Adapting to Hiring Freezes: A Skill-Based Talent Strategy

Hiring freezes have become a common challenge for many organizations, particularly in times of economic uncertainty. As companies tighten their belts, traditional hiring practices may no longer be sufficient. However, by adopting a skill-based talent strategy, organizations can effectively navigate these challenges and ensure business continuity.

According to Deloitte research, skills-based organizations are 107% more likely to allocate talent effectively, 52% more likely to drive innovation, and 57% more likely to anticipate and adapt to change with efficiency (Source). By prioritizing skills over roles, organizations can unlock the potential of their existing workforce and mitigate the impact of hiring freezes. If you’re wondering how, this blog has all the right information!

What is skill-based talent management?

Skill-based talent management is a strategic approach that focuses on identifying, developing, and deploying talent based on their skills and capabilities, rather than their specific job roles. In this model, employees are viewed as a pool of talent, each with a unique set of skills that can be leveraged across different projects and teams.

How does skill-based hiring differ from traditional role-based approaches?

Traditional role-based approaches often limit employee potential by confining them to specific job descriptions. Skill-based talent management, on the other hand, empowers employees to explore new opportunities and develop their skills. This approach fosters a more flexible and adaptable workforce, enabling organizations to respond quickly to changing business needs.

Benefits of a skill-based approach during hiring freeze

*Increased agility and innovation within teams: By focusing on skills, organizations can quickly adapt to changing market conditions and emerging technologies. A great example of this was seen during COVID when many non-tech companies had to transition to using technology for meeting client requirements (hospitals using video technology for patient interactions, for instance). A good tech team that is adaptable and highly-skilled can easily change output based on market needs.

*Enhanced employee engagement: When employees are empowered to develop their skills and take on new challenges, they are more likely to feel engaged and motivated. PwC’s 2023 Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey revealed that 77% of workers are ready to learn new skills or retrain to improve their job security. Employers offering such opportunities are more likely to retain talent during periods of uncertainty.

*Cost savings: By optimizing talent allocation and reducing the need for external hiring, organizations can achieve significant cost savings. Identifying and developing high-potential talent becomes easier when focusing on skills and competencies.

Implementing skill-based talent strategies

The first step in implementing a skill-based talent strategy is to identify the core skills needed to achieve organizational goals. This involves conducting thorough skill audits to assess the current skill set of the workforce. By aligning these skills with the organization’s strategic objectives, you can determine any skill gaps that need to be addressed.

Step 1: Developing a skill inventory

A comprehensive skill inventory is essential for effective skill-based talent management. This inventory should include information on each employee’s skills, experience, and career aspirations. By using technology to track and manage this information, organizations can easily identify individuals with the right skills for specific projects or roles.

Step 2: Promoting skill development

Investing in employee development is crucial for a successful skill-based talent strategy. Organizations should offer a variety of training and development opportunities, such as workshops, online courses, and mentorship programs. By encouraging continuous learning and upskilling, employees can stay relevant and adapt to changing business needs.

Pro tip: If you’re looking to upskill your tech team, HackerEarth’s Upskilling platform can help you identify skill gaps within your teams and curate personalized learning paths for their betterment. Check it out here!

Step 3: Embracing flexible work arrangements

Flexible work arrangements, such as remote work and project-based engagements, can help organizations retain top talent and attract new hires. By offering flexibility, organizations can accommodate the diverse needs of their workforce and create a more engaging work environment.

Real-life eamples of tech companies using skill-based approach to talent management

Several tech companies have successfully adopted skills-based hiring practices to remain resilient during economic downturns. Here are some notable examples:

1. IBM

IBM transitioned to a skills-based hiring model, particularly for roles in areas like cybersecurity, cloud computing, and software development. By prioritizing practical skills and certifications over traditional degrees, IBM tapped into a broader talent pool. This approach helped the company remain agile during economic downturns by quickly upskilling or reskilling employees to meet evolving demands without relying heavily on external hiring.

