Is skills-based hiring dead? Why capabilities are the real competitive advantage

Here’s a point of view that might ruffle a few feathers when it comes to talent strategy.

Following years of observing, partnering with, and challenging senior business leaders, this is what I’ve come to believe. Business leaders don’t care about ‘talent’ as a concept. 

What they really care about is the quality and consistency of the results they get from that talent.

That’s the bit that moves the dial, and it's the only outcome that won’t see their share price drop or even get them fired. 

If you’re still with me, take a moment to ask yourself a question that’s often overlooked. What’s the difference between competence and capability? 

Competence tends to focus on whether someone can technically do the job right now. Capability goes much deeper. It’s about whether someone can continue to grow, adapt, and make a real contribution as things change, when pressure builds, and when the path forward isn’t so obvious. And, more importantly, can they do that in your environment and within your culture? 

I believe that this shift in perspective is not only vital but the number one priority for business leaders today. We’re not just trying to hire people who can show up and do the job. We need people who bring something meaningful, people who can help the business thrive, not just function. The beauty of this hard-edged ‘business-first’ thinking is that it’s also the short route to cultivating an environment of acknowledgement, appreciation, recognition, and reward, such that great talent sticks around because you will finally be giving them something that others can’t or aren’t.  
 
You can now give them an authentic sense of purpose, impact, and belonging. If you are more ruthless with the capabilities required from your hires, then those that are ideally matched will thrive even more. Win, win. 

It all starts with clarity 

However, you can’t hire for capability, and you certainly can’t build an employer brand around it, if you haven’t taken the time to answer one simple but vital question. 

What capabilities does it take to drive success in your business right now? 

And I don’t mean success on a values poster or a PowerPoint deck. I mean real, lived, on-the-ground success that is driving the business forward. What behaviors, attitudes, and decisions are consistently delivering results in your organization? And which of those capabilities are essential for the road ahead? 

Once you're clear on that, the picture begins to change. You’ll start to see what matters. You’ll start to identify the repeatable traits of your top performers as well as the gaps you need to close. That’s the foundation you need to build your hiring and employer brand strategy on, in full alignment with your business strategy. 

Skills feel safer, but that doesn't make them smarter 

If we’re being brutally honest about where we are today, most organizations are still hiring for skills because it's comfortable. It feels safe and easy to defend in a meeting because skills are visible, they are measurable, and you can point to them on a CV or in a LinkedIn profile. 

But here’s the reality we all need to come to terms with. IBM tells us the half-life of a skill is now less than two years. McKinsey says around 40 percent of the global workforce will need to be reskilled within the next three years. In my mind, every hard, tangible skill has the potential to be replaced by AI at any moment. (Which isn’t to say that I think it should be). 

So, if you’re hiring based purely on skill, there’s a good chance you’re investing in something that won’t even be relevant six months down the line. And that is a problem. 

Hiring for skills in isolation is like using last year’s sat nav in a city that’s still under construction. The roads have changed, the landmarks are different, and you’ll almost certainly take wrong turns. 

In my view, hiring this way is a tactical fool’s errand. It might get you someone who can hit the ground running today, but it doesn’t give you someone who can keep running when the ground shifts beneath them. 

There is a smarter, more sustainable, and far more strategic way to approach this, and it begins with hiring for capability. 

Let’s bring this to life 

Here’s an example most people can relate to. Imagine a growing tech company that thinks it needs a front-end developer with solid JavaScript and React experience. Sounds sensible, right? 

But the truth is, that’s not the whole picture. 

What they need is someone who can learn a new framework at speed. Someone who can communicate effectively with design, product, and QA. Someone who doesn’t panic when the sprint derails on a Thursday and there’s a big demo first thing on Friday morning. 

That’s not just a list of technical skills. That’s a reflection of deeper capability. And it makes all the difference. When the direction of the business shifts, it’s not Javascript that saves the day, it’s the adaptability, resilience, ingenuity and grit of your team that can shift with it. 

This is where your competitive edge lives

We’re now working in a world where skills are increasingly easy to replicate. AI can already write code, analyze data, and even produce design work in ways that were unthinkable a year ago. 

But machines can’t adapt to shifting team dynamics, build trust, lead a project through resistance, or bring a sense of emotional intelligence into a room that needs it. I always say, it’s never the tools, it’s always how you use them. Who are the people using the tools? 

So, there’s a clear line in the sand, this is where your competitive edge lives. Not in what your people can do today, but in how well they can evolve, respond, grow, and lead in whatever comes next. 

Skills are still important and they might still get someone through the interview process today. But it’s their capability that will keep them performing when the job, the team, or the entire market begins to change, which is about the only thing we can bank on being 100% true at the moment. The only things changes not changing in the fact that everything is changing, so let’s not kid ourselves, this change is coming for everyone. 

If you’re not building your hiring strategy and your employer brand with this reality front and center, you’re going to start falling behind and you’ll be looking around wondering how others got ahead so quickly. 

What you really need to look for

The question now becomes, what are you looking for when hiring? 

It’s no longer just about competence. You need to see signs of agility and evidence of resilience, of grit, of someone who has grown through difficulty and not just glided through comfort. You need to know if someone is sharp, not just in terms of IQ, but in terms of their emotional intelligence. Can they adapt, communicate, influence, remain calm, clear, and useful even when things get tough? 

 
For me, these are staple requirements for any business these days, but in your specific culture and working environment, there are likely other traits that are equally important to everyone. Do you know what they are? 

These are the attributes that make people truly capable, and they are absolutely what will separate high-performing teams from average ones in the years ahead. 

Culture first, then capability and scale 

Here is the key point. To build a winning business, you need to reverse-engineer the culture that success requires. To do that, you must clearly understand the conditions that enable people to perform at their best in your unique environment. 

Once you know that, you can define the capabilities required to thrive in that culture. You can build messaging that attracts the right people and, just as importantly, repels the wrong ones. 

That’s the role of a modern employer brand. It’s not just about visibility or attraction. It’s about precision. It’s about clarity. It’s about building a story so true, so specific, and so strategically aligned that it makes you the most compelling opportunity for the people who are already hardwired to succeed with you. 

When you get that right, everything becomes easier because now you’re hiring people who were built for the exact journey that your organization is on. 

And that’s where capability wins over skills every time. 

 
 
Thanks for reading. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. I know it’s somewhat controversial, and I also know there are many more smart people in our space with more to say and contribute, so please feel free to comment and share. 

Also, if you’re starting to realize your job descriptions are still clinging to outdated skill sets, you're not alone because most job descriptions still are. Hopefully, now you will agree that there’s a better way to frame what you need. 

Our job description genie tool can help you rewrite your roles with capability in mind so you can attract people who don’t just fit the spec but are built for the future you’re heading toward. 

Try the job description genie now and start making every job post a strategic move, not just a hiring admin task.