already expressed interest in your agency.
• Review internal talent, including temporary workers, interns, and contract employees who have demonstrated key skills.

Use skills-based online searches

• LinkedIn and professional networks: Search by skills, certifications, and projects rather than just job titles.
• Boolean search techniques: Use search operators (e.g., “project management” AND “public sector” -resume”) to find skilled professionals beyond those with traditional backgrounds.
• Online forums and discussion groups: Engage in relevant industry communities where skilled professionals share knowledge and best practices.

Diversify your sourcing channels

• Attend industry conferences and association events to connect with professionals who may not be actively looking but have the skills you need.
• Partner with colleges, universities, and workforce training programs that focus on technical skills, apprenticeships, and non-traditional career pathways.
• Leverage social media to engage diverse communities and highlight mission-driven work opportunities in government.
• Build relationships with professional associations that represent underrepresented groups in your industry.

Leverage employee networks and referrals

• Encourage referrals from new hires and employees who know skilled professionals looking for opportunities.
• Engage retirees and alumni networks who may be open to part-time or project-based work.

Maintain candidate relationships

• Create a spreadsheet to track and nurture potential candidates.
• Follow up regularly with sourced candidates, offering insights about upcoming opportunities that match their skills.
• Host virtual information sessions about career paths in government to keep skilled professionals engaged.

Measure and adjust your approach

• Regularly analyze sourcing metrics to determine which channels and strategies yield the best talent.
• Ensure sourcing efforts align with diversity, equity, and inclusion goals, tracking outreach effectiveness by skills-based criteria rather than traditional credentials.

Challenges and solutions

Challenge: Sourcing takes time and effort, especially when building relationships with passive candidates.
Solution: Automate outreach where possible and use a structured follow-up process to maintain engagement.

Challenge: Passive candidates may hesitate to engage if they’re not actively looking for a job.
Solution: Focus on skills alignment and career growth opportunities, not just immediate openings. Highlight mission-driven work and impact.

Challenge: Tracking and managing multiple sourcing channels can become complex.
Solution: Use candidate databases and tracking tools to organize and prioritize outreach efforts.

Challenge: Limited resources or budget constraints in public sector hiring.
Solution: Focus on low-cost, high-impact strategies like referrals, alumni outreach and leveraging free sourcing tools.

Challenge: Ensuring sourcing aligns with diversity and inclusion goals.
Solution: Track sourcing success by skills-based criteria and expand outreach to underrepresented communities.

By embracing skills-based sourcing, public sector recruiters can proactively identify, engage, and hire top talent while increasing access for diverse, qualified candidates.

Skills-based applicant screening for public sector recruiters

You’ve written a skills-based job description, created a job posting, outlined a structured recruitment plan, posted your position on careers.wa.gov, and actively shared it with diverse networks. Now, applicants are rolling in—congratulations!

The screening process is your next step in identifying the most qualified talent based on their skills and experience. To increase access to a diverse, skilled workforce, it’s critical to eliminate barriers and biases that may prevent strong candidates from moving forward.

Screening guidelines

What to do:

• Focus on skills, knowledge, and abilities—not just education.
• Evaluate transferable skills and alternative career paths. Consider experience gained through military service, certifications, apprenticeships, volunteer work, and non-traditional jobs.
• Apply the same objective criteria to all applicants to ensure fairness.
• Ensure alignment with Washington state’s commitment to building a highly skilled, diverse workforce.
• Screen for essential job-related skills—not outdated or exclusionary requirements.
• Use structured evaluation methods to ensure consistency in reviewing applications, résumés, and supplemental responses.
• Stay mindful of unconscious bias. Make hiring decisions based on skills, not factors like name, address, employment gaps, or educational prestige.

What to avoid:

• Do not screen out candidates solely based on formal education unless legally required.
• Do not consider personal information such as name, address, or employment gaps when evaluating applicants.
• Do not prioritize traditional career paths over non-traditional experience.

Determining your interview pool size

The ideal number of interviews depends on factors such as position complexity, required skills, hiring urgency, and candidate quality. The goal is to interview enough candidates to ensure a strong selection while keeping the process efficient and fair.

• For highly skilled or specialized roles, you may need fewer but highly qualified candidates (e.g., 3-5 finalists).
• For entry-level or widely available skill sets, a larger interview pool (e.g., 5-10 candidates) may be necessary to find the right fit.
• For leadership or executive roles, multiple interview rounds with fewer, highly vetted candidates are best.
• If a role has a high number of applicants, focus on those who best match the essential skills rather than interviewing a fixed percentage of applicants.
• On average, it takes 3-5 interviews to make a hire.
• If hiring multiple people, interview at least 2-3 candidates per vacancy to maintain options.

Rather than following a rigid formula, prioritize quality over quantity. Focus on candidates who have demonstrated the necessary skills—this leads to faster hiring and better long-term retention.

