With skills becoming the new global currency in the workforce, contact centres are taking advantage of the opportunity this paradigm shift provides. Skills-based hiring, reskilling, and upskilling the frontline are all top of mind in this new era, and with good reason.

Contact centres that leverage skills during the hiring process benefit from a greater pool of applicants amidst a global talent shortage. Frontline colleagues who are hired based on skills stay longer than those who aren’t, reducing attrition. Most importantly, the frontline who are hired for their skills are promoted more often and perform better on the job.

The compounded savings from gains made in all of these areas give any skills-focused contact centre an advantage in the year ahead. Let’s look at the evidence.

Skills-Based Hiring in Global Contact Centres 

20% of employers are getting rid of college-degree requirements in favour of skills, including leading companies like Google, IBM, Apple, UPS, and many more. Employees are in the process of digesting this shift wondering: How can managers evaluate employees for skills? How can organizations hire for skills? 

Skills-based hiring asks contact centres to hire for frontline skills – not a resume, not an interview, not a language assessment – just skills. Recruiting for soft skills gives contact centres a mechanism to address many of their most pressing challenges. 

Hiring for Skills Leads to a Broader and More Diverse Applicant Pool 

When role eligibility isn’t dependent on previous years of experience or a degree, more people are qualified to apply from the get-go. In other words, by hiring for skills, contact centres can access a broader pool of talent, which is critical as labour shortages continue. In Beamery’s study about navigating the changing talent landscape, 46% of respondents said an expanded talent pool was one of the key benefits they experienced with skills-based hiring. They say: 

“The skills-based approach acknowledges that talent comes in many forms… and that traditional hiring criteria may inadvertently exclude qualified individuals who lack specific degrees, but possess the necessary skills. 

Indeed, hiring for skills widens the talent pool also by being more inclusive. In positions where women are underrepresented, skills-based hiring can increase the candidate pool by 24%. This method also increased Gen Z workers in candidate pools 10x. Even more evidence comes from 80% of business executives who said that if hiring decisions (and promotions!) were based on skills it would increase fairness and reduce bias. 

A Skilled Frontline Stays in the Job Longer 

When the skills of a person are accurately matched to the skills of a job, they’re more likely to enjoy it, and evidence shows these employees stay on the job longer. Boston Consulting Group found skilled hires were more loyal to employers and had a 9% longer tenure. These trends are more pronounced in industries like communication technology and professional services than others: 

These findings are supported by one study cited in Forbes stating skilled hires stay 34% longer. HiringBranch saw 27x less attrition from highly-skilled customer service frontline colleagues in its skilled-based hiring performance report. 

The Best Frontline Colleagues Are Skilled 

It makes sense that when candidates are shown to have the right skills for the job during the hiring process, they would then exercise those same skills on the job and do well. Soft skills are in fact the most important indicator of success on the job. Research from Harvard, Stanford, and The Carnegie Foundation found that soft skills account for 85% of career success.  

Opportunity at Work reported that hiring for skills is 2.5x more predictive of job performance than hiring for past experience and 5x more predictive than hiring for education. Similarly, Boston Consulting Group found skills-based hires were promoted more often than their degree-hired counterparts for customer service, sales, and more. Call centre managers were in fact, the role with the highest promotion rates within the skills-based hires. Even, ADP reported that 94% of skilled hires outperformed those hired for experience, degrees, or certifications. 

Fundraising Direct, a contact centre that raises money for charities, hires frontline colleagues based on their skills and they’re getting fantastic agent quality who perform better on the job. For example, their Operations Director, Sarah Wise, said that 72% of their hiring campaigns surpass targets, and these frontline members are selling 10% more. Fortune Magazine reported that with all the hiring costs Fundraising Direct is saving, their team can reinvest in coaching agents to drive even better agent performance results. 

Thriving in the Year Ahead 

There is a growing body of evidence supporting the benefits skills-based hiring brings to contact centres as more organizations adopt this paradigm shift. Frontline colleagues hired for skills perform better and turnover less. Hiring for skills also gives contact centres the advantage of a wider pool of candidates to select from, while offering a fairer process. For contact centres, skills-based hiring isn’t just a trend, it’s a strategic advantage and a way to thrive in 2025.