Non-degree jobs: Hiring Trendsetter for the next decade

Just a decade ago, did we ever imagine of securing a high-paid job role without a professional degree? We always believed that only surpassing a 4-year graduate degree can guarantee a well-paid full-time job. This myth is slowly being shattered by new-age upskilling methodologies.

Emily Moore, a 16-year old high school graduate gained a passion in numbers which led her to excel in finance and accounting. Post schooling, she took a FINRA certification to pursue her passion for numbers. Emily is currently working as a junior Banker in a major US bank and pursuing her part-time graduation in finance through her company’s reskilling programs.

New-gen talents like Emily have started embracing micro-academic programs as their torch to navigate their desired career path.

Professional degrees have always acted as a recognition for an individual’s skills to attain career growth and grab high-profile jobs. However, in the digital age, the trend for attaining degrees to land a job has changed towards attaining skills to land a job.

“Learn and Earn” is a new skill development direction that has become quite pervasive among new-gen talents. As roles and skills are evolving at rapid pace, traditional degree-based talent acquisition models are becoming redundant. Many industries and governments are embracing these models to rapidly address their staggering skill needs.

Apprenticeship programs open new door for finance skills

Licenses and professional certifications have always been a professional stamp for the talents in finance sector. With the rise of university courses, recruiters got pulled towards professional-degree holders to validate their finance and statistical skills. Finance companies are slowly going back to old times where skills are validated based on apprenticeships and licenses rather than their degrees.

• Citibank is working with school administrators to help young talent through “Youth Workforce Fund” to attain banking and finance skills through paid apprenticeships.
• Bank of America has initiated “Student Leaders Program” to prepare high school graduates for banking careers through paid internships.

Insurance companies are also leveraging apprenticeship programs to address job demands for roles like sales assistant, junior underwriter, claims assistant etc.

• “AXA Apprenticeships program” is initiated for anyone between 16–60 yrs. interested in careers like underwriting, customer service, claims, etc.
• “GEICO Youth Apprenticeship Program” is targeted towards high school talents to early start their career in insurance industry.

Tech-giants play a dual role: Educators/Employers

Enterprises encourage digital literacy for all age groups to develop their digital skills and take their career path towards new-age skills. They are accelerating learning process through free online/offline internship programs for anyone willing to learn digital skills.

• “Grow with Google”, an innovative digital program that prepares students with emerging digital skills through interactive video-based curriculum and exercises. Students under this program are being offered internship and junior technology roles.
• “AWS Educate” program has been extended to high school and secondary students to learn fundamental cloud principles and pursue cloud computing career.

Vocational jobs continue to strive with non-degree holders

Vocational jobs like licensed nurses, building technicians etc. never entailed a degree to start their career. Licenses/certification courses have always been the foundation for attaining vocational jobs. This skill-based hiring trend for such jobs will continue to sustain in the upcoming decades.

• Hospitals and health institutions like Rochester Regional Health are hiring students from vocational schools to equip them with practical experience.
• Language translators that own certifications and skills in Deutsch, Spanish, Mandarin etc. are grabbing high-paid job offers in tourism and corporate companies.

Governments and educators see a bigger picture

Governments are embracing these “Learn and Earn” initiatives to address staggering skill demands and create a sustainable career for non-degree holding population. States are creating micro-ecosystems with schools, and companies to frame unconventional skilling programs to create a sustainable career path for under-privileged students.

• “The Wisconsin Youth Apprenticeship Program” is an antique program to fund youth for achieving required job-related skills and stimulate their career.
• North Carolina designed “Apprenticeship 2000” where youths associate with each other to gain advanced manufacturing skills and pick entry-level jobs.

Our World needs skills, not degrees

It is clear that “Millennials” and “Generation Z” don’t need to toss their graduation caps to grab job opportunities. New-age convocations are expected to be hosted post reskilling programs in companies that are acting as pathbreakers in skill development. Graduation degrees are expected to be a boost for one’s career rather than being a mandate.

‘Learn & Earn’ initiative is slowly unravelling many skill-development puzzles that have remained unsolved for decades. Some of the path-breaking skill development models that these initiatives can create are:

• Redefining the myth that university/college degree is a mandate to kickstart high-profile careers
• E-learning and micro-learning platforms can create digital-savvy leaders faster than full-time software degrees
• Enterprise reskilling programs targeted towards non-degree holders will create a sustainable learning and development ecosystem
• Apprenticeship and internship programs will create a unified skill-development platform for indigent talents to attain high-paid jobs
• White-collar jobs (Finance/Banking/Insurance) can be attained straight out of high school

Draup, our AI based talent intelligence platform tracks fast-growing skills and roles across industry verticals to help HR executives understand new-age career progressions. Our platform maps 40,000+ courses and certifications across community colleges, online/offline academic programs to assist workforce to transform their career path even without traditional degrees.

Originally Published On www.Draup.com