LinkedIn launches Skills Path, for skill-based hiring processes

With a modern-day approach to the available hiring products, and in an effort to improve skill-based hiring for recruiters on the platform, LinkedIn has introduced Skills Path.

Skills Path intends to amalgamate LinkedIn Learning courses with Skill Assessments for a more equitable evaluation, that stresses the core skills required for a job, as opposed to the previous hiring processes.

As the evaluation of candidates is largely based on education, experience, and the network of recruiters, potential candidates that may have the skills required but not the qualifications or access to the network may miss out on several opportunities.

To address this issue the new resource would require hiring managers to define core skills required for a role, and then the candidates can close any skill gaps with free LinkedIn Learning Courses, curated in accordance with the role's requirements, get the acquired skills assessed, and secure an interview if they pass the assessments.

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In several industries required skills often overlap each other with different roles in distinct sectors. For instance, LinkedIn says that food servers have 71% of the skills required for a customer service role.

But ideally due to qualification and experience disparities, the job seeker may have not been able to get an opportunity for the role, but now they can learn the skills they fall short on, get them assessed, and enrol for the application process.

The resource has been tested in the pilot phase with participating customers that include Gap Inc., GitHub, Gusto, Microsoft, Prologis, Ralph Lauren, and more, hiring for various roles such as customer service, sales development, data analyst, business analyst, product manager, project manager, and more.

Companies can participate in the pilot phase to test the skill-based hiring approach, and evaluate the candidates' potential with the novel method.