Your college degree might not matter quite as much in your 2023 job search as it used to.
That's a good thing, says Emily Rose McRae, an HR-focused senior director of research at analyst firm Gartner. In a report this week, Gartner predicted that the most successful companies this year will be the ones "more comfortable assessing candidates solely on their ability to perform in the role, rather than their credentials and prior experience."
That translates to a de-emphasis on four-year degrees, McRae says: One of the most useful ways to attract "nontraditional candidates" is removing education requirements.
"We have been using education as a proxy, and it's very important to figure out why," McRae says. "What was it a proxy for? And how do we actually measure that?"
The trend has been slowly gaining traction for a few years now. Forty-six percent of middle-skill and 31% of high-skill occupations decreased degree requirements in job listings between 2017 and 2019, according to a 2022 study from the Harvard Business Review and The Burning Glass Institute, a nonprofit labor market research organization.
Amid a tight labor market, the trend could accelerate dramatically this year. A degree requirement eliminates a significant swath of the American population from jobs "at a time when employers [already] struggle to find talent," the study's authors noted.
Based on current trends, they projected 1.4 million jobs could open up to workers without college degrees in the next five years.
So, what does a potential influx of "nontraditional candidates" mean for you?
Emphasize soft skills
When employers drop degree requirements, 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," the study's authors note.
That's exactly what McRae says she wants to see more of in the coming year.
Take hiring an office manager, for example. They need to be extremely organized, have good people skills and understand the basics of bookkeeping. So, ask behavioral interview questions that give a sense of an applicant's approach to organization.
McRae suggests open-ended questions like "Tell me about a time when you came into a situation that desperately needed organization, and how you handled it?" or "Tell me about a time you had to take over someone else's organizational system, and how you adapted it?"
Similar types of questions can measure a candidate's people skills, McRae adds: You can run through mock scenarios to deal with to see how they respond. Their references could be useful for this purpose, too.
And for bookkeeping, you could conduct a live skills test. "Get people to demonstrate that they can do something as opposed to [asking] do they have a degree in bookkeeping and five years of experience as an office manager?" McRae says.
Identify training and development programs
This kind of hiring process does come with "a couple complications," McRae notes. Primarily, you'll find candidates who can do the job, but need training and development to compensate for a potential lack of industry experience.
Whether formal or informal, you could hire them to apprenticeships, McRae suggests — having them shadow coworkers or ramping up their responsibilities and workload over time. It's "extremely doable," and you're likely to fill the role faster than you otherwise would, she says.
Job applicants can use the same advice: Think about the key functions of the job you want, and come to the interview ready to demonstrate how your existing skills fit. If you land the job, don't be afraid to actively seek out training opportunities or raise your hand for help when needed.
You probably have more transferable skills than you realize, McRae says — so don't be afraid to apply for a position outside of your experience thus far. Any company that hires you despite a lack of traditional experience will likely be willing to support your transition into the role.
"It's no longer the case that if you work with Excel, you are only in one of five fields. Lots of people work with Excel, and those skills are transferable," she adds.
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that the 2022 study on job listing degree requirements was conducted by the Harvard Business Review and The Burning Glass Institute.
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