For decades, companies have screened and measured candidates primarily by degrees, work experience and other background information to determine who to hire and promote.
However, the flaws in this model are becoming increasingly apparent: 61% of U.S. business leaders in a recent LinkedIn survey said attracting top talent is currently a challenge—studies show that traditional messaging , such as specific working years, cannot predict a person’s working ability well.
For companies that say it’s hard to find the right talent right now, the math behind the approach explains why: More than 70 percent of jobs require applicants to have a degree, yet less than 50 percent of the U.S. workforce has a bachelor’s degree. When employers screen candidates from only a handful of elite universities and top companies, the talent pool shrinks even further.
Against this backdrop, the labor market is undergoing a sea change, steadily shifting from an ancestry-based model to a skills-first one. Employers on LinkedIn have already made the shift, with about a quarter (24%) of U.S. job postings no longer requiring a degree, up from 15% in 2020. On LinkedIn, human resource teams are also increasingly relying on skills as a key factor in assessing a candidate’s ability and potential to screen candidates, and now more than 40% of human resource teams explicitly require job applicants to have relevant skills in their job postings.
The continuation of this momentum shows that it is no longer a question of if or when it will happen, but how we can now collectively take the next step to make a skills-first approach a shared reality in the labor market.
The conversation is getting more and more attention
Small conversations can often lead to dramatic change, and that’s true in our workplaces as well.
From telecommuting and hybrid working models to “quiet quitting” and “Great Reshuffle”, the era of the epidemic has led to a new round of workplace conversations, and has quickly become the new workplace norm. Many of these conversations happen on LinkedIn — where more than 850 million members and 60 million companies regularly discuss all things work-related.
Across all the discussions, when we look at the number of dynamic posts about a skills-first approach to talent acquisition, there is a clear uptick. We found that the average number of conversations mentioning these topics roughly doubled over the year from October 2021 to October 2022.
The discussions going on on LinkedIn aren’t limited to HR professionals. Prominent executives from all walks of life also weighed in on the debate. The CEO of Nielsen noted, “I’m starting to wonder why so many jobs require applicants to have a bachelor’s degree.” career paths can help close the opportunity gap for African-American talent. LinkedIn’s chief executive also called on other employers on his page to start recognizing and rewarding workers without a degree, who make up half of the U.S. workforce.
However, recent survey results by Jobs For the Future suggest that there is still a large gap between employers’ willingness to address this issue and their level of confidence to actually implement the new skills-first strategy. Some 80% of employers believe skills are more important than degrees, but a majority (52%) say they are still hiring people with degrees because they feel it is less risky.
Businesses can start acting now
What is the good news? There are working models and playbooks in place – companies can go beyond the conversation and achieve concrete change. It’s not necessarily a “risky” bet.
Jobs For the Future works with leading employers and large skilled talent initiatives, such as the Business Roundtable’s Multiple Pathways Initiative, to develop a skilled talent agenda. They found that companies that do this well often start with a simple course of action.
First, they make it a CEO-level priority, set goals, and measure progress. Second, they start somewhere—or anywhere. They don’t try to overhaul the entire business. Instead, they focus on one department or one job and go from there. Third, they go beyond skills-based hiring and embrace a skills-based approach to training and internal mobility. Over time, these companies have paid off. A skills-based approach extends across the enterprise and becomes part of the company culture, day-to-day systems and values.
Taking some of these steps is not only a solid business strategy for expanding the talent pool, but also leads to more equitable outcomes for overlooked groups of workers who may have relevant skills, including 76% of black workers and 83% of Latino workers , they do not currently have a four-year degree.
Early findings from LinkedIn’s new skills-first recruiting tool suggest that greater transparency about skills qualifications encourages more women to apply for jobs they might not otherwise, because women typically set higher self-defining standards.
While it is hopeful to see more companies having these conversations and asking the right questions, careful attention and measurement are necessary to ensure that these changes have a positive and fair impact.
Change doesn’t happen overnight. Paradigm shifts never happen overnight, either. What is clear, however, is that it is actually possible to do something truly world-changing in our lifetimes—creating a labor market that is more efficient and fair than ever before. (Fortune Chinese website)
Opinions expressed in opinion articles published on Fortune.com are solely those of the author and do not represent the views and positions of Fortune magazine.
Aneesh Raman is a vice president at LinkedIn. Cat Ward is vice president of the Jobs For the Future organization.
