Removing degree requirements might not be enough

A new report from The Burning Glass Institute and the Harvard Business School Project on Managing the Future asks:?

Employers are dropping degree requirements. But are they changing the way they hire?

The answer seems to be ‘no, not yet’.?

The report studied a sample of 11,300 roles at large US firms where a meaningful volume of hiring could be analyzed for at least one year before and after removing degree requirements. It found that:

• 45% of firms adopted skills-based hiring ‘in name only’ – that is, they dropped degree requirements but showed little change in their actual hiring patterns.
• 37% of firms removed degree requirements and made tangible changes to who they’re hiring. These firms recruited on average 18% more non-degree holders into the roles for which they removed degree requirements.
• 18% of firms removed degree requirements and made initial progress in hiring workers without degrees, but later relapsed back into prior hiring patterns.

What does this mean? ??

We read the report so that you don’t have to, and we’re here to tell you what it means for skills-based hiring . ??

1- There’s a gap between intent and impact ??

The largest group of firms in the study – a group that included market leaders like Bank of America, Amazon, Kroger, and Oracle – adopted skills-based hiring in name only.

This tells us that the majority of employers who are publicly committing to skills-based hiring are not yet following through with changes to their hiring practices.?

It’s likely that, although they’re no longer listing degrees as a requirement, hiring managers can still see which candidates have them and are still using that info to make hiring decisions.

This correlates with data from our own State of Skills-Based Hiring report . We found that, whilst a higher percentage of employers believe skills-based hiring is an effective way to determine a candidate’s competencies, 82% of them used resumes to hire in 2023.

2- Skills-based hiring is more than removing degree requirements from job descriptions ??

The Burning Glass Institute and 美国哈佛商学院 report defines skills-based hiring as the meaningful removal of degree requirements. But it’s more than that.

It’s about moving away from education- and experience-based hiring and towards hiring for skills.?

Sure, this means that degree requirements need to go – this is a great first step. But it also means that resumes need to take a back seat .

?? Employers need to assess, validate, and rank skills before screening resumes.

This way, details about whether your candidate has a degree or not, or what their gender is, or where they’re from, don’t factor into hiring decisions.?

Skills-based data comes first . That’s what skills-based hiring is truly about. That’s the way to truly change hiring patterns and revolutionize how we hire.

3- Skills-based hiring has real returns for employers who commit ??

The third and final takeaway is that skills-based hiring works (shocker, right?). The 37% of employers who removed degree requirements and saw an increase in non-degree holders hired saw real returns for both workers and employees. According to the study:

• When employees without a degree were hired into a role that previously required one, they saw a 25% increase in salary.?
• These employees also have a 20% higher retention rate vs. their degree-holding colleagues – which is huge for employers given the high costs associated with attrition.

If employers are seeing these benefits by removing degree requirements, imagine what happens when they move away from resumes entirely and hire for skills first instead. ??

?? What's your take on the shift away from degree requirements?

Share your thoughts in the comments below!