Building the Foundation for Skills-Based Talent Practices: Defining the Skills That Matter
Employers that have shifted their hiring and talent management decisions toward skills-based practices face a common challenge: how to identify, define, apply, and assess skills in ways that are standardized, defensible, and actionable across the talent life cycle. Without clear, usable, and forward-looking information about job-relevant skills, employers risk relying on inconsistent interpretations or informal proxies.
Earlier this year, AIR and the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) launched a pilot initiative to support states in advancing skills-based talent practices in the public sector. During the pilot, AIR is partnering with a cohort of states to identify and define the tasks and skills required to do a job. This information—grounded in evidence, validated across states, and designed for practical use—will help states test and scale effective skills-based talent practices.
Why States Need Consistent Skills Statements
Mississippi, New Mexico, Vermont, and Washington—the four participating states—are at different stages in their implementation of skills-based practices. Human resources (HR) leaders in these states agree that skills-based practices are important because they address structural workforce challenges that degree-based or experience-only systems have not solved. At the same time, they shared some common needs and challenges around implementing skills-based practices:
- States described their current skills statements as inconsistent, outdated, or not grounded in formal job analysis methods, making it difficult to rely on them in hiring or workforce decisions. In some cases, skills statements were developed informally or borrowed across roles, resulting in definitions that are not clearly tied to how work is actually performed. As a result, even when policies move away from degree requirements, agencies may fall back on familiar proxies, such as years of experience or subjective judgment.
- States emphasized that without job-relevant, validated skill definitions, it is difficult to apply skills-based practices consistently. As one state leader noted in discussions, the real challenge is moving from intent to implementation—ensuring that skills-based hiring decisions can stand up in practice, not just in principle.
- States expressed a strong need for rigorous job analysis methods that can produce skills statements tied directly to job tasks, along with shared language that can be applied consistently across agencies. This need is especially urgent for high-volume, high-impact roles.
Douglas Pine
HR Director, Talent Acquisition Services, Classification & Compensation, and People Analytics, Vermont Department of Human Resources
Promoting new career pathways only works if you first understand the job. Rigorous job analysis is the difficult, foundational work missing from many skills-first initiatives.
Douglas Pine
HR Director, Talent Acquisition Services, Classification & Compensation, and People Analytics, Vermont Department of Human Resources
Moving from Insight to Action: Launching the Cross-State Job Analysis
AIR and the NGA Center are now launching the next phase of the pilot: a cross-state job analysis focused on HR Generalist and Public Benefits Specialist roles. The work will examine how these two roles are performed today and how they likely will evolve in the future—resulting in a set of current-state and forward-looking tasks and skill statements that states can use in hiring, workforce planning, and career development.
Information from the skill statements will help states identify, assess, and set qualifications for the skills most critical to job performance, supporting fair and effective hiring. The strategic cross-state job analysis will also provide forward-looking insights on evolving work and skill needs, helping states identify emerging skill gaps, plan for future workforce demands, and prioritize upskilling efforts.
Skill Statement Definition Example
- Skill Label: Customer Service Communication
- Definition: The ability to deliver responsive, accurate, and professional service to constituents and stakeholders by effectively listening, communicating information, addressing inquiries and concerns, and helping individuals navigate agency programs, services, and processes while adhering to applicable policies and regulations.
- Proficiency Needed at Entry: Intermediate.
Benefits specialists’ role in helping the public means they need problem-solving skills and sound judgment, according to Kelly Hardwick, a Mississippi state personnel director. He said, “A skills-based hiring approach allows us to hire for the competencies that truly matter, strengthening both our workforce and the quality of service we provide to Mississippians.”
New Mexico is working to define skills for the HR Generalist role and “focus on what candidates can do, not just the degrees they hold,” according to Dylan Lange, personnel director for the state. Lange added, “These skill statements will modernize our job classifications, strengthen career pathways, and improve the overall hiring experience.”
Importantly, this work is being done with states, not for states. State partners are actively participating in interviews, focus groups, and surveys to ensure that the resulting skill statements reflect both current realities and future needs.
Travis Aberle, deputy chief HR officer at the Washington State Office of Financial Management, said participating in the pilot allows the state to “enhance our existing tools using evidence-based skill statements to design valid and defensible assessment frameworks.”
Travis Aberle
Deputy Chief HR Officer, Washington State Office of Financial Management
The expertise AIR brings in job analysis, skills-validation methodologies, and workforce research will be beneficial to our overall efforts.
Travis Aberle
Deputy Chief HR Officer, Washington State Office of Financial Management
Defining the skills that matter is foundational to develop and implement sustainable and scalable skills-based talent practices. By partnering with states to develop clear, evidence-based skill statements for priority roles, AIR and the NGA Center are helping to generate the information needed to support more data-driven skill-based hiring practices, build stronger career pathways, and develop a future-ready workforce that can address the demands of today and tomorrow. As this work continues, the lessons from the pilot can help forge the path forward for states seeking to turn commitment into implementation.