2. Google

During economic slowdowns, Google expanded its apprenticeship programs, focusing on developing in-demand skills among non-traditional candidates. For example, its **IT Support Professional Certificate**, offered in partnership with Coursera, allowed Google to onboard talent with the necessary skills to support critical operations, ensuring resilience without inflating hiring costs.

3. LinkedIn

LinkedIn leveraged its own platform to identify skill gaps and develop tailored learning paths for employees and new hires. During challenging economic periods, this focus on skills development enabled the company to adapt to shifts in the market while reducing dependence on expensive external recruitment.

4. Amazon

Amazon launched its **Career Choice Program**, enabling employees to gain technical skills in cloud computing, software engineering, and IT. This investment in skills-based training allowed Amazon to redeploy its workforce during economic slowdowns, ensuring continuity in critical operations without mass layoffs.

5. Microsoft

Microsoft embraced skills-based hiring through its **Global Skills Initiative**, providing free resources to help job seekers and employees acquire critical skills. This strategy not only supported workforce resilience but also equipped Microsoft to maintain innovation during economic headwinds by fostering internal mobility and efficiency.

Key Takeaway

Tech companies using skills-based hiring not only mitigate the impact of economic downturns but also position themselves for growth by focusing on adaptability, cost efficiency, and workforce agility. This strategy ensures they can meet market demands while maintaining operational stability.

Conclusion: A Skill-Based Future

Skill-based talent management has emerged as a critical strategy for organizations to thrive in recent years. By focusing on skills rather than roles, companies can unlock the full potential of their workforce and adapt to changing market conditions.

HackerEarth’s comprehensive assessment platform can play a vital role in implementing a skill-based talent strategy. By providing accurate and reliable assessments of technical and soft skills, HackerEarth helps organizations:

*Identify and hire top talent: Assess candidates based on their specific skills and potential, rather than just their job titles.

*Build high-performing tech teams: Create diverse and skilled teams by matching individuals with the right projects and opportunities.

* Foster a culture of continuous learning: Encourage skill development and career growth by providing targeted training and development recommendations.

By embracing a skill-based approach and leveraging the power of technology, organizations can navigate the challenges of the future and emerge stronger than ever, and HackerEarth is here to help. You can book a demo for our platform, or sign up for a free trial to see how our custom assessments and interview platforms can help you hire skilled developers today!

Revolutionizing Mobile Talent Hiring: The HackerEarth Advantage

The demand for mobile applications is exploding, but finding and verifying developers with proven, real-world skills is more difficult than ever. Traditional assessment methods often fall short, failing to replicate the complexities of modern mobile development.

Introducing a New Era in Mobile Assessment

At HackerEarth, we're closing this critical gap with two groundbreaking features, seamlessly integrated into our Full Stack IDE:

Now, assess mobile developers in their true native environment. Our enhanced Full Stack questions now offer full support for both Java and Kotlin, the core languages powering the Android ecosystem. This allows you to evaluate candidates on authentic, real-world app development skills, moving beyond theoretical knowledge to practical application.

Say goodbye to setup drama and tool-switching. Candidates can now build, test, and debug Android and React Native applications directly within the browser-based IDE. This seamless, in-browser experience provides a true-to-life evaluation, saving valuable time for both candidates and your hiring team.

Assess the Skills That Truly Matter

With native Android support, your assessments can now delve into a candidate's ability to write clean, efficient, and functional code in the languages professional developers use daily. Kotlin's rapid adoption makes proficiency in it a key indicator of a forward-thinking candidate ready for modern mobile development.

Breakup of Mobile development skills ~95% of mobile app dev happens through Java and Kotlin — This chart illustrates the importance of assessing proficiency in both modern (Kotlin) and established (Java) codebases.

Streamlining Your Assessment Workflow

The integrated mobile emulator fundamentally transforms the assessment process. By eliminating the friction of fragmented toolchains and complex local setups, we enable a faster, more effective evaluation and a superior candidate experience.

Old Fragmented Way vs. The New, Integrated Way — Visualize the stark difference: Our streamlined workflow removes technical hurdles, allowing candidates to focus purely on demonstrating their coding and problem-solving abilities.

