67% of recruiters today emphasize skills and experience more than the background and educational qualifications of the potential candidates in these new data- economic times.
Many companies are gradually removing the necessity for a degree for many of their professional jobs. The elimination of the degree requirements, according to Apple, Google, and Microsoft, has boosted the number of options for talent to enter.
Even if a candidate lacks a degree, recruiters are now searching for more developed abilities because they give you real-world experience and help you succeed in your job.
Today’s technical skills are incredibly dynamic, making it challenging to match them with the traditional curriculum that the majority of universities offer.
This is the rationale behind why most employers prioritize employing applicants with greater skill sets rather than academic credentials.
Why companies are least bothered by the degrees of the candidates?
1. A wider talent pool
By putting the requirements for your degree, you limit the talent that you can get. Consider this scenario: You are hiring a graphic designer and you have two candidates.
Candidate 1: completed college with three months of an internship in graphic design.
Candidate 2: freelancing on graphic design projects for a year.
Which candidate is ideal for the job? Both are excellent, but the candidate with freelancing experience already understands the industry and the audience’s needs. Hence, you could have lost the candidate if you had put up a barricade of degrees.
By removing the degree restrictions, you can accept a greater number of applications, meaning more choices.
2. Getting candidates with the right skills sets
With the broad talent pool, you are more likely to get a candidate with ideal skill sets. Consider an employee who completed his degree a decade ago; the knowledge is most likely to be expired. Also, just 27% of the graduates are working in a job in their domain. This suggests the importance of looking for skills in any job profile.
3. Maintain the imbalance
Education access is not equal for everyone. As a result, when there are no restrictions on degree requirements, you can provide better opportunities to employees. Many times, women or inferior groups like economically weak people do not have access to higher education. So, when you give them opportunities to have jobs without certain degree requirements, you will leave a positive impact.
Hence, you can start to bring a change and help create a better image for your organization.
4. A more diverse workforce
A diverse workforce works well for understanding the needs of your audience. It helps in making the organization stronger as well with the help of the different ideas people bring to the table. Putting too many restrictions on your hiring process will only invite people with a certain mindset which limits the diversity in your organization.
5. The hiring scenario is changing
The hiring scenarios are changing and it is suggested that in the next decade, 65% of the jobs required then are not invented now. Candidates need to acquire technical skills that will help them in real-life experiences. Businesses must target candidates who have worked on developing soft skills rather than just bookish knowledge.
We cannot completely dismiss the role of degrees in the hiring process but there can be alternatives and more wholesome hiring processes.
The hiring process should not depend upon a single subject, ideally, it should be a mixture of soft skills, aptitude, and competency. Recruitment now is more than just degrees, the experience of the candidates also matters a lot that will help them in solving real-life problems.
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