Best practices

Identify barriers and close gaps:

• Track how marginalized groups move through the application process. If diverse candidates drop off at certain stages, analyze why and adjust.
• Ensure hiring teams use skills-based criteria to evaluate candidates, balancing experience and education instead of defaulting to degree requirements.

Strengthen hiring through inclusive practices:

• Use structured, skills-based evaluations to match candidates with the job’s actual requirements.
• Develop internships, in-training programs, or apprenticeships for less-experienced candidates with strong foundational skills.
• Offer informational interviews to increase transparency about public sector careers.
• Provide virtual interview prep and training sessions for candidates who may be unfamiliar with digital hiring platforms.

Reduce bias in screening:

• Be aware of bias in employment gaps, veteran status, name, education, or address.
• Increase panel diversity to ensure a broad range of perspectives in hiring decisions.

Challenges and solutions

Challenge: Unconscious bias affects hiring decisions.
Solution: Train hiring teams in bias awareness and structured skills-based evaluation techniques to ensure objective decision-making.

Challenge: Lack of diversity on hiring panels.
Solution: Encourage cross-functional panels and diverse representation to ensure fair, inclusive hiring decisions.

Challenge: Small, less diverse applicant pools meeting minimum qualifications.
Solution: Expand outreach to non-traditional talent sources, review alternative qualifications, and remove unnecessary credential barriers.

By embracing skills-based screening, public sector recruiters can assess applicants fairly, eliminate unnecessary barriers, and build a highly skilled, diverse workforce.

Interviewing with a skills-based hiring approach

A skills-based interview is designed to fairly and objectively evaluate candidates based on their ability to perform the essential functions of the job. Eliminating biases and barriers ensures that qualified, diverse candidates have a fair opportunity to advance through the hiring process.

Why skills-based interviews matter

• Interviews should assess a candidate’s ability to perform the job, rather than rely on credentials, personal background, or unrelated experience.
• A structured interview process ensures consistency by using pre-determined, job-relevant questions and a standardized evaluation method for all candidates.
• Structured interviews reduce bias by ensuring all candidates are asked the same questions in the same order and evaluated objectively based on job-related criteria.
• Instead of assessing how well a candidate “fits” an organization’s culture, focus on how their skills align with the job’s requirements.
• Always allow time for candidates to ask questions. A great way to invite final input is:
  • “Is there anything we haven’t asked that you’d like us to know?”

Best practices

Provide interview questions up to 24 hours in advance so all candidates have equal preparation time.

Ensure structured and equitable interview logistics:

• Schedule buffer time between interviews to avoid delays affecting candidates.
• Conduct a tech check at least one day before virtual interviews.

Ensure each candidate gets equal time to answer questions.

• Train hiring managers and panelists on:
  • Implicit bias and how to mitigate it.
  • The importance of diverse interview panels.

Use multiple assessment methods:

• Work samples, skills tests, case studies, or scenario-based questions provide a more accurate picture of job readiness.
• Provide candidates with scenarios or tasks in advance so they can prepare.

Improve the candidate experience:

• Notify all interviewed candidates of their status by phone.
• Offer feedback to candidates to help them improve.

Challenges to anticipate

• Virtual interview platforms can introduce tech issues. Be prepared to reschedule if necessary to ensure a fair process.
• Not all hiring panel members may be aligned with skills-based hiring. Require training on structured interviews and how to evaluate candidates objectively.
• Assembling diverse panels can be difficult. Prioritize including different perspectives to ensure a more equitable hiring process.

By using a skills-first approach to interviews, organizations can fairly and accurately assess candidates, reduce hiring bias, and make stronger, more inclusive hiring decisions.

Browse our skills-based interview questions library featuring hundreds of questions!  Skills-based interview questions

Reference checking with a skills-based hiring approach

A skills-based reference check is an essential step to verify that a candidate possesses the skills, experience, and attributes demonstrated in the interview process. Instead of relying on vague character references, ask specific, job-related questions that provide insight into the candidate’s actual work performance.

Key principles

• The hiring manager or HR department should conduct all reference checks.
• Use the same reference check form and questions for each finalist to ensure fairness and consistency.
• Start with objective, factual information, such as employment history, job titles, and responsibilities.
• Move to skills verification by asking about the candidate’s real-world accomplishments, ability to perform key tasks, and workplace behaviors.
• Reference checks can reveal potential discrepancies between a candidate’s self-reported skills and their actual performance.

Best practices

Ask for specific, skills-based examples, not opinions or hypotheticals.

• Instead of: “Do you think they would be good at managing projects?” ask, “Can you describe a time when they successfully managed a project under tight deadlines?”
• Prioritize professional references over personal ones.
• Ask for additional references if a candidate’s reference list seems limited or biased.
• Ensure alignment with the skills assessed in the interview. Reference checks should confirm whether a candidate demonstrated the required skills in their previous roles.

Challenges

Understanding the difference between reference checks and job verification.

