If you don’t have a college degree, you might feel at times that there are a lot of career doors not open to you. While that’s definitely true in some cases, well, the times are a’changin’!
Here are Five Fast Facts on degree requirements going away:
- 🤔 Says Who - A survey by Intelligent.com of 800 American employers shows that almost half of US companies are looking to boot the requirement of having a Bachelor’s degree for some jobs in the next year. Over 50% already have, at least for some roles.
- 🦸 Leading The Way - A lot of huge companies are pushing the envelope on this. Walmart, IBM, Bank of America, and Google have all announced plans to reduce or remove degree requirements, even for some corporate roles. Degreeless CEO anyone?
- 📈 Consulting - One of the largest consulting and professional services firms in the world, Accenture, formed an apprentice program in 2016. They have hired 1,200 workers through this program, and a whopping 80% of them have entered the workforce without a college degree!
- 💻 Top Industries - Departing degree requirements does depend a bit on which industry you’re talking about. The tech industry leads the charge with 72% of employers looking to drop the degree, followed by finance (61%) and construction (42%). Young code jockeys operating from their parents’ basement will probably be happy about this!
- 🏢 Top Roles - Some roles are more likely to have degree requirements dropped, too. It’s not surprising that 70% of companies are dropping it for entry level roles, but it raises eyebrows that 61% are dropping the requirement for mid-level roles and even 45% for senior roles!
🔥Bottom line: One of the big reasons for this shift is to help reduce inequity in the workforce. There’s a much greater emphasis now on a skill set rather than an education, and that emphasis is finding its way into hiring practices all over now. If you can DO the thing, then you’ve got a better shot at the job nowadays, no matter what that piece of paper from the college says.
What do you think of this shift in hiring practices?
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