In a report this week, Gartner predicted that the most successful companies this year will be the ones “more comfortable assessing candidates solely on their ability to perform in the role, rather than their credentials and prior experience.” That translates to a de-emphasis on four-year degrees, McRae says: One of the most useful ways to attract “nontraditional candidates” is removing education requirements. “We have been using education as a proxy, and it’s very important to figure out why,” McRae says. “What was it a proxy for? And how do we actually measure that?” The trend has been slowly gaining traction for a few years now. Forty-six percent of middle-skill and 31% of high-skill occupations decreased degree requirements in job listings between 2017 and 2019, according to a 2022 study from the Harvard Business Review and labor market data company Lightcast (formerly Emsi Burning Glass).