• Job verification confirms employment details (dates, job title, salary, etc.).
• Reference checks assess skills, accomplishments, strengths, and performance.
• Not all references provide detailed feedback. Ask open-ended questions to encourage meaningful responses.
• Bias in references. Some references may provide overly positive or overly negative feedback. Cross-check information when possible.

By conducting structured, skills-focused reference checks, hiring managers can verify a candidate’s abilities, reduce hiring risks, and ensure the best hiring decisions.

Skills-based onboarding for a strong start

Effective onboarding ensures new employees feel connected, engaged, and productive from day one. A skills-based onboarding approach focuses on equipping new hires with the tools, training, and support they need to apply and develop their skills immediately and effectively.

Onboarding goals

• Provide hiring managers with best practices to help new hires—especially in remote roles—feel integrated and valued throughout their first year.
• Foster an inclusive work environment where employees can bring their best selves to work and contribute meaningfully from the start.
• Ensure that skill development and support are prioritized, so employees grow and succeed in their roles.

Best practices

• Connect new employees to statewide Business Resource Groups during orientation to build a sense of community and inclusion.
• Develop an accessible onboarding resource hub with key agency information, training materials, and FAQs for managers and new employees.
• Conduct a welcome interview to set expectations, discuss goals, and create a framework for ongoing conversations.
• Pair new hires with an onboarding buddy to provide guidance on day-to-day tasks and agency culture.
• Gather continuous feedback through weekly pulse surveys for the first 12 weeks to assess engagement and identify improvement areas.
• Conduct “stay” interviews at 30 days and 6 months to check in on employee experience and retention drivers.
• Prioritize skills development by aligning onboarding with the same skills assessed during hiring and continuing development discussions throughout the first year.
• Ensure training fills skill gaps so employees are not separated due to missing knowledge the agency should be providing.

Challenges to address

Remote and in-person social connection barriers, which can lead to isolation.

Solution: Use structured virtual check-ins, team introductions, and mentorship opportunities.

Technology challenges (e.g., virtual meeting etiquette, meeting fatigue, bandwidth issues).

Solution: Provide training on effective virtual collaboration and offer alternative communication methods.

By focusing on skills and ongoing development, onboarding can improve retention, job satisfaction, and long-term success, ensuring new employees thrive in their roles and contribute to the agency’s mission.

Skills-based employee development for retention and growth

Employee development isn’t just about training, it’s about creating a culture of continuous learning, career growth, and skills enhancement. A skills-based approach helps employees develop, apply, and refine their skills, increasing engagement, retention, and long-term success.

Equipping managers for effective development

• Provide managers with training, tools, and best practices to support skill-building and retention.
• Encourage coaching and career development that aligns with employee goals and agency needs.
• Foster growth-focused conversations that empower employees to take charge of their development.

Best practices 

• Prioritize connection and relationship-building—employees thrive when they feel valued and supported.
• Use coaching conversations, not just questions—instead of “What training do you need?” ask, “What are three skills you want to develop?”
• Encourage employees to set their own development goals—use SMART goals to guide progress and accountability.
• Normalize career growth—even if it leads outside the agency. Employees are more engaged when career pathways are supported, not restricted.
• Operationalize coaching in remote environments—intentional one-on-one conversations are crucial for virtual teams.
• Help managers become better coaches—offer training on skills-based coaching and development-focused feedback.

Challenges and solutions

Managers may not recognize career development as a key engagement factor.
Solution: Emphasize that growth opportunities lead to higher retention and performance.

Managers may struggle with coaching skills.
Solution: Provide training on coaching techniques, active listening, and goal setting.

Development goals are often dictated, not employee driven.
Solution: Shift the focus—employees should own their development with manager support.

By embracing a skills-based approach, agencies can enhance employee development, improve retention, and build a workforce that is engaged, motivated, and future-ready.

Executive Order 24-04 encourages state agencies to focus on skills and abilities instead of rigid degree or experience requirements, making it easier for more people to qualify for positions. It also emphasizes training to help reduce bias in hiring and ensure that all employees have the tools they need to work with an equity-focused mindset. Key actions include streamlining recruitment through an accessible online system, removing unnecessary qualifications that may unfairly limit opportunities, ensuring pay equity, and regularly reporting progress on these efforts. Overall, the goal is to build a workforce that reflects the diversity of the community, with tangible progress shared each year to ensure the state stays on track.

Executive Order 24-04 Toolkit

• Achieving Equity in Washington
• Building a Modern Work Environment
• Increasing Employment Opportunities
• Interagency Committee of State Employed Women
• People with Disabilities
• Veteran & Military Family

• Diversity Overview Dashboard
• Diversity Recruiting Resources
• Modern Work Environment
• Washington Workforce Metrics

• Age Discrimination in Employment Act
• Americans with Disabilities Act
• Equal Pay Act
• Genetic Information Non-discrimination Act
• Pregnancy Discrimination Act
• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
• Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act