Quantifiable Impact on Hiring Success

A seamless and authentic assessment environment isn't just a convenience, it's a powerful catalyst for efficiency and better hiring outcomes. By removing technical barriers, candidates can focus entirely on demonstrating their skills, leading to faster submissions and higher-quality signals for your recruiters and hiring managers.

A Better Experience for Everyone

Our new features are meticulously designed to benefit the entire hiring ecosystem:

For Recruiters & Hiring Managers:

Accurately assess real-world development skills.
Gain deeper insights into candidate proficiency.
Hire with greater confidence and speed.
Reduce candidate drop-off from technical friction.

For Candidates:

Enjoy a seamless, efficient assessment experience.
No need to switch between different tools or manage complex setups.
Focus purely on showcasing skills, not environment configurations.
Work in a powerful, professional-grade IDE.

Unlock a New Era of Mobile Talent Assessment

Stop guessing and start hiring the best mobile developers with confidence. Explore how HackerEarth can transform your tech recruiting.

A New Era of Code

Vibe coding is a new method of using natural language prompts and AI tools to generate code. I have seen firsthand that this change makes software more accessible to everyone. In the past, being able to produce functional code was a strong advantage for developers. Today, when code is produced quickly through AI, the true value lies in designing, refining, and optimizing systems. Our role now goes beyond writing code; we must also ensure that our systems remain efficient and reliable.

From Machine Language to Natural Language

I recall the early days when every line of code was written manually. We progressed from machine language to high-level programming, and now we are beginning to interact with our tools using natural language. This development does not only increase speed but also changes how we approach problem solving. Product managers can now create working demos in hours instead of weeks, and founders have a clearer way of pitching their ideas with functional prototypes. It is important for us to rethink our role as developers and focus on architecture and system design rather than simply on typing c

The Promise and the Pitfalls

I have experienced both sides of vibe coding. In cases where the goal was to build a quick prototype or a simple internal tool, AI-generated code provided impressive results. Teams have been able to test new ideas and validate concepts much faster. However, when it comes to more complex systems that require careful planning and attention to detail, the output from AI can be problematic. I have seen situations where AI produces large volumes of code that become difficult to manage without significant human intervention.

AI-powered coding tools like GitHub Copilot and AWS’s Q Developer have demonstrated significant productivity gains. For instance, at the National Australia Bank, it’s reported that half of the production code is generated by Q Developer, allowing developers to focus on higher-level problem-solving . Similarly, platforms like Lovable enable non-coders to build viable tech businesses using natural language prompts, contributing to a shift where AI-generated code reduces the need for large engineering teams. However, there are challenges. AI-generated code can sometimes be verbose or lack the architectural discipline required for complex systems. While AI can rapidly produce prototypes or simple utilities, building large-scale systems still necessitates experienced engineers to refine and optimize the code.

The Economic Impact

The democratization of code generation is altering the economic landscape of software development. As AI tools become more prevalent, the value of average coding skills may diminish, potentially affecting salaries for entry-level positions. Conversely, developers who excel in system design, architecture, and optimization are likely to see increased demand and compensation.
Seizing the Opportunity

Vibe coding is most beneficial in areas such as rapid prototyping and building simple applications or internal tools. It frees up valuable time that we can then invest in higher-level tasks such as system architecture, security, and user experience. When used in the right context, AI becomes a helpful partner that accelerates the development process without replacing the need for skilled engineers.

This is revolutionizing our craft, much like the shift from machine language to assembly to high-level languages did in the past. AI can churn out code at lightning speed, but remember, “Any fool can write code that a computer can understand. Good programmers write code that humans can understand.” Use AI for rapid prototyping, but it’s your expertise that transforms raw output into robust, scalable software. By honing our skills in design and architecture, we ensure our work remains impactful and enduring. Let’s continue to learn, adapt, and build software that stands the test of time.

Ready to streamline your recruitment process? Get a free demo to explore cutting-edge solutions and resources for your hiring needs.

What is Systems Design?

Systems Design is an all encompassing term which encapsulates both frontend and backend components harmonized to define the overall architecture of a product.

