“We have been using education as a proxy, and it’s very important to figure out why,” said Emily Rose McRae, an HR-focused senior director of research at Gartner. “What was it a proxy for? And how do we actually measure that?”
Gartner is betting that the most successful employers will be “more comfortable assessing candidates solely on their ability to perform in the role, rather than their credentials and prior experience,” she noted.
A 2022 study from the Harvard Business Review and labor market data company Lightcast (formerly Emsi Burning Glass) noted that from between 2017 and 2019, 46% of mid-level and 31% of high-level skill occupations lowered degree requirements in job listings.
Running so-called live skills test, for example with a bookkeeping role, could help recruiters gauge what candidates could bring to the firm. “Get people to demonstrate that they can do something as opposed to [asking] do they have a degree in bookkeeping and five years of experience as an office manager?” McRae noted.