Translator: Zhong Huiyan-Wang Fang
For decades now, companies have measured candidates largely by their degrees, years of experience, and other pedigree signals as filters to determine who to hire and promote.
However, the cracks in this model are becoming more apparent by the day: 61% of the US business leaders LinkedIn recently surveyed say it’s challenging to attract top talent right now–and studies suggest that traditional signals such as specific flexors years of experience are of someone’s ability to do a job well.
For companies who say it’s a tough environment to find the right talent, the math behind this approach shows why: Over 70% of jobs require degrees–but less than 50% of the US workforce hold a bachelor’s degree. The talent pools shrink even further When employers screen candidates to recruit from a small pool of elite universities and top companies.
Against this backdrop, there’s a massive shift underneath that’s steadily moving the labor market from a pedigree-based model to a skills-first model. Employers on LinkedIn are already making this shift, with roughly one in four job postings (24%) in the US no longer requiring degrees, up from 15% in 2020. HR teams are also increasingly relying on skills as the key filter through which to evaluate a candidate’s ability and potential on LinkedIn, with over 40% now explicitly using skills data to fill their roles .
That sustained momentum suggests it’s no longer a question of if or when–but really a matter of how we collectively take the next steps now to make a skills-first approach a shared reality across all corners of the labor market.
The conversation is getting louder
Small conversations can often spark great change–and the same is true when it comes to our workplaces.
From remote and hybrid working to “quiet quitting” and the “Great Reshuffle”, the pandemic era has ushered in a new wave of workplace conversations that rapidly became new workplace norms. Many of those conversations take place on LinkedIn–where over 850 million members and 60 million companies are regularly discussing all things related to work.
Among all the chatter, there’s been a clear uptick when we look at the volume of feed posts about skills-first talent approaches. We saw the average number of conversations mentioning these topics roughly double over the course of the year from October 2021 to October 2021 .
The ongoing discussion on LinkedIn isn’t limited to HR professionals. Leading executives from a range of industries are also weighing in on the debate. Nielsen’s CEO pointed out, “I have begun to wonder why a college degree is a job requirement for so many roles.” Delta’s CEO gave up his page for a takeover to highlight how skills-based career pathways can help close the opportunity gap for Black talent. And LinkedIn’s own CEO is taking to his page to call on other employers to start recognizing and rewarding workers who don’t have degrees–half of the US workforce.
However, recent findings from Jobs For the Future (JFF) show that there’s still a wide gap between employers’ desire to tackle this issue and their confidence levels in actually executing a new skills-first strategy. Some 80% of employers believe in prioritizing skills over degrees–but the majority (52%) say they are still hiring from degree programs because it feels less risky.
Businesses can start right now
The good news? There are working models and playbooks already in place–and companies can go beyond conversations to achieve concrete change. This doesn’t have to be a “risky” bet.
JFF partners with leading employers and large skills-based talent efforts such as the Business Roundtable’s Multiple Pathways Initiative to enact a skills-based talent agenda. They found that the companies that do this well usually get started with a straightforward formula.
First, they make it a CEO-level priority, set goals, and measure progress. Second, they start somewhere–anywhere. They don’t try to change the whole enterprise all at once. Rather, they zero in on one department or one practice and begin there. Third, they expand beyond skills-based hiring to include a skills-based approach to training and internal mobility. In time, these companies reap the rewards. The skills-based approach spreads across the enterprise and becomes embedded in the culture, day-to-day systems, and values of the company.
Taking some of these steps is not only a sound business strategy that expands your talent pipelines, but it can also lead to more equitable outcomes for populations of overlooked workers who may have the relevant skills, including 76% of Black workers and 83% of Latinx workers who currently don’t hold a four-year degree.
Early findings from LinkedIn’s new skills-first hiring tools show that adding more skills qualification transparency encourages more women, who typically set a higher self-qualification bar, to apply to jobs they may not have otherwise.
While it’s promising to see more companies having this conversation and asking the right questions, deliberate attention and measurement will be necessary to make sure these changes are having a positive and equitable impact.
Change won’t happen overnight. Paradigm shifts never do. However, it’s clear that doing something truly world-changing–building a labor market that is more efficient and equitable than ever before–is actually possible in our lifetime.
The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.
Aneesh Raman is VP at LinkedIn. Cat Ward is VP at Jobs for the Future (JFF).
This article is reproduced from: https://www.fortunechina.com/shangye/c/2023-01/23/content_426500.htm
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