OneTen and Skills-First Hiring: Your Questions, Answered

Skills-based hiring focuses on assessing candidates by skills during the hiring process. Skills-first hiring goes further by prioritizing skills across the entire talent lifecycle—including job design, hiring, development, and internal mobility. In practice, skills-first hiring represents a workforce strategy, not just a recruiting tactic. 

Skills-based hiring helps companies expand access to qualified talent by removing unnecessary degree requirements. It improves hiring efficiency by focusing on capabilities that predict performance rather than credentials. Employers also benefit from stronger workforce resilience as skills become clearer and more transferable. 

Skills-based hiring allows job seekers to be evaluated on what they can do rather than where they went to school. This expands access to roles, supports career mobility, and enables workers to demonstrate transferable skills across opportunities. Over time, it creates clearer pathways for advancement. 

Skills-first hiring helps employers address talent shortages by expanding the pool of qualified candidates beyond degree requirements. It improves hiring efficiency, strengthens workforce resilience, and supports retention by aligning roles to real capabilities. Companies adopting skills-first practices are better positioned to adapt as skill needs change. 

Beyond job descriptions, employers must update how they assess candidates, train hiring managers, and define career pathways. Skills-first hiring is most effective when paired with consistent evaluation methods, internal mobility frameworks, and clear skill progression. Focusing only on postings—without changing systems—limits impact. 

OneTen is a nonprofit coalition that helps employers implement skills-first hiring and workforce strategies at scale. We partner with companies to redesign hiring practices, job requirements, and talent pathways—shifting from degree-based screening to skills-based systems. Through tools, peer learning, and hands-on support, OneTen helps employers move from intent to execution and measurable outcomes. 

OneTen’s mission is to advance skills-first hiring by helping employers redesign how they hire, develop, and mobilize talent in order to expand opportunity for more Americans. Our work focuses on transforming workforce systems in ways that strengthen business performance while expanding access to economic mobility. 

OneTen partners with employers to operationalize skills-first hiring across roles and workforce systems. Our support includes redesigning job descriptions, aligning roles to skills taxonomies, implementing skills-based assessments, and strengthening internal mobility pathways. Employers also participate in OneTen’s Community of Practice, where leaders share insights, test approaches, and accelerate adoption together. This model helps companies embed skills-first practices into longterm workforce strategy. 

The OneTen employer coalition is a network of leading companies committed to adopting skills-first hiring and workforce practices. Coalition members collaborate to test, refine, and scale what works—learning from peers across industries. Many members have integrated skills-first approaches across multiple roles and career pathways. 

OneTen has supported employers in creating hundreds of thousands of skills-first hires and promotions, expanding access to opportunity for talent without four-year degrees. Coalition companies have redesigned roles, reduced unnecessary degree requirements, and strengthened retention through internal mobility. Together, these efforts have contributed to billions in economic impact and demonstrated that skills-first hiring delivers real business results at scale. Read OneTen’s latest impact report.

Companies can work with OneTen by engaging as employers committed to implementing skills-first hiring and workforce practices. Partnerships typically begin with an assessment of readiness and identification of priority roles or pathways. Companies interested in learning more can explore coalition participation and employer engagement opportunities by contacting us at oneten.org/skills-first. 

Talent development is essential to making skills-first hiring sustainable. Employers must ensure that employees can build, validate, and apply new skills over time—not just be hired for existing ones. When talent development is aligned to skills-first hiring, companies strengthen internal mobility, reduce turnover, and prepare their workforce for evolving business needs. 

OneTen supports employers by helping align talent development strategies to skills-first workforce goals. This includes connecting companies to training partners, aligning learning pathways to real roles, and reinforcing skill progression that supports internal mobility. Rather than treating training as a standalone benefit, OneTen helps employers integrate development into broader workforce systems. 

Skills-first workforces prioritize a combination of technical, digital, and durable, or “soft skills,” such as communication, problem-solving and collaboration In demand capabilities often include digital literacy, data analysis, project management, communication, and problem solving. Employers that define and validate these skills consistently are better able to adapt as roles evolve. 

Workforce transformation is the process of redesigning how organizations hire, develop, and mobilize talent to meet changing business demands. It goes beyond individual programs to address systems, processes, and decision making structures. Skills-first hiring is a foundational element of modern workforce transformation. 

Skills-first hiring drives workforce transformation by shifting organizations away from static credentials toward adaptable capabilities. When employers design roles, assessments, and pathways around skills, they gain greater agility and visibility into workforce potential. This enables companies to respond more effectively to change while strengthening longterm talent pipelines. 

Successful workforce transformation requires changes across multiple systems, including job architecture, hiring and assessment processes, learning and development, and internal mobility. Employers that address only one component—such as job postings—often struggle to sustain impact. Skills-first approaches are most effective when embedded across these interconnected systems. 

Employers prepare for workforce transformation by starting with clear skill definitions, piloting skills-first hiring in priority roles, and aligning development and mobility pathways. Progress accelerates when leaders invest in manager enablement, data consistency, and peer learning. Workforce transformation succeeds when treated as a longterm strategy rather than a one-time initiative.