Employers are looking for a new ‘stamp’
There is a mismatch in what higher education provides and the workforce needs — but jobs are still requiring degrees for entry level jobs and believe it is an effective way to filter candidates.
According to Businessweek, about 49% of college graduates say they did not have to go to college to acquire the skills they need for their job. On the other hand 75% of jobs require a bachelors degree and 60% of employers said it was a good way to assess work ethic.
Employers are using an indicator that is becoming increasingly out of touch with workforce demands, and with the price increasing for traditional programs — the experience is out of reach for many students. Employers, having limited alternatives, simply stick to using the degree.
But startups like Knack, Innovate+Educate, and Authess are taking the challenge head on and aiming to create better indicators to assess what learners can do. They are using games and situation based tests to prove students are competencies and skills. In other cases, bootcamps are focusing primarily depending on building a person’s portfolio to show samples of their work. For designers Behance is a common tool and for developers, GitHub captures your code and activity.
While there is no one solution, the landscape is changing as we strive to better convey our skills to employers without creating expensive walls that lock out talent that could meet the job needs of the future.
Best,
Sergio Marrero
Co-Founder & CEO, Caila
