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According to recent reports and data, many companies are shifting to a new form of hiring that prioritizes candidates’ skills over more traditional criteria like education or years of experience.
The share of online job postings in the U.S. that list a specific tenure requirement fell 10 percentage points to 30% in the two years ending April 2024, according to data from job site Indeed.
Additionally, most job advertisements (52%) do not include a formal education requirement, compared to 48% in 2019, Indeed found. According to Indeed data, mentions of college degrees declined in 87% of job categories over this period.
A recent ZipRecruiter survey of 2,000 employers also shows a shift toward so-called skills-based hiring, which prioritizes “skills” over traditional qualifications. According to the ZipRecruiter survey, nearly half, or 45%, of employers have eliminated degree requirements for some jobs in the past year, and 72% now value skills over certifications in applicants.
According to ZipRecruiter, the trend of prioritizing an applicant’s practical, real-world skills and experience over formal education appears to be “gaining momentum.”
Hiring managers are now making it clearer in job ads what specific skills they’re looking for in applicants, said Cory Stahle, an economist at job site Indeed.
“We are definitely seeing a change in the way the application and hiring process works,” Stahle said.
Competency-based hiring is a “win-win”
Demand for labor rose to a record high as the U.S. economy restarted in 2021 after early pandemic-era lockdowns. Given the shortage of skilled workers and strong competition for workers, companies have had difficulty filling jobs.
This hiring “pressure” led employers to drop college degree requirements, a filter that “disqualifies” about 62% of Americans who don’t have a degree, according to a recent joint study by Harvard Business School and the Burning Glass Institute have.
In addition, companies are placing more emphasis on equal opportunities in the workplace, the report says.
More than 70% of the black, Hispanic and rural workforce do not have a four-year degree — and may have valuable skills that are overlooked because of the “paper ceiling,” according to Randstad USA, a staffing agency.
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While traditional measures of job readiness, such as schooling, will likely remain important for surgeons and other professions, many employers are recognizing that such qualifications are not always a good indicator of job fit, Indeed’s Stahle said.
Job seekers benefit from new career opportunities that may not have been available before, he added.
According to the Harvard-Burning Glass study, there are also tangible, measurable “win-win” outcomes of competency-based hiring for companies and employees, such as: B. higher retention rates for workers without a college degree and large average salary increases for such candidates.
However, there are some limitations, such as: B. entrenched behavior among HR managers.
For example, about 45% of companies “seem to only make a name change, with no significant difference in actual hiring behavior, after removing the stated requirements from their job postings,” the Harvard-Burning Glass report said.
“Change is hard” for employers, it continued.
What this means for job seekers
“If the [job ad’s] “If the focus is on skills, the focus of your resume should also be on skills,” Stahle said.
While skills should be “outstanding” in such cases, that doesn’t mean applicants should forego traditional information, Stahle added.
They still want to provide an accurate representation of their work history and education because an applicant’s resume may still be reviewed by a hiring manager who values such qualifications, he said.
But it’s not just about the resume: Job applicants should be prepared for potential employers to conduct some sort of skills test during the hiring process, although the practice varies from company to company, he added.
Developing and demonstrating identified skills are the two most important key factors for job seekers, he said.
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2024-05-31 18:38:53
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