Designing robust and scalable systems requires a deep understanding of application, architecture and their underlying components like networks, data, interfaces and modules.

Systems Design, in its essence, is a blueprint of how software and applications should work to meet specific goals. The multi-dimensional nature of this discipline makes it open-ended – as there is no single one-size-fits-all solution to a system design problem.

What is a System Design Interview?

Conducting a System Design interview requires recruiters to take an unconventional approach and look beyond right or wrong answers. Recruiters should aim for evaluating a candidate’s ‘systemic thinking’ skills across three key aspects:

How they navigate technical complexity and navigate uncertainty
How they meet expectations of scale, security and speed
How they focus on the bigger picture without losing sight of details

This assessment of the end-to-end thought process and a holistic approach to problem-solving is what the interview should focus on.

What are some common topics for a System Design Interview

System design interview questions are free-form and exploratory in nature where there is no right or best answer to a specific problem statement. Here are some common questions:

How would you approach the design of a social media app or video app?

What are some ways to design a search engine or a ticketing system?

How would you design an API for a payment gateway?

What are some trade-offs and constraints you will consider while designing systems?

What is your rationale for taking a particular approach to problem solving?

Usually, interviewers base the questions depending on the organization, its goals, key competitors and a candidate’s experience level.

For senior roles, the questions tend to focus on assessing the computational thinking, decision making and reasoning ability of a candidate. For entry level job interviews, the questions are designed to test the hard skills required for building a system architecture.

The Difference between a System Design Interview and a Coding Interview

If a coding interview is like a map that takes you from point A to Z – a systems design interview is like a compass which gives you a sense of the right direction.

Here are three key difference between the two:

Coding challenges follow a linear interviewing experience i.e. candidates are given a problem and interaction with recruiters is limited. System design interviews are more lateral and conversational, requiring active participation from interviewers.

Coding interviews or challenges focus on evaluating the technical acumen of a candidate whereas systems design interviews are oriented to assess problem solving and interpersonal skills.

Coding interviews are based on a right/wrong approach with ideal answers to problem statements while a systems design interview focuses on assessing the thought process and the ability to reason from first principles.

How to Conduct an Effective System Design Interview

One common mistake recruiters make is that they approach a system design interview with the expectations and preparation of a typical coding interview.
Here is a four step framework technical recruiters can follow to ensure a seamless and productive interview experience:

Step 1: Understand the subject at hand

Develop an understanding of basics of system design and architecture
Familiarize yourself with commonly asked systems design interview questions
Read about system design case studies for popular applications
Structure the questions and problems by increasing magnitude of difficulty

Step 2: Prepare for the interview

Plan the extent of the topics and scope of discussion in advance
Clearly define the evaluation criteria and communicate expectations
Quantify constraints, inputs, boundaries and assumptions
Establish the broader context and a detailed scope of the exercise

Step 3: Stay actively involved

Ask follow-up questions to challenge a solution
Probe candidates to gauge real-time logical reasoning skills
Make it a conversation and take notes of important pointers and outcomes
Guide candidates with hints and suggestions to steer them in the right direction

Step 4: Be a collaborator

Encourage candidates to explore and consider alternative solutions
Work with the candidate to drill the problem into smaller tasks
Provide context and supporting details to help candidates stay on track
Ask follow-up questions to learn about the candidate’s experience

Technical recruiters and hiring managers should aim for providing an environment of positive reinforcement, actionable feedback and encouragement to candidates.

Evaluation Rubric for Candidates

Facilitate Successful System Design Interview Experiences with FaceCode

FaceCode, HackerEarth’s intuitive and secure platform, empowers recruiters to conduct system design interviews in a live coding environment with HD video chat.

FaceCode comes with an interactive diagram board which makes it easier for interviewers to assess the design thinking skills and conduct communication assessments using a built-in library of diagram based questions.

With FaceCode, you can combine your feedback points with AI-powered insights to generate accurate, data-driven assessment reports in a breeze. Plus, you can access interview recordings and transcripts anytime to recall and trace back the interview experience.

Learn how FaceCode can help you conduct system design interviews and boost your hiring efficiency.