A skills based approach is the foundation of the labor market.
Every person has their own set of skills, every job requires certain skills, and when those two pieces fit together, the labor market works for everyone. Using skills, every individual, employer, educator, and community leader can go even further in achieving labor market success.
A skills based approach enables a labor market that works for everyone.
Understanding skills is the first step to unlocking new possibilities throughout labor market. Using skills,
Employers can find the talent they need and develop their workforce for the future.
Educators can better understand labor market needs and help students see and prepare to meet them.
Communities can align local institutions, businesses, and individuals to maximize a region's economic potential.
Individuals can more clearly see what a job requires, and better tailor their education and training toward the opportunities they want to pursue.
The labor market is changing fast, but that doesn't mean you can't stay ahead of the curve. Skills create the understanding to light the path forward.
Skills prepare students for lifelong success.
Education providers need to understand skills because they matter to the learners they serve—and the employers that hire their graduates.
In an economy driven by technology and rapid skill change, it’s become essential to evaluate and articulate learning content using a skills based approach. Doing so enables colleges and universities (and the entities that support them) to more effectively align education with career success, and more clearly articulate the value of their offerings to today’s learners.
See how Lightcast skills can make a difference with education products and free tools below.
Discover the Value of Skills In Higher Ed
Skills Required
It's time for colleges and universities to speak the language of learners and employers. Skills are the way forward so educators can demonstrate value and improve outcomes for students.
Skillabi
Skillabi shows how the skills you teach align with the skills employers want. Building on the foundation of the Lightcast Skills Extractor, the platform uses a direct, skills-to-skills comparison to translate your course content into work-relevant skills that are recognized and valued by employers. Using the Lightcast Skills Library provides Skillabi with unparalleled precision for evaluating curriculum alignment so that students succeed.
SkillsMatch
SkillsMatch equips you to serve adult learners by giving them the clarity and confidence they need to enroll and start pursuing their goals. Using skills data allows you to provide personalized learning recommendations to help prospective students understand their potential opportunities.
Explore The Lightcast Skills Library
Skills Extractor
Use our free skills extractor to parse useful and in-demand skills from your syllabi using the power of the Lightcast Skills Library. Students can also use the tool to extract skills from resumes or job postings.
Skill Categories
Dive into our Skills Taxonomy yourself. We have over 30 skills categories, which act as a way to logically group the thousands of entries in our database and create a hierarchy to easily view related skills.
Skills Library
Explore 32,000+ skills that we’ve collected from hundreds of millions of job postings, resumes, and online profiles. Search for free!
Skills connect local workers to local jobs.
Community leaders and developers use skills to more accurately describe what businesses need and what the local workforce can supply. The result is better connections: employers find the workers they need, jobseekers find their best-fit jobs, and development organizations know how to provide training that sets workers up for future success— all using a skills based approach.
See how Lightcast skills can make a difference in local workforces: explore the products, resources, and free tools below.
Developer
Our premier data platform with the most comprehensive labor market insight for your community. Developer combines millions of job postings and online profiles to deliver granular, accessible analysis on jobs and skills for any region.
Custom Portals
Use real-time data on jobs and careers to expand the pool of talent available for an entire industry. Custom, organization-specific portals can help potential workers understand what your field has to offer and guide them towards meaningful opportunities. Expand your potential talent pool with skills.
Read More About Putting Skills To Use
Rebuilding Our Semiconductor Workforce
The CHIPS Act is infusing billions of dollars of investment into semiconductor manufacturing—and that means hiring new workers to manufacture them. Regions where workers have the relevant skills are where employers want to invest. Our free report shows lays out the need and how communities can make their case to meet it.
Using Skills To Strengthen Regions
Speaking the common language of skills can bring educators, companies, and workforce and economic developers together to address the talent needs of specific regions and industries. Skills also have the agility and granularity to show a community's existing strengths to inform local talent strategies.
This free research shows real-world examples and actionable next steps for skills in communities.
Free Skills Tools
Skills Extractor
Employers and individuals can use our free skills extractor to parse useful and in-demand skills from resumes, job postings, and even course syllabi using the power of the Lightcast Skills Library.
