A headline from Forbes I loved seeing, Deloitte is Hiring Job Seekers Without a Degree, is right here at the link:
Bravo to Deloitte for the approach they are taking to increase their openness to all types of experience. If you delve into this piece on Deloitte hiring those without college degrees, you’ll see some different angles they are working, to include seeking the neurodiverse, veterans and “skills first” professionals.
In my former role as a CHRO my team made a number of moves to head in this direction including allowing non-MBA’s to apply for roles where we traditionally required them and not requiring degrees in some entry level leadership roles where equivalent experience could be demonstrated. Our performance never suffered and our diversity improved.
I’d like to provide some advice for both companies and applicants thinking about this smart talent strategy.
For companies, you must understand that your use of degree requirements in the past was related to tightening the funnel of applicants. An earned degree signaled a number of things such as ability to show up, meet commitments, minimum levels of acumen on math and comprehension, etc. When dropping the requirement, leaders should think seriously about how to screen for those intangibles without the degree, which, by the way, was never a perfect guarantee. Plenty of laggards and losers have degrees! Your recruiting team is smart enough to figure this out. It’s work, yes, but it is worth it. Further, start thinking about the types of interview stories and examples that need to be acceptable to you and your teams in this environment. Your candidates will have different stories to tell and your minds must be open.
For applicants, start thinking about a “portfolio” of work, in addition to a well written resume that describes your capabilities. Completed projects that showcase your abilities, perhaps even documented on paper or a website might be the best way to do it. As we say in Missouri, “Don’t TELL me, SHOW me.” If you lack a business degree but you started and ran your own business and learned the many lessons that come with it, be able to tell that story and demonstrate it vividly if necessary. Do some basic internet research on the kinds of capabilities companies look for in “behavior based interviews”. Further, while you may not have sought a degree, you may have had many other different types of training. Demonstrate your growth mindset to your potential employer by telling them how and when you like to learn.
As a former university trustee, I am a big fan of higher education, which is now going through some needed and necessary reforms. I believe it will come out better than ever. College will always have a place in society, but given the many emerging ways one can learn, from free online courses to podcasts, it may not be for everyone. Smart organizations have already quietly figured this out and are benefitting. Who will dare to catch up to them?
