Not having a college degree matters most early in your career. But there are workarounds for young workers.

nervous applicant at job interview — A four-year degree was once an unquestioned requirement for most desk jobs. Not anymore.
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Research suggests a college degree isn't as much of a requirement as it once was for many jobs.
But it can be hard for early-career job seekers without degrees to get noticed by hiring managers.
Recruiters say candidates need to show they have the transferable skills and aptitude to do the job.

Debbie George, a managing director at an investment firm, has the kind of résumé that any recruiter would covet.

She has decades of experience — including years in leadership at a prestigious asset-management firm, a track record of strong performance, and the returns to prove it. But there's one thing George lacks: a college degree.

No matter, she said. "It hasn't really hurt me going from job to job. At a certain point, employers care more about your presence, accomplishments, and your ability to deliver."

A four-year degree was once an unquestioned requirement for most desk jobs. But a college diploma isn't the must-have it used to be. Yet even as more employers stop asking where job candidates went to school, it can still be hard for people without a college degree to get noticed by hiring managers. This is especially true for people early in their careers who don't have years of experience.

An analysis by the Burning Glass Institute, a nonprofit research group, found that the share of jobs requiring a college degree has fallen in recent years. What's more, it found that from 2017 to 2019, about 46% of what it described as middle-skill jobs and 31% of high-skill jobs had "material" reductions in degree requirements.

Google, Hilton, and Bank of America recently eliminated college-degree requirements for many jobs. The moves came amid a labor shortage and as companies adopt more equitable hiring practices after the murder of George Floyd touched off a reckoning on race in America.

Insider spoke with three recruiters about how applicants without a closet full of college sweatshirts can stand out and show they have the skills and aptitude to succeed.

Beat the bots through keywords — and find a friendly recruiter

George, who works at Logan Capital Management in Pennsylvania, could recall only one time when not having a college degree cost her a job. She said she was well qualified for the role; three people within the company had personally recommended her to the hiring manager. But when George filled out an application through the company's job portal — leaving the education section blank — it was apparently rejected.

"I think the bots screened me out," she said.

Kelly Baird, an independent talent and recruiting consultant in Boston, said that beating the bots is a tricky problem. "There's a reason why humans need to go through résumés, not artificial intelligence," Baird said.

Baird recommended scouring LinkedIn to find a recruiter at a company or local staffing agency who's willing to work with you. (If you're not already on LinkedIn, get on it stat, she said.) Then ask for help in finding a role that suits your interests and abilities. The recruiter can also offer advice on how to tweak your applications and cover letters to ensure your skills and keywords match companies' job descriptions — important for getting around those pesky bots.

If you continue to be stymied by digital gatekeepers, Baird advised raising the issue with the company's HR department; you can find a phone number or email on the organization's website under the careers section.

Acquire skills through boot camps and online courses

Nikita Gupta, a Big Tech recruiter in Seattle who founded a job-search company called Careerflow, said the cold hard truth is that many hiring managers spend fewer than 10 seconds scanning your résumé. For entry-level positions, she said, not having a degree "can hurt you for sure."

"If 200 people are applying for the same role, I want people who stand out," she said. "Give me a reason to take your candidacy to the next level."

Gupta said she's moved ahead with many applicants whose education consisted only of tech boot camps, coding certificates, and programming-language courses. That's because their résumés showcased how their experience and personal projects — a contribution to open-source software, perhaps, or a self-designed app with an impressive number of downloads — aligned with the company's needs.

Ash Kumar, an independent technical recruiter in Vancouver, British Columbia, said another benefit of boot camps is that you become a member of an online community. "A lot of people use their networks to find a job or an internship," he said, adding that he recommends Course Report, a veritable Yelp for programs, to research the best courses.

Highlight your real-world experience

Kumar said it can be a little harder for nontechnical job seekers to get their foot in the door. That's why if you're looking to get hired as an account manager, say, or a customer-relationship specialist, you need to highlight your people skills and ability to think critically and process information.

Ash Kumar, a recruiter, advised highlighting your people skills and your ability to think critically and process information.
Ash Kumar

Your real-world experience — maybe a summer job as a door-to-door salesperson or a stint as a shift manager at Starbucks — is key. "If you're up against someone with a liberal arts degree, you're more likely to progress because you know how to sell," he said.

Similarly, managing a retail or service team means that you've done scheduling and training and that you have leadership abilities. "You know what working life is like," Kumar said.

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