The perfect CV is tidy, polished and full of impressive bullet points.

It looks good on paper, but paper doesn’t lead teams, solve problems or navigate chaos.
People do. That’s why experience - lived, messy, hard-earned experience - still beats credentials every time.

In industries like iGaming, where pace and innovation shape success, skill-based hiring isn’t a trend. It’s survival.

Over the last two decades, we’ve seen customer support agents become CEOs and content specialists evolve into product directors. The common thread isn’t luck. It’s adaptability, hunger and a refusal to stand still.

A CV is a record of the past; hiring should be about the future. The question isn’t ‘What have you done?’ It’s ‘What could you do next?’

Traditional hiring still leans too heavily on education and titles, but the world of work has changed. Teams today need people who learn fast, pivot easily and thrive on change - qualities that rarely fit neatly into a box on a CV.

As Jade, one of our directors, puts it: ‘You can teach skill. You can’t teach drive. The best people aren’t defined by where they started; they’re defined by what they’ve built.’ That mindset has shaped the iGaming sector and many of the industries we work in. It’s a meritocracy that rewards curiosity and action over pedigree.

Hiring for skills rather than credentials also makes organisations more inclusive. It opens doors for people who’ve learned by doing - parents returning to work, career changers, freelancers or self-taught developers. These candidates bring perspective and grit, not just technical ability. They know how to find solutions because they’ve had to.

The pandemic accelerated this shift. Companies learned that resilience and problem-solving mattered more than perfect CVs. Those who adapted quickly stayed relevant. Those who didn’t, disappeared. It was a lesson in humility and an invitation to rethink what ‘qualified’ really means.

At Bigwig, we see the same truth across sectors: the most impactful hires often don’t tick every box.

They grow into the role. They challenge it. They make it better. A credentials-first mindset can blind employers to that potential. We once placed a candidate who had no formal degree but years of operational know-how. Within six months, she was leading a team of people who once would have overlooked her. The result wasn’t luck; it was fit - skill, ambition and timing aligned.

Thais, who leads our finance and hospitality desk, says it best: ‘A CV can’t show you the hours someone spent learning after work or the failures that taught them resilience. Experience tells you who they are when things go wrong.’

And things always go wrong. That’s where real leadership shows up.

Skills-based hiring also builds stronger cultures. Teams made up of diverse thinkers - people with different backgrounds and experiences - outperform those built on sameness. A Harvard Business Review study found that cognitively diverse teams solve problems faster and with more creativity. The takeaway is simple: when everyone has the same background, they also share the same blind spots.

That’s not to say credentials are irrelevant. Qualifications matter in certain fields. But the weight we give them is often disproportionate. A degree might open the door, but it doesn’t guarantee someone will keep it open. What really matters is the ability to learn, adapt and contribute beyond what’s written down.

For employers, shifting to a skills-based approach means rethinking job descriptions, interviews and assessment processes. Instead of listing requirements, start by describing outcomes. What will success look like in six months? What challenges will this person need to solve? Hire for capability, not compliance.

At a human level, this approach also sends a message: we see you for what you can become, not just what you’ve been. That’s powerful. It creates loyalty and engagement because people want to work for companies that recognise their potential rather than just their past.

Malta’s market, in particular, rewards this way of thinking. It’s small, fast and interconnected. Word travels quickly about employers who give people a real chance to grow. In that sense, skills-based hiring isn’t just smart - it’s reputation management.

The future of recruitment belongs to those who look beyond credentials and see character. The people who’ve learned through failure, who’ve built resilience from rejection, who’ve proven they can evolve - those are the hires that last.

Because in the end, a perfect CV doesn’t build great companies. People do.