A Success Story: Skill-Based Hiring for a Niche Engineering Role
A global leader in advertising and printing solutions struggled for months to hire a skilled IT Engineer in Vietnam. The role required a rare mix of MES expertise, .NET C# coding, SQL database skills, and Mandarin proficiency— an extremely limited talent pool locally.
A skill-based hiring approach was then proposed by Manpower Vietnam, focusing on core competencies over perfect matches, with language skills considered a bonus. After conducting strategic talent mapping, a candidate with strong MES and coding experience, plus basic English skill was identified. The candidate successfully addressed all behavioral and case-based interview questions in the job interview, fully meeting the role’s core requirements. With strong technical alignment and immediate readiness, the candidate was hired in just 10 days with a competitive offer.
Shifting the Hiring Lens
Skill-based hiring, also known as competency-based hiring, is a recruitment strategy that prioritizes evidence of a candidate’s technical skills and human capabilities over their educational background and employment history. More importantly, it also values potential—the latent qualities, transferable skills, and learnability that signal a candidate’s capacity to grow into a role and succeed over time.
Vietnam’s FDI boom – reaching US$21.5 billion in H1 2025 (up 32.6% year-over-year) – demands a workforce that’s agile and skilled. With 77% of Asia-Pacific employers facing talent shortages in 2025 (ManpowerGroup), leading FDI firms are shifting to skill-based hiring to unlock diverse talent. This approach accelerates hiring, boosts retention, and builds future-ready teams for Vietnam’s dynamic market, giving businesses a competitive edge. As a result, job interview formats are evolving to assess real-world skills and potential, rather than relying solely on academic or work history.
When Skills Speak Louder Than Resumes
Traditional hiring, reliant on degrees, often overlooks high-potential talent and reinforces bias. The shift toward skills-based hiring is thus accelerating across the Asia-Pacific region, with 90% of organizations now prioritizing skills in their workforce decision-making (AON, 2025).
In Vietnam, where FDI fuels growth in tech, manufacturing, and finance, skill-based hiring is now standard: nearly 90% of Manpower Vietnam’s FDI clients have adopted skills-based assessments across every industry and role, reflecting a fundamental overhaul in how talent is sourced, evaluated, and placed.
Junior roles, particularly in fields like IT, finance, and data analysis, leverage tools like HackerRank or Codility to test coding and financial skills, while senior roles use case studies to assess strategic thinking and cultural fit. This resonates with Gen Z, who favor certifications over costly degrees, and mid-level professionals upskilling - not just for necessity, but to stay resilient amid career transitions and organizational restructuring.
This shift has shaped how Manpower Vietnam approaches recruitment, with a focus on capabilities throughout sourcing, assessment, and job interview stages to meet the growing demand for job-ready, adaptable talent. By focusing on capabilities in every job interview and throughout the hiring process, FDI companies can access Vietnam’s diverse, untapped talent pool and adaptable workforce, ready to drive business success.
The ROI of Skills-First
Skill-based hiring delivers results: 92.5% of companies report better outcomes, including 30% faster hiring and 25% higher retention (TestGorilla, 2025). It also enhances transparency and optimizes a more efficient, inclusive, and quality-driven hiring process.
DEIB amplifies this impact. Companies with high diversity were 39% more likely to outperform less diverse peers (McKinsey, 2023), while also benefiting from stronger employee engagement, retention, and job satisfaction. Particularly in Vietnam, skill-based hiring opens doors to underrepresented groups – self-taught coders, rural talent, redundant civil servants or public employees, and women in tech – driving inclusion.
Skill-based hiring, while promising, can be challenging to implement effectively. Assessing transferable skills can be complex, and lengthy tests may slow down the process and discourage candidates. Imagine joining several rounds of job interviews and spending hours on complex assessments, only to face an unclear possible turn-down or receive no clear feedback. FDI leaders, hence, counter this with streamlined, role-specific assessments and clear communication, ensuring efficiency without compromising quality.
Your Roadmap to Skills-First Hiring
Skill-based recruitment might seem like a puzzle at first, but with the right pieces in place, it can unlock a smarter and sharper way to hire the right talent.
Define and prioritize the core skills. Clearly distinguish between must-haves and nice-to-haves. Remember that some skills can be developed over time.
Rewrite job descriptions, including up to 10 key skills. Ensuring the language is clear, jargon-free, and inclusive. Remove any phrasing that may unintentionally signal exclusivity.
Redesign prescreening systems to minimize bias. Use methods like time-limited assessments, focusing on core skills, and masking photos or educational details to support fairer evaluations.
Champion DEIB: Build and train inclusive hiring panels (aim for at least 30% diversity), and use blind assessments to reduce bias.
Standardize fairly. Apply a consistent, skill-based rubric aligned with the role and business goals in job interview questions and evaluation criteria.
Embracing skill-based recruitment is a meaningful move toward more equitable and effective talent practices. By focusing on what candidates can do, not just where they’ve been, organizations will build teams that drive growth, foster a sustainable future, and outpace competitors.
Next time you scan CVs or schedule a job interview, take a moment to align on the core skills that truly matter—because every job interview is a chance to discover potential, not just review credentials.
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Author: Nguyen Thu Trang, Head of Manpower Brand, Manpower Vietnam