Why skills-based hiring is on the rise 

A four-year degree was once seen as the golden ticket to landing a job.  Today, around 85% of employers are using skills-based hiring processes, recognising that traditional qualifications alone are no longer a reliable predictor of success. 

Explore why skills-based hiring is reshaping how organisations develop talent in a world being shaped by AI. 

What skills-based hiring really means 

Skills-based hiring prioritises capability over academic qualifications, job titles, or length of experience. Candidates are assessed on how they solve problems, use tools, collaborate with others, and adapt to new challenges in real-world scenarios. There has been a switch in questions from “Where did you study?” to “What can you do, and how quickly can you learn?” 

This shift highlights how organisations think about talent. Traditional hiring models assumed that a degree from a reputable institution guaranteed capability. Skills-based hiring challenges that assumption, focusing on evidence of competence and potential.  

Research reflects this shift, 79% of HR professionals now say that skills assessment scores are as important as, or more important than, traditional hiring criteria.  

Why skills-based hiring is evolving now 

The skills gap reality 

As new roles driven by AI, data, and automation are emerging more quickly than formal education pathways can adapt, organisations need people who can be trained quickly in role-relevant skills and implementation.  

Many capable professionals do not follow traditional academic routes yet bring highly relevant skills gained through professional training or career transitions. By focusing on skills, organisations unlock talent that would otherwise be overlooked.  

At FDM, our Skills Lab is designed to build capability and readiness for real client delivery. It is where foundational skills are strengthened and emerging capabilities, including AI fluency, are developed in context.  

The future of skills-based hiring in an AI-driven world 

AI and automation acceleration 

As AI takes over more routine tasks, human capabilities become more valuable. Critical thinking, ethical judgement, creativity, and complex problem-solving are difficult to assess from credentials, yet essential for future roles. Skills-based hiring is better suited to identifying and developing these capabilities.  

At FDM, we recognise that AI advantage does not come from technology alone, but from how people learn to use it, challenge it, and embed it into business processes responsibly. This is where skills-based hiring and AI capability intersect. 

Our consultants are trained in business-essential AI skills grounded in real client pain points, including:  

• Prompt engineering for rapid experimentation and optimisation  

• AI model training tailored to specific business needs  

• AI data governance to ensure ethical, compliant, and explainable use  

• AI business integration focused on measurable return on investment  

• AI-augmented software engineering to improve development speed and reliability  

In one example, a global bank with over 80,000 employees and revenues exceeding USD 80 billion needed to automate a manual, human-led document review and reconciliation process. FDM Consultantsdeveloped an AI-driven interactive compliance library using Microsoft Copilot Studio and Azure AI Search.  

The consultants who delivered this outcome did not all come from traditional academic backgrounds.  

Upskilling and reskilling 

A key part of an organisation’s AI journey is having the talent needed both to develop/deploy it and to effectively use it. The fundamental realisation here is that AI is not a complete skill set in itself; it’s an add-on to other existing skills, such as software engineering or data & analytics.  

87% of companies are currently experiencing skills gaps or expect to have them in the next few years. A degree earned decades ago may have limited relevance to today’s work. As a result, organisations are moving towards continuous learning models where skills are constantly refreshed and expanded.  

At FDM, learning doesn’t end at onboarding. Our consultants achieve AI fluency certification through intensive training covering prompt engineering, ethical AI use, and practical tool deployment, capabilities that didn’t exist in traditional education even five years ago.  

Conclusion 

In the age of AI, the defining question for organisations is no longer which technologies they adopt, but instead how effectively their people can use them. Competitive advantage lies in judgment, adaptability, and the ability to translate innovation into client value.  

Skills-based hiring provides the foundation, but it is an investment in learning that sustains it. By hiring for potential, developing capability through practice-led training, and embedding AI fluency across our workforce, FDM demonstrates how organisations can future-proof talent without sacrificing governance, quality, or impact.  

FDM Coach, Linzi Holmes, shares, “You do not need to be technical to guide others through AI adoption – our coaches bring transferable skills like communication, critical thinking and process awareness that help our consultants and clients adapt to this new world with confidence. AI enables our ability to personalise support, identify patterns in performance and offer in-depth insights, making us more effective, not less human.”  

Discover how FDM can equip your teams with the skilled talent to turn AI potential into business results.