As long as an employee demonstrates the skills and competencies required to succeed, they should not face barriers to a new role.Ĭompanies like Affirm, for example, through their Upward Program, a six-month software engineering apprenticeship program that offers opportunities for individuals with nontraditional backgrounds, have created this kind of path. This means being open to removing degree requirements for higher level roles. While making the hire is step one, teams must also establish promotion and advancement policies that are fair to employees with nontraditional backgrounds. Set Alternative Credential Employees Up For Long-Term Success Get your teams aligned on the best ways to build an equitable hiring process, from standardizing skills-based interview questions to giving hiring managers assessment frameworks that help them overcome prejudgment. However, this is about more than simply changing a job description it’s important to shake biases at the hiring manager level. Many tech companies in particular are implementing more modern practices and dropping traditional four-year university degree mandates. Leadership teams and managers need to adjust their hiring requirements and process. So the question now becomes: How do employers take advantage of the growing alternative credentials movement?Įvolve Your Hiring Requirements And Interview Process Among those who don’t, nearly half have considered earning one. Today, nearly half of American workers have some form of an alternative credential.
showed that some 70% support alternative credential offerings as “a required strategy” for business schools. Recent polling from 112 deans, directors and faculty at 85 schools throughout the U.S. (Full disclosure, my company works with the University of Maryland.) And this trend will continue to grow. Schools such as Northeastern, Harvard Business School and the University of Maryland Global Campus are leading the way by offering credit articulation towards degrees. Alternative credentials come with a price and flexibility that can help level that playing field by ensuring the skills and training needed for a nonlinear career path are accessible to all, not just some.Īs universities contend with declining enrollments in degree programs, the more innovative among them are recognizing the role of alternative credentials. Traditional higher education operates like a ladder for students who come from money, and a ball and chain for those who don’t. Americans currently hold $1.75 trillion of outstanding total student loan debt. The benefits of higher education should be readily available and accessible for everyone-and yet we all know this has simply not been the case. Alternative credentials can help by offering a more flexible and personalized approach.Įconomics is also a key factor in the rise of alternative credentials. What used to be a straight line from college into employment is now a winding, nonlinear path, filled with economic ups and downs, multiple career changes, emerging new industries and a need to continuously add new skill sets.