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Rethink Your College Degree Requirements

Forbes Human Resources Council

Joshua Siler is CEO of HiringThing, a modern recruiting PaaS that enables seamless hiring with integrated applicant tracking.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of jobs requiring a bachelor’s degree is projected to increase by almost 10% between 2016 and 2026. Interestingly, many of these new degree requirements are for positions that traditionally didn’t require a college education. The Harvard Business Review (HBR) termed this phenomenon “degree inflation.” In its report, “Dismissed by Degrees,” HBR analyzed 26 million job postings and discovered that 6.2 million middle-skill jobs are at risk of degree inflation.

We don’t have degree requirements for any positions at my company. This has allowed us to be more innovative, creative and ultimately successful. 2021 was an unprecedented year for us. Had we fallen prey to degree inflation, we would have missed out on many members of the superstar team that helped bolster that success.

Over the past few years, more and more companies, including giants like Google and IBM, have decided to remove degree requirements from roles where a degree isn’t essential. Even the U.S. government announced limits on the use of educational requirements when hiring for IT positions, stating that looking only at degree holders “excludes capable candidates and undermines labor market efficiencies.”

Still, this approach is very much in the minority. Many organizations are still limiting their recruiting efforts, passing over qualified talent and losing out on the diverse workforces that make organizations successful. As someone who built a forward-thinking tech company in the recruiting space and has reaped the benefits of hiring a workforce with educational diversity, I advocate for organizations to rethink their degree requirements.

Rethink The 'Why' Of Your Degree Requirements

Forward-thinking professionals would be wise to question why they have degree requirements. Some roles require a degree or certification—think teaching or nursing, for example—but other degree requirements are arbitrary.

Unfortunately, degree requirements have historically been used to gatekeep who has been able to apply for roles at an organization. The more affluent you are, the more likely you are to garner a college degree. According to a report by the National Student Clearing House Research Center, "the enrollment rate gaps grew wider" with only 46% of students from high-poverty schools having enrolled in college in 2020, compared to 70% of students from low-poverty schools.

The Georgetown University Center for Education and the Workforce published a report regarding who attains degrees entitled “Born to Win, Schooled to Lose,” which asserts, “In America, it’s often better to be rich than smart.” The U.S. isn’t the meritocracy we’ve been conditioned to believe, which isn’t to take away from anyone who has worked hard for their degrees Think back to the 2021 college admissions scandal that dominated headlines.

A joint survey from Gallup and Strada found that one-third of students "believe they will graduate with the skills and knowledge to be successful in the job market (34%) and in the workplace (36%)." Not only do degree requirements keep workplaces homogenous, but they could have unintended negative consequences. An HBS study found college graduates filling middle-skill positions cost more to employ, had higher turnover rates, were less engaged and no more productive than high-school graduates.

A 2019 recruiting study found that 45% of recruiters and hiring managers said a job candidate’s potential was the most essential aspect of their application, which I have found apt. It’s 2022, and there are many paths one could take to educate themselves for a role ranging from online courses to certifications to applying relevant parts of one role or field to another. In 2018, 29% of college graduates switched to fields that didn’t reflect their degrees.

Top-performing members of my team have eschewed degrees for various reasons and taken alternative education routes. For example, we have engineers who developed their skills in coding academies versus at colleges or universities. While it may sound repetitive, I’ll once again say this diversity of experience has 100% helped widen the pool of qualified candidates we’ve hired at my organization.

The Benefits Of Rethinking Your Degree

Removing degree requirements means employers, recruiters and hiring managers can focus less on pedigree and more on what matters: experience, intent, inherent skills and potential. Removing degree requirements also leads to a more diverse workforce and increases applicant flow.

A More Diverse Workforce

• Indeed research found that of the employers that have college degree requirements, 59% would consider eliminating degree requirements, with 30% believing this would help them hire more diverse talent.

Twenty-six percent of Black Americans over the age of 25 have a bachelor’s degree, compared to 40% of white Americans.

• In America, there are over 77 million workers without college degrees.

Again, diverse organizations are more innovative, creative and profitable than non-diverse organizations.

Increased Applicant Flow

While organizations include qualifications to weed out bad candidates, more often than not, it’s dissuading quality candidates.

• According to a Burning Glass Institute report, it appears that degree requirements seem to be decreasing.

• Data from Indeed shows employers only expect jobseekers to meet 70% of the job requirements. While employers might expect those whose relevant experience can make up for their lack of degree to apply, it’s not the case. Baby Boomers, for example, feel like they must meet at least 77% of the requirements to apply for roles, and women and minorities consistently don’t apply for jobs they perceive they’re underqualified for.

Think about all the applicants you may have dissuaded because of a degree requirement.

Bottom Line

The ways we work and recruit have shifted dramatically in recent years. Successful organizations aren’t going to make headway by doing what has always been done. Exclusion doesn’t work anymore. You want to appeal to as many qualified job seekers as possible, and rethinking your college degree requirements increases your talent pipeline.


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