Skill Categories
Dive into our Skills Taxonomy yourself. We have over 30 skills categories, which act as a way to logically group the thousands of entries in our database and create a hierarchy to easily view related skills.
Skills Library
Explore 32,000+ skills that we’ve collected from hundreds of millions of job postings, resumes, and online profiles. Search for free!
Skills are how employers attract, retain, and promote their talent.
The labor market is as tight as it's ever been, and the stakes are high for businesses to find new employees and make effective use of the workers they have. A skills based approach can provide the answer.
Skills-based hiring expands potential hiring pools with more diverse talent, shortens time to fill roles, and allows you to benchmark against competitors and attract more qualified candidates. A better understanding of skills also allows you to better understand your workforce for a more comprehensive planning and development strategy. The labor market is changing fast, and skills are how you can stay ahead of the curve.
Benefits of skills-based hiring:
Find A Skills-Based Solution
API
Integrate Lightcast skills data into your hiring system and strategy to find the right talent, faster.
Software Solutions
Use actionable skills data to inform talent acquisition strategies, optimize job descriptions, and target the right markets.
Workforce Consulting
Optimize your hiring process with custom data sets, personalized analysis, and targeted recommendations.
Free Skills Resources for Enterprise and Staffing
Job Posting Optimizer
Make sure you're asking for what you need—and need what you're asking for. Our free job posting optimizer uses the Lightcast Skills Library to parse and streamline your listings so you can optimize your candidate search.
Shifting Skills, Moving Targets
The average job has seen 37% of its skill requirements change over the past five years. In our research with BCG and The Burning Glass Institute, we identified which skills are changing most. The better you understand skill change now, the better you can prepare for the future.
Solutions for Skills-Based Hiring
Consider skills with comprehensive labor market data to strengthen your overall job architecture and more specifically, your role skill profiles. A skills-based approach helps you achieve market-optimized job titles and job hierarchies.
Assess current and future skills requirements within each role by competitor and industry benchmarking, skill forecasts, and identification of emerging and disruptive skill needs.
Understand skill profiles to create market-aligned job titles, salary ranges, advancement pathways, education and work experience requirements, skills proficiency levels, and more.
Expand your talent pool, increase candidate diversity, and reduce hiring costs with targeted skill and credential requirements.
Time to put skills to use.
We'd love to show you how Lightcast can help you make informed hiring decisions. Get in touch to see skills in action or get a free customized report and elevate your people strategy.
Skills are how you show your value in the job market.
You know what you're capable of—now you need to show it. Knowing how your skills align with available jobs is the first step in unlocking labor market success. And when you articulate them in a way that employers understand, you're in a better position to start strong in the labor market and continue growing throughout your career. We have the tools and resources to help you on your way.
Use your skills to unlock success in the labor market. Explore free Lightcast resources and tools below.
Resume Optimizer
A skills-based solution. Enter or upload your resume to see what skills it identifies, uncover new opportunities, and understand how well it lines up with the job you want.
SkillFit
SkillFit personalizes your job hunt and recommends new opportunities to level up your career. Use skills to explore relevant roles, see where you can grow, and promote yourself in the job market. Find your fit.
Shifting Skills, Moving Targets
The average job has seen 37% of its skill requirements change over the past five years. Read this Executive Summary of our research with BCG and The Burning Glass Institute, to learn which skills are changing most and how you can acquire those you need.
Skill My Resume
Create the perfect resume, featuring the skills employers are looking for. This free tool identifies and highlights your skills based on past experience and future goals so that you can put your best foot forward.
A collaboration with the Rework America Alliance.
Skills Extractor
What's a job posting really looking for? Our skills tools can see.
Use our free extractor to identify the skills in demand based on what a posting provides—and to dive even deeper, you can also extract skills from a resume or class syllabus.
Start Using the Open Skills API
Ready for more?
Access our skill library of over 32,000 skills. Each has a name, a unique machine-readable identifier, and a type (technical skill, human skill, certification/license). A limited number of skill extractions are also included.
