Skills Intelligence Will Change HR

​One of the big ideas in conversations about the future of work is the promise that skills intelligence holds to reshape hiring and talent development. 

Sarah Tilley is senior vice president, global talent acquisition and development for ServiceNow, a digital workflow company based in Santa Clara, Calif.

Tilley sat down with SHRM Online at the recent HR Technology Conference and Exposition in Las Vegas to discuss how a skills-first approach to talent management is gaining traction, how it differs from traditional methods, and what role HR will play in using skills intelligence to unlock hidden potential and drive productivity.

SHRM Online: What are the key benefits of adopting a skills-based approach to talent acquisition and talent management, and how does a skills-first model differ from traditional competency-based models?

Tilley: The reality is that there is a global skills shortage—80 percent of CEOs still say that is one of their biggest concerns—but there is not a global people shortage. CHROs need to think about how to capitalize on the untapped potential of their workforce and from external talent pools while finding operational efficiencies. You really can't do it without a skills intelligence approach any longer.   

Internally, skills intelligence allows you to break everything down into a set of skills and capabilities and use AI to match skills to roles, trainings and opportunities, so you can increase the capacity within your organization through talent development. You can also expand talent pools externally in a way that traditional competency models could not achieve, partly because the technology had not caught up.

The business case for a skills-first approach is clear. Employees get personalized career plans and know the skills they need to continue to learn and grow. Managers will have data to see what skills are lacking and what levers to pull to build these skills. They can determine if they need to hire new talent or recommend relevant training to help their team upskill or reskill. Leaders can optimize team and organizational performance in a way that was very difficult to do before.

We're doing this at ServiceNow. We use AI to collect, validate and continuously update employee skills data, giving leaders greater visibility and insight into workforce capabilities so they can make smarter talent decisions that fuel business growth.

SHRM Online: Can you explain how a skills-first approach is different than a traditional competency model and share an example?

Tilley: Traditional competency models rely on legacy technology: static skills databases that are outdated as soon as they are built, disconnected systems and clunky interfaces. This means that organizations make talent decisions manually and based on anecdotes and assumptions, not insights and data. It also means that leaders too often focus on traditional criteria for assessing potential candidates: education and prior job experience, so they miss out on untapped potential. 

The shift to skills allows us to change the way we recruit, hire and train talent. If we can solve this, we can solve a significant business challenge and many existing social issues that prohibit people from accessing career opportunities.

As an example, many candidates who don't have access to a traditional four-year academic institution may complete technical bootcamps or certification programs. However, even with the proper certifications and skills, many are automatically removed from the application process because they don't meet the traditional degree requirements. With a skills-based approach to talent acquisition, you have the tools to assess talent accurately and equitably and you can match candidates to roles based on the skills they have—not solely based on where they went to school.   

If we can assess someone based on their skills and capabilities rather than their experiences alone, we open the doors for nontraditional talent and eliminate traditional barriers to entry. 

SHRM Online: How do you envision the role of HR and talent acquisition teams evolving in an organization that embraces a skills-based approach?

Tilley: HR professionals will have to lead the way on driving a shift for a skills-based approach. This starts with being able to articulate the business case. If you can say, "Here's what this does for employees, managers and the business," you can start to influence change. We've known for many years in HR that it doesn't matter how great your business strategy is if you don't have the right talent strategy. Boards of directors are realizing this. Shareholders are realizing this. Ultimately, we can improve business and employee performance if we take a skills-based approach to talent acquisition and development.  

Specifically, when technology breaks everything down into a set of skills, all the manual effort that comes with matching people to roles, projects or development opportunities goes away. AI can recommend relevant training, mentors and mobility opportunities based on the skills people have and need.

Managers can create customized and trackable growth plans for employees that align skills development to career ambitions. Employees can define career aspirations, explore career options and self-drive career progression through guided actions. Career advancement then is not just based on who you know or how well you network—it's about using data and insights to intelligently match people to the right roles and opportunities that improve business growth and strengthen employee performance.

This will unlock deep-seated limitations that have been around forever. It will boost internal mobility by figuring out which skills are transferable to roles that need to be filled, allowing employers to keep their best talent who may be interested in new opportunities. The No. 1 thing we hear from our employees is that they want to grow and develop. That doesn't always mean vertically.

This will also change recruiting. The front end of the hiring process—writing job descriptions, reviewing resumes, sourcing, and recruiting strategies—will become more automated. Eventually, you'll have a job description that is broken down into a set of skills, and an individual who can articulate their set of skills, and a match will be made.

SHRM Online: How will the sense of urgency around upskilling and reskilling intensify in the years ahead?    

Tilley: The demand for certain capabilities will continue to rise due to emerging technology. ServiceNow and Pearson research found that by 2027, 23.5 million U.S. jobs will be impacted by automation and require reskilling and upskilling. In the U.S. retail industry, for example, 1 million additional full-time technology jobs will be created to support the implementation of emerging technologies. Across all sectors, we're seeing an increasing need for roles that deal with data: AI specialists, data scientists, cybersecurity experts, to name a few.

As competition for skills heats up, we also know that employees want more opportunities to learn and grow. Take the Workplace Learning and Development Trends report from SHRM as an example: More than three‑quarters of employees say they are more likely to stay with a company that offers continuous learning and development.

The writing is on the wall. If we want to retain our best people, we need to help them learn and grow. We need to ensure our people understand the imperative to learn new skills to succeed in an AI-driven future. And we need to make it easy for employees to learn new skills with training and resources delivered directly to them, in the flow of work. In the years ahead, leaders will devote more time, energy and budget to figuring this out.