TECHPOINT AFRICA: University degrees are becoming less important for high paying jobs, here’s how you can take advantage
September 14, 2022
By Oluwanifemi Kolawole
Key takeaways
Per a 2022 Tech Work Report, tech founders have become more flexible with their hiring requirements such that a university degree might not be necessary to fill a middle-skill or even high-skill role.
More prominent companies are also taking this stand for many reasons, the most obvious being a shortage of tech talent.
Potential hires can still be at a disadvantage if they lack the required skill and experience.
The story
Besides the combination of qualifications that an employer would typically specify for a role, recruiters also have specific skills they often look out for during recruitment. Passion, potential to improve, ability to communicate and collaborate, and an impressive track record are only a few.
Usually, this track record would highlight academic achievements, especially when the candidate is only just beginning their career journey. As is standard practice, an excellent graduate degree makes a good first impression when it comes to job search. But it seems the conversation is changing.
In August, PricewaterhouseCoopers(PwC), one of the Big Four accounting firms, touted as one of the UK’s largest graduate employers, announced that it’s bringing down its graduate recruitment prerequisite from second class upper (2:1) and above — which is typical for most graduate programmes — to second class lower (2:2) for all its graduate roles and internships. By the way, it’s unclear if the company’s arms in other countries will follow suit.
And what was PwC’s reason?
“Talent and potential is determined by more than academic grades.”
The financial company’s UK chief people officer further admitted that there are other factors that influence academic results, and this shouldn’t put people from different backgrounds at a disadvantage.
Apparently, more large companies — like Accenture, Dell Technologies, IBM, etc. — are becoming flexible with their requirements; sometimes, taking out having an undergraduate degree as a requirement in their job postings. And tech founders appear to be relaxing their hiring criteria even more.
In 2020, Elon Musk said that you don’t need a college degree or high school degree to work in Tesla, a stand he has taken for several years. To him, a potential hire only needs evidence of exceptional ability to get the job.
Last week, a 2022 Tech Work report by US tech talent startup, A.Team and MassChallenge, an innovator’s network, revealed a similar trend. After surveying 581 tech founders and executives of pre-seed to IPO companies to get their thoughts on adopting new talent models, they discovered that 80% of them are not just becoming flexible in their hiring criteria, they are now more open to hiring individuals without a college degree for any role.
An older report by Harvard Business Review(HBR) and the Burning Glass Institute, analysing over 51 million jobs between 2017 and 2020, showed that many companies are dropping bachelor’s degree requirements for middle-skill and higher-skill roles.…
https://techpoint.africa/2022/09/14/no-university-degrees-for-tech-jobs
