Frazier, who serves as a co-chair alongside Rometty, says the organization was born out of a need for skilled workers across industries—a shortfall that’s been exacerbated by corporate piety to hiring candidates with a four-year degree.
It’s a myopic allegiance that has, for years, greatly restricted the aperture for diverse hires, though that’s starting to change. “We thought by putting this focus on skills rather than credentials, we would democratize access to quality jobs in our country,” says Frazier.
Hiring managers say they support dropping college degree requirements, but few actually do so. The reasons why might surprise you (msn.com)
That story ignores the elephant in the room: the shrinking youth cohort which has already reduced the supply of those under age 30. The story writer is well qualified.
College degrees were a third-party certification to quickly cut down the over supply of job applicants when labor was plentiful. Today, that winnowing of the applicant list is no longer needed and real world experience is again being recognized.
When young job applicants were in plentiful supply, college degrees helped to cut the applicant list to a manageable size. In the early 1990s, I was a hiring manager. For perhaps every 100 resumes we reviewed, may be 20-25 were of interest, based on skills and experience. That list would then be cut to perhaps 10 to 12 who would be given a telephone pre-screening interview. Of those, we might bring in half (5 to 6) for a formal interview, and may be make an offer to 1 or 2 of them. And this was at a tech company when the media meme was there was a shortage of workers!
During the unprecedented growth of college graduates from the 1960s into the 1980s, the degree became the “Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval” to pre-screen job applicants.
Today, the situation has reversed – fewer college enrollments from a shrinking youth cohort. Look at the population pyramid, above – this is obvious.
