In TestGorilla’s 2023 State of Skills-Based Hiring Report, 43% of employers said they have difficulty determining whether applicants have the skills they are looking for when screening resumes. 

Another 43% said they struggle to rank candidates using resume information, while 51% have difficulty determining whether resumes are accurate. 

These challenges become even more important when companies recruit internationally. Candidates can have different educational backgrounds, job titles, career paths, and ways of presenting their experience. 

A traditional screening process can therefore make it harder to recognize the people who actually have the skills your company needs.

LinkedIn’s 2023 Future of Recruiting Report found that 75% of recruiting professionals said skills-first hiring would be a priority, but only 64% felt they could accurately assess candidates’ skills. LinkedIn also reported that recruiters were 50% more likely to search by skills than by years of experience. 

The opportunity is clear. Companies want to identify candidates based on what they can do, but their hiring processes may still rely heavily on signals that do not fully reflect their capabilities.

38% of hiring leaders have difficulty finding candidates with the right skills. The figure reached 41% among office-based businesses, compared with 31% among remote workplaces. 

So, how can companies reduce the chances of overlooking great candidates?

1. Define Skills Before Reviewing Candidates

A vague job description makes effective screening much harder. If recruiters do not have a clear picture of the skills required for success, they may fall back on easy-to-measure factors such as job titles, degrees, or years of experience.

Before publishing a position, separate your requirements into three categories: essential skills, valuable skills, and skills that can be developed after hiring.

For example, an international sales position may require strong communication, negotiation, CRM experience, and English proficiency. Previous experience in your exact industry might be useful, but it may not need to be essential.

Actionable tip: Create a short skills scorecard for every position. Give each essential skill a clear definition and decide how you will evaluate it during the hiring process.

2. Look Beyond Job Titles

Job titles can mean very different things across countries and companies. A “Marketing Manager” at one organization might have responsibilities similar to those of a “Marketing Specialist” at another organization.

When recruiters use titles as an initial filter, qualified international candidates can disappear before anyone evaluates their actual experience.

Focus on responsibilities, achievements, tools, and capabilities instead.

Actionable tip: When reviewing a resume, highlight evidence of what the candidate accomplished rather than focusing only on their previous titles. Look for measurable results, completed projects, solved problems, and demonstrated skills.

3. Use Skills Assessments to Support Resume Screening

A resume can tell you what someone claims to have done. A practical assessment can provide additional evidence of what they can actually do.

Skills assessments can be particularly valuable for international recruitment because they give candidates an opportunity to demonstrate their abilities regardless of where they studied, where they worked, or how familiar their previous employer is with your recruiting team.

Actionable tip: Add a short, role-specific assessment to your hiring process. For a content position, ask candidates to complete a writing task. For a sales role, use a mock sales scenario. For a data position, provide a practical analysis exercise.

Keep assessments relevant to the job at hand and avoid lengthy assignments that require significant unpaid work.

4. Build a More Consistent Screening Process

Different recruiters may evaluate the same candidate differently. Without clear criteria, personal preferences can influence decisions and create inconsistencies.

A structured screening process helps your team compare candidates against the same requirements.

Create standardized interview questions, evaluation criteria, and scoring systems for each position. This gives recruiters a shared framework and makes it easier to identify candidates based on relevant evidence.

Actionable tip: Use a simple scoring system for each essential skill. Require interviewers to record evidence supporting their score rather than relying solely on impressions.

5. Expand Your Global Talent Pool

If your company only searches within familiar markets, you automatically limit the number of people who can demonstrate the skills you need.

International hiring gives companies access to professionals with different experiences, perspectives, and approaches to problem-solving. Remote teams can make this talent pool even larger.

Remote workplaces report fewer difficulties finding candidates with the right skills than office-based businesses do. 

Actionable tip: Review where you currently source candidates. Identify countries and regions with strong talent pools for the roles you frequently hire, then expand your sourcing strategy accordingly.

6. Review Candidates Who Almost Made the Cut

Your hiring data can reveal where qualified candidates are being lost.

Track how many candidates move from application to screening, interview, assessment, and offer. If strong candidates consistently disappear at a particular stage, investigate why.

For example, if candidates with strong assessment results frequently receive low resume scores, your resume screening criteria may need adjustment.

Actionable tip: Conduct a quarterly review of rejected candidates. Look for patterns in skills, backgrounds, locations, or experience that your current process may be undervaluing.

Give Great Candidates a Better Chance

Skills-first hiring can help companies build stronger teams, but the approach requires more than changing a job description. Your entire hiring process should give candidates meaningful opportunities to demonstrate what they can do.

Clear skills requirements, practical assessments, structured interviews, and broader international sourcing can help your company recognize talent that traditional screening might overlook.

At ZIVA, companies can take a more strategic approach to international remote hiring by combining global talent sourcing with a structured process to identify and evaluate qualified candidates. 

Looking for the right talent for a specialized position? Contact ZIVA and let us help you find the skilled professionals your organization needs.