By Nicholas Ault, Aston Carter Market Research Analyst
For employers, including college degree requirements on job applications grants passage to some candidates, but closes the door on many other candidates who may not have the desired degree, but are just as qualified for the role.
With an abundance of labor reports all showing that the demand for talent outweighs the supply of available workers, this imbalance continues to hinder many employers’ ability to find the workers they need. While there may be a talent shortage, employers could be self-sabotaging their hiring efforts by including degree requirements for positions that don’t necessarily require them. In getting more intentional about the skills you seek, shifting your search to look for soft and transferable skills in place of formal degree requirements may help broaden your access to promising talent.
While college empowers many individuals to grow and develop personally and professionally, it’s not the only way to gain valuable experience and skills needed for employment. Including degree requirements on job applications often presents barriers not only for the individuals looking for work, but also to those employers who are overlooking a vast network of talent simply because they don’t have a bachelor’s degree. This is especially relevant given the fact that compared to pre-pandemic rates, fewer people are enrolling into college and, consequently, fewer people are now entering the workforce who meet common degree requirements.
If employers hope to fill their open positions, it could be in their best interest to reconsider degree requirements for certain roles and open their doors to a more expansive network of skilled talent that has otherwise been excluded.
Redefining What It Means to Be Qualified
The prototypical “qualified” candidate traditionally has some sort of postsecondary education in addition to years of relevant work experience in a specific field, but this definition excludes those who have experience and qualifications through other means.
Tear the Paper Ceiling — a campaign created by non-profit organizations, the Ad Council, Opportunity@Work and a coalition of 50 national organizations — focuses on breaking down these barriers and highlighting workers who bring in a whole new set of skills not necessarily attached to a college education. They define these individuals as STARs, or Skilled Through Alternative Routes, and they make up over 70 million American workers that have gained experience through other avenues such as “military service, community college, training programs, partial college completion, or, most commonly, on-the-job experience.”
STARs — which include 66% of rural Americans, 61% of Black workers, 61% of veterans, 55% of Latinx workers and 50% of white workers — represent a more inclusive and diverse portion of the U.S. workforce.
By redefining traditional definitions of what it means to be a qualified candidate, the Tear the Paper Ceiling movement is encouraging important conversations about diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace and prompting employers to reconsider including degree requirements for roles that don’t need them.
Instead of hiring based on whether an applicant has a bachelor’s degree, adopting a skills-based approach to hiring not only allows for more to apply, but also lets employers be more specific in the traits and skills they’re seeking for a particular role.
A Skills-Based Approach to Hiring
When a college degree is required for a position that previously did not require one, it’s known as “degree inflation.” This inflation ultimately discounts a large portion of the population that does not meet this requirement, but also suggests that at one point in time, a degree was not needed to be successful in this role.
A study by the Harvard Business School shows employers tend to equate a bachelor’s degree with a set of soft skills, the implication being that those who did not attend college don’t have the same set of skills. Instead of equating a bachelor’s degree with soft skills, employers can establish a skills-based approach to hiring to get more intentional with their search.
The Harvard Business School reports, “When employers drop degrees, they become more specific about skills in job postings, spelling out the soft skills that may have been assumed to come with a college education, such as writing, communication, and being detail-oriented.” Because this approach entails hiring based on one’s aptitude as opposed to just their degree, employers should articulate these desired skills within the job description, being as accurate as possible to avoid any confusion and to ensure they reflect the responsibilities of the role.
This approach to hiring also opens an employer’s search to individuals who may have transferable skills, or skills that can be carried over from one role and be applied just as successfully in a different role —further maximizing the scope of their talent search.
How to Expand Your Pool of Talent
To remain competitive and evolve alongside the labor market, employers should consider limiting college degree requirements when possible. In prioritizing skills over degrees, they will open the playing field to more professionals that have since been underutilized and overlooked.
If you don’t have the in-house resources to expand your talent search, partnering with workforce solutions experts like Aston Carter can help streamline this process. With access to an unmatched database of professionals and by leveraging over 25 years of staffing and recruiting experience, we can extend your company’s reach and source the right talent for your specific needs.
Our recruiters prioritize building strong relationships with candidates to fully understand the scope of their skills and capabilities — beyond a college degree. In getting to know these candidates personally and professionally, they’re able to better identify the perfect fit for your company.
In addition to finding the right talent, we can assist in establishing training programs to upskill your current employees and ensure they have the competencies they need to be successful in their roles.
Read our monthly labor reports to stay up-to-date on industry trends or contact Aston Carter to learn more about how our strategic workforce solutions can help your company attract and retain top talent.
As Aston Carter’s market research analyst, Nicholas Ault evaluates labor market data and economic trends to inform our organizational strategies. In his role, Nicholas supports the creation of our monthly labor reports, which provide an in-depth look into market conditions and industry-specific trends. Through this analysis, he crafts narratives to best support leadership when consulting with clients.
This article was originally published in Staffing Industry Analysis.
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