Employers and employees alike can benefit from skills-based hiring networks, which bring more workers into the fold and improve diversity, according to upward mobility organization OneTen, which connects Black talent without four-year degrees to career opportunities.
The organization just released a report on barriers to generational wealth. The study, which features case studies with Black workers, aims to illustrate the ways employers can benefit from investing in skills-first hiring.
One of the case studies centers a Delta employee who worked as a gate agent, plane ticket associate and customer service representative for more than a decade, but plateaued in her career due to lacking a degree.
Ultimately, Delta transitioned to a skills-based talent acquisition model; within the past two years, the airline transformed its workplace so that more than 90% of openings do not require a degree. The move reflected the company’s intention to “become an anti-racist, anti-discrimination organization,” according to its announcement.
Early this year, Cleveland Clinic publicized their adoption of a similar talent acquisition approach.
A February 2023 report by Bain & Co., OneTen and Grads of Life suggests that 60% of job listings are “soft bachelor’s” jobs, meaning a degree is required per the description, but a bachelor’s degree isn’t necessarily a proper valuation of whether a job candidate can rise to the occasion.
Looking at OneTen’s more recent report and case studies, HR may find that not only do initiatives such as this one champion diversity, equity and inclusion, but they may help HR bridge the gap between ambitious workers and open roles that need to be filled.
