What This Harvard Study of 51 Million Job Postings Confirms About Hiring Practices

It’ll be years before real change comes

The typical hiring process looks like a marriage.

Employers advertise qualities they want in potential suitors; potential suitors sell the qualities they possess.

But while some job seekers don’t struggle to find the perfect match, others don’t enjoy as much luck. Many obstacles impede applicants who want quality jobs, the biggest being a college degree.

Over the last few years, many companies in the United States have made sweet promises of shedding the college degree requirement convention.

Harvard Business School researchers teamed up with the Burning Glass Institute to learn how hiring practices have developed after many companies promised to change how they hire workers. Here are some things they found.

The college degree still dictates which jobs you can land

Many low-skill jobs don’t require a bachelor’s degree to work. But they’re also some of the lowest-paying ones out there. No coincidence.

However, employers demand a college degree for most middle to high-skill jobs — the better-paying ones, the report found. And I get the sense behind it.

Some employers equate a bachelor’s degree to a minimum of three years of training and rigorous discipline.

For example, some specialist roles like an accountant, engineer, and pharmacist would always require a high level of school training. And these employers trust many institutions and professional bodies did a thorough job training the graduates.

It means non-degreed applicants have a tough challenge landing some jobs. But there’s some promising news.

A few companies are waiving the degree. But they want something else

It’s been a long time coming. But it’s also been slow in coming. And look, I don’t blame any employer for holding out for a bachelor’s degree as the minimum requirement to hire employees to fill some roles.

But when the demand for talent outstripped supply, or at least many roles weren’t getting filled as fast as employers would have loved, many began dropping the one requirement that impeded many applicants: a degree.

However, it’s not exactly a shoo-in for all applicants. While this varied by role and industry, many hiring companies which dropped the degree wanted some suitable skills and competencies in return.

“Many companies listed superior social and soft skills as key requirements. These range from those that are more easily evaluated, such as written and oral communications, to those less easily defined, such as commitment, self-discipline, and the ability to participate effectively in unfamiliar groups,” the report found.

At least there’s hope that those who didn’t attend college could bag some mid-skill jobs. But you must stock up on these skills employers willing to waive the degree will require from you.

Thankfully, the internet is brimming with courses you can take to upgrade your skills. By so doing, you’re adding some weight to your qualifications. That’s the least you can do to tip the scale in your favor.

That said, these days, fit, values, remuneration, and rest have become factors no one can ignore. The great resignation and hybrid work have only compounded the issues.

Big tech must put its money where its mouth is

Recently, many tech companies made bold claims of dropping a college degree as a requirement to getting hired for most roles. However, the findings don’t exactly back that up a few years on.

Yes, some are doing well in overlooking a college degree as a principal requirement for many employees.

“IBM has now stripped bachelor’s degree requirements for more than half of our US job openings, and we’re continuously reevaluating our roles to prioritize skills over specific degrees,” the researchers share a quote by IBM.

But they’re about the lone car in this race. Others haven’t yet found their stride. Oracle, HP, Intel, Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Apple, and Amazon are still adrift. They’re yet to make good on their promises.

“We do not see an equivalent change in job postings for other big tech employers like Facebook, Intel, or Microsoft — all of which have announced some reduction in their degree requirements. This suggests a lag between corporate rhetoric and practical implementation of skills-based hiring strategies,” the researchers note in their findings.

While postings requiring a degree are down in some cases, the pace is significantly lower.

If you don’t have the cash, you’ll only pile on the debt.

If you’re not from an affluent home and lack exceptional athletic abilities or good scores to earn a scholarship, you have little choice but to jump headfirst into the pile of student loan debt.

Then, three or four years later, you can hopefully boost your odds of landing a middle-skill or high-skill job that will start you off with a nice little pay packet.

And that better be in an industry that isn’t under threat from automation. The robots haven’t relented in their march towards the workplace, sweeping many jobs in their way.

Time for change

In times of yawning income inequalities globally, it’s imperative for society, and in this case, employers, to demolish barriers that prevent people from getting better-paying jobs.

One such obstacle is a college degree. While it has its place, it doesn’t always tell the entire story. And we need to rethink its relevance for every job.

“More employers need to set aside dated assumptions and revisit their use of such blunt instruments to assess the worthiness of willing applicants from a shrinking labor force. That would mark an important next step in helping the previously overlooked to pursue attractive career pathways — even without a four-year degree,” the researchers advise.

Over to you, HR managers and hiring execs.

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