State governments across the nation are leading a transformation in talent management, shifting toward a more skills-focused approach, which prioritizes a candidate’s skills, competencies, and relevant work experience over traditional qualifications like degrees or job titles. In a recent joint meeting between the National Governors Association’s (NGA) Skills in the States Community of Practice and Opportunity at Work’s Transformers in the Public Sector cohort, two trailblazing states—Arizona and Colorado—shared their innovative strategies for implementing skills-based hiring practices.
Arizona’s Skills-Based Talent Management Strategy
Arizona is at the forefront of adopting a skills-based hiring strategy, initially focusing on two key classification series: behavioral health technicians and residential program specialists. The state established a cross-functional team to engage experts from across Arizona, pilot new practices, and standardize processes for effectively implementing this strategy.
Arizona’s Cross-Functional Team Structure and Roles:
- Classification Team: This team is responsible for creating a streamlined job analysis process, developing templates, and standardizing job specifications and position descriptions. They focus on identifying core competencies and skills required for job fit and explore various ways to assess skills.
- Talent Acquisition Team: This team works on restructuring the job analysis process, updating how candidates are evaluated, and redesigning the interview process to emphasize skill validation.
- Learning and Development Team: Focused on training hiring managers and HR staff, this team educates on skills-based hiring principles, effective interviewing techniques, and the ROI of adopting this approach.
- Communications Team: This team develops a comprehensive communication plan focused on change management, marketing Arizona as a “Skills-Friendly Place to Work,” and engaging employees and stakeholders throughout the project.
- Data Analytics Team: Tasked with evaluating the effectiveness of skills-based talent management, this team uses data to identify areas for improvement.
Each team reports progress back to Arizona’s project lead, who ensures that the Governor’s Office stays informed of developments and emerging best practices. By adopting this cross-functional approach, Arizona is exploring where skills-based hiring principles could improve employee recruitment.
Rob Waddell, Chief Human Resource Officer for the Arizona Department of Health Services, explains, “It’s all about creating the perfect job fit by focusing on core competencies and skills.” Securing buy-in from leadership, including the Governor’s Office, was a crucial first step.
Arizona’s cross-functional team quickly realized that implementing skills-based hiring is more complex than simply removing degree requirements. Developing foundational tools, processes, and training is essential for long-term success. “Most job descriptions in Arizona are already open to candidates without degrees. However, we have the opportunity—and responsibility—to better match candidates with jobs based on their skills, whether they acquired those skills through formal education or other means,” said Nicole Sornsin, State Human Resources Director for the Arizona Department of Administration. “This is about creating better pathways for workers whose skills align with critical public sector roles and building stronger, more resilient state government careers.” Over time, Arizona aims to reduce turnover and create more career opportunities through this skills-based approach.
“Workforce opportunities should be available for all Arizonans, including those that have been traditionally underserved or deserve a second chance.”
Governor Katie Hobbs
Colorado’s Skills-Based Hiring Initiative
Colorado, supported by executive orders D 2022 015 and D 2023 016, has made skills-based hiring a central component of its State hiring practices. The State has expanded access to opportunities for workers without four-year degrees and established work-based learning strategies to build talent pipelines into public service.
Colorado is leading the way in transforming public sector talent management, with over 600 job classifications now no longer requiring a bachelor’s degree. “This is something that should be embedded in everything we do, ensuring scalability, adaptability, and long-term success,” said Melissa Walker, Statewide Workforce Solutions Director for Colorado’s Division of Human Resources.
Key Focus Areas for Colorado:
- Standardizing and refining skills-based practice definitions, job posting requirements, and developing a mechanism to track skills-based job postings in Colorado’s talent management system.
- Designing and facilitating skills-based hiring training for HR staff, supervisors, and hiring managers.
- Implementing work-based learning Executive Order D 2023 016, which expands work-based learning programs to address the growing need for skilled talent in a way that is aligned with skills-based hiring principles.
- Collecting data for skills-based hiring to establish a baseline for tracking progress, outcomes, and overall impact. This includes measuring the knowledge and application of skills-based practice, and over time, developing targeted interventions to support implementation and adoption across the enterprise.
“There are more than 70 million adults in the United States with skills from community colleges, workforce training, bootcamps, certificate programs, military service, foreign educational institutions and work experience, running a household, or on-the-job learning, rather than through a bachelor’s degree. Relying solely on degrees as a measure of skills stunts our ability as an employer to hire the workforce we need to meet today’s challenges.”
Governor Jared Polis
Embedding a Culture to Support Skills-Based Initiatives
In both Colorado and Arizona, skills-based hiring is not just a strategy, but a long-term investment woven into the entire talent management lifecycle. Both state teams are committed to ensuring their skills-based practices are scalable, adaptable, and remain a core element of their overall approach to talent management. These strategies require continuous training, effective communication, and a strong commitment to transforming traditional methods of evaluating and hiring talent.
Prioritizing Skills
Both Arizona and Colorado have placed significant emphasis on focusing on candidates’ skills and competencies, regardless of the path taken to acquire them. Key strategies have included revamping interview questions, incorporating supplemental assessments when needed, and refining hiring practices.
As Nicole Sorensen, Arizona’s Statewide HR Director, aptly put it: ” This is an opportunity to refine our processes and better identify the right candidates.”
Iterative Metrics and Long-Term Commitment
Measuring the direct impact of skills-based hiring initiatives presents challenges, as both states acknowledge the many variables involved. However, Arizona and Colorado are committed to using iterative metrics and adapting their strategies over the long term to make sure they are effective. These pioneering efforts serve as a model for public sector innovation in skills-based hiring and talent management. By prioritizing competencies and skills—regardless of how or where those skills were acquired—these states are unlocking new talent pools and creating more equitable pathways into public service.
To support the public sector in crafting strategies to track the efficacy of skills-based initiatives, NGA, in collaboration with Lightcast, recently released a set of recommended metrics in the report Empowering Progress: Harnessing Skills-Based Strategies to Drive Public Sector Excellence. This guide provides a framework for tracking progress and ensuring the long-term success of these transformative initiatives.
