English 
Vietnamese Traditionally, a university degree has been seen as the golden ticket to career success. But there is a growing trend towards skills-based hiring, with more emphasis on the specific abilities a candidate can demonstrate rather than the diplomas they hold. But is this shift the future of hiring or just another fleeting trend?
According to LinkedIn’s ‘The Future of Recruiting 2024’ report, job postings that don't require degrees have increased by 36 per cent between 2019 and 2022. Another survey shows 81 per cent of employers are using skill-based hiring.
Read more: Social Media Recruiting: The New Era of Attracting Top Talent
Contents
- Why Are Degrees Becoming Less Important?
- Why Skills-Based Hiring Is Gaining Traction?
- The real-world impact
- Challenges to skill-based hiring
- Towards a Balanced Recruitment Model
Why Are Degrees Becoming Less Important?
Why Are Degrees Losing Ground? To understand the rise of skills-based hiring, it's crucial to examine why degrees are becoming less pivotal:
- Degree Inflation: Many employers previously required degrees for jobs that historically did not need them. This trend led to an oversaturation of degree holders in the job market, many of whom have skills that don’t align with specific job requirements.
- Mismatch Between Curriculum and Industry Needs: Many employers are realizing that a degree doesn't always translate to job readiness. University curricula often struggle to keep pace with the rapidly changing demands of the job market. Graduates may leave university with theoretical knowledge but lack the practical, hands-on skills that employers require.
- The Rise of Alternative Credentials: Digital badges, micro-credentials, and industry-specific certifications have become more popular. These qualifications provide evidence of specific skills and knowledge, offering a practical alternative to traditional degrees.
Read more: Beyond Casting the Net: How Selection Completes Your Recruitment Efforts
Why Skills-Based Hiring Is Gaining Traction?
Skills-based hiring isn’t totally new, but it has gained significant traction in recent years. This shift is driven by several factors:
- The skills gap is widening, and traditional recruitment doesn’t seem to fix it
- Technology is evolving faster than university curricula
- Rising tuition fees are making degrees less accessible
- Alternative learning paths (boot camps, apprenticeships, online courses) are gaining credibility
Major employers are already leading the charge. Google, IBM, and Apple have famously dropped degree requirements for many positions. Even traditional sectors like banking are following suit - Penguin Random House and EY have removed degrees from their entry criteria, focusing instead on potential and demonstrated abilities.
Read more: Why Google says no to job interviews
The scale of this shift is remarkable: 55% of HR leaders have removed degree requirements for certain roles in the past year.
The real-world impact
Take Sarah, a former barista who taught herself web development through online courses while working full-time. Two years later, she's a senior developer at a fintech startup, earning more than many of her university-educated peers.
Or consider James, who started as an apprentice electrician and now runs his own successful renewable energy installation business. These aren't isolated cases.
A recent survey by Stack Overflow found that 60% of developers consider themselves at least partially self-taught, and 87% of hiring managers say they've successfully hired candidates without formal degrees.
Challenges to skill-based hiring
While the shift towards skills-based hiring offers many benefits, it is not without hurdles.
- Some professions (medicine, law, engineering) still require formal qualifications for good reasons
- HR systems often use degrees as an easy filtering mechanism
- Cultural bias towards traditional education remains strong, many employers still automatically filtering out non-graduates for certain roles
- Skills assessment can be more complex and time-consuming than checking qualifications
Read more: Culture Fit vs Culture Add: Transforming Company Culture for Growth
Towards a Balanced Recruitment Model
The likely outcome? A hybrid approach. While degrees won't disappear entirely, they'll increasingly become just one of many possible routes into professional careers.
Rather than a complete replacement of degree requirements, the future of hiring may lie in a blended approach. This would evaluate candidates on:
- Their portfolio or prior work
- Relevant certifications
- Performance in practical assessments
- Real-world experience and side projects
- Apprenticeships and alternative learning pathways
Read more: Unlock Your Hiring Potential: Discover Great People Inside (GPI)
Ultimately, hiring should centre on what candidates can contribute, whether through self-taught expertise, practical accomplishments, or formal education.
The Road Ahead
It remains uncertain whether skills-based hiring will fully replace degree requirements, but the trend is reshaping the employment landscape.
For employers, this means adopting more sophisticated methods to evaluate practical skills. By doing so, they can build diverse, competent, and motivated teams.
For job seekers, while degrees still hold value, they are no longer the sole route to success. Developing a robust skill set through practical experience and continuous learning can significantly enhance career prospects in today’s competitive market.
