EIF Catalyst Request for Startups Series: Skills-Based Hiring Infrastructure

Companies removing degree requirements can expand their talent pools by up to 16x—but most lack the infrastructure to actually hire on skills.

The momentum is real. 70% of employers now use skills-based hiring practices, up from 65% last year. Major companies have dropped degree requirements. Industry observers are calling 2026 "the year skills-based hiring became the new baseline." The rhetoric is everywhere.

But the reality is messier. Most organizations don't have the systems to assess, validate, and match candidates on skills rather than credentials. Hiring managers still default to degrees as a proxy for capability because they don't have better signals. ATS systems filter on keywords and job titles, screening out qualified candidates who describe their experience differently. Candidates—especially those without four-year degrees—struggle to translate work, military service, or non-traditional training into language employers recognize. Companies announce skills-based hiring policies and continue hiring exactly the way they always have.

The opportunity is infrastructure—technology that makes skills-based hiring operationally viable at enterprise scale. We're looking for startups building the plumbing. Assessment platforms that validate competencies through work simulations, projects, or adaptive testing rather than resume screening. ATS and HRIS integrations that retrofit existing hiring systems with skills-matching capabilities without requiring wholesale replacement. AI that parses transcripts, work history, and portfolios into standardized skills profiles employers can actually use. Translation engines mapping military experience, registered apprenticeships, and non-credit training to employer-recognized competencies. Internal mobility platforms helping companies identify and redeploy existing talent based on demonstrated capability, not job title history. Credential verification infrastructure confirming that skills claims are backed by evidence.

If you're building candidate-facing tools—AI coaches, personalized job matching, skills profile builders—see our companion RFS on LLM-Enhanced Career Navigation.

We've been tracking the skills-based hiring movement for years through portfolio companies like New Apprenticeship (tech apprenticeship consortiums) and Orijin (workforce development for justice-impacted individuals). We understand competency frameworks, credentialing standards, and the gap between employer rhetoric and operational reality. We can help founders identify where the real buyer pain is versus where it's just conference-talk.

Applications for EIF Catalyst's next cohort are open. If you've got early traction and are ready to build a repeatable go-to-market motion, we should talk.

We're looking for U.S.-based founders focused on postsecondary and career outcomes, with in-market traction (often $100K–$1M ARR, with flexibility for sectors with longer sales cycles), and a founder-led sales motion ready to scale.

Working on something outside these RFS themes? Apply anyway—these prompts are meant to spark ideas, not limit them. Know a founder who should apply? Send them the link.