Why skills are replacing degrees in the new job market
When it comes to recruitment, there is no doubt that businesses have experienced a major upheaval since 2020. The strategies relied on prior to the pandemic to recruit and retain candidates are evolving as many industries look at solutions to manage the skills shortage. Not only did the pandemic spark a renewed desire for a greater work/life balance amongst employees, but also resulted in a decrease in skilled migration, including many people choosing to pursue completely new career paths. Businesses have had to re-evaluate what is important in a potential hire, and look beyond traditional talent pools to attract a wider group of candidates.
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Learn moreShifting the focus from degrees to skills
The most significant shift has been away from relying on degrees, and placing greater importance on demonstrated skills, experience and aptitude. Micro-credentialing and certifications are becoming increasingly common, and in some cases preferred, for a variety of hard-to-fill roles. Many organisations are now investing in developing the skills of people they already employ, as well as new employees with the right potential, to fill their skills gap. Major organisations, including General Motors, Apple, EY, Google, Microsoft and Penguin Random House are removing degree requirements where they’re not absolutely necessary, even for high level roles. Even before the pandemic, Accenture launched an apprenticeship program aimed at recruiting people without formal degrees, resulting in 80% of the people they eventually hired being without a degree.
While university degrees are still important, making them mandatory for roles where they are not essential arguably limits your talent pool to people from a certain background and degree of entitlement. “The companies themselves miss out on people that research suggests…might be less entitled, more culturally savvy, and more desirous of being there,” says University of Virginia Darden School of Business professor Sean Martin. Rather than pedigree, he added, hiring managers should look for motivation and eagerness to learn and adapt—two traits that can’t be found on paper.
Diversifying the talent pool to broaden the potential
The shift towards people with skills and potential offers a major opportunity for businesses, large and small, to cultivate diversity as a strategy. Looking beyond degrees opens opportunities to more people from diverse backgrounds, cultures and life experiences, and allows businesses to tap into a vast resource of underutilised talent. This diversity also brings new perspectives on how to do things, which ultimately drives innovation and growth, according to the Harvard Business Review. New research provides compelling evidence that companies that have what they call “2-D diversity” out-innovate and out-perform others, and are 45% more likely to grow their market share, and 70% more likely to capture new markets.
Skills testing is entering a new era
This shift in hiring has seen a rise in the use of skills tests as a key predictor in hiring by recruiters and HR professionals. There is a wide range of specialist software platforms that allows you to tailor your skills evaluations to ensure candidates have the ability to do a particular job and will be a good fit for your company culture. Another advantage of these tests is that they are a great way to remove emotion and bias to offer a more equitable and objective data-driven view of an individual's capabilities, purely based on their knowledge and aptitude, rather than their ability to ‘give a good interview’.
Tests can be used to assess both hard and soft skills, with ideal candidates usually offering strengths in both areas. Hard skills refer to measurable skills, often technical in nature, necessary for operating machinery, equipment or technology, such as software or quality control processes. Soft skills encompass behavioural areas like learning aptitude, adaptability, emotional intelligence, initiative and decision-making. Most platforms allow you to include scenarios where candidates need to show how they would approach a situation or go about problem-solving, ideally based on actual events in the workplace.
When considering which tools and platforms to use, a few key points to consider are:
- What insights and data do you want to obtain from the assessment?
- Which skills and knowledge are essential for this particular job?
- Does the candidate need to have specific skills from the outset, or does the role depend on their potential to learn and grow?
There may be a skills shortage but there is also a huge amount of potential out there. Businesses that recognise this and perfect their own skills in assessing this potential are in a position to fill the skills gap with motivated individuals who bring fresh perspectives.
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