In a world that is changing, will degrees have the same value as before? What do employers really need when it comes to getting-the-job done?
Recently, US announced the modernisation of the Hiring and Assessment process of federal job candidates using a model that is founded on hiring based on skills rather on degrees.
This is a practice that has already been adopted by several prestigious companies such as IBM, Apple and Google. However, it is the first time that the US federal government is moving into this restructuring of the hiring process for governmental positions and it won’t be surprising if other countries will implement the same practice in the near future. In 2015, the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training published a survey pointing the importance of skill mismatch. Since then, the EU has taken some steps in investing in skills and qualifications programs for union’s citizens.
Starting a dialogue with non-governmental organisations to minimise the gap between qualifications and skills is needed.
This began with IBM. The first who used the term “New Collar” was Ginni Rometty in 2017, CEO of IBM at the time.
The term was derived from the popular categories of White Collar and Blue-Collar jobs. It refers to familiar job roles that do not need Bachelor’s degrees or similar.
Whether governments are going to pay more attention to skills rather than degrees sooner or later, one thing is sure: The new normal is teaching us that good leaders and high performing talents that excel during these unprecedented times, they wear the ‘3D Collar’: these talents and leaders combine digital savviness, behavioural leaderships excellence and job expertise.