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Neither approach wins in every role. Skills-based hiring is often the stronger default when employers can define and assess the capabilities the work requires and no law or license mandates a degree. Degree requirements still make sense when formal qualifications are essential or genuinely predict job performance. For most employers, the practical answer is to assess job-related skills consistently and treat education as one signal—not a stand-in for demonstrated ability.
What the two approaches mean
Skills-based hiring
Skills-based hiring focuses on what a candidate can demonstrate, regardless of how those skills were acquired. Evidence may come from work experience, structured interviews, work samples, or other assessments tied to the role. It does not mean ignoring education or experience; it means not using a degree as an automatic proxy for capability.
Degree-based hiring
Degree-based hiring makes a university qualification a requirement or a major screening signal. That can be appropriate where a credential is legally required, where formal study is essential to the work, or where the qualification has a defensible connection to the tasks. It is less useful when the degree requirement persists mainly because it is familiar or easy to screen for.
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How the evidence compares
Current hiring is not a simple choice between skills and degrees. Employers report using multiple signals, and the available evidence measures expectations and perceptions as well as observed outcomes. Those measures should not be treated as interchangeable proof of hiring quality.
#1 Best Overall
| Evidence | What it found | How to interpret it |
|---|---|---|
| Employer expectations, 2025–2030 | In its 2025 survey of employers across economies, the World Economic Forum reported that 81% expected to rely on work experience, 48% expected to use skills assessments, and 43% expected to continue requiring university degrees by 2030. Source: World Economic Forum, Future of Jobs Report 2025. | These are employers’ expectations, not measurements of what they ultimately did or of which method produced better hires. |
| Employer views, 2025 | SHRM found that 34% of organizations often or almost always used skills-first strategies. Sixty-seven percent of HR professionals said educational requirements helped them find successful hires, compared with 62% who said the same about prioritizing skills; among supervisors, the figures were 86% and 84%, respectively. Source: SHRM, The Skills-First Movement. | These are survey respondents’ reports about perceived success, not results from a randomized comparison of hiring methods. |
| Financial objectives, 2025 | SHRM reported that 35% of organizations that often or almost always used skills-first strategies said they exceeded financial objectives, compared with 27% of organizations that never, rarely, or sometimes used them. Source: SHRM, The Skills-First Movement. | This association does not show that skills-first hiring caused the difference; other organizational factors may be involved. |
| Two-year retention, U.S. evidence summarized in 2026 | The OECD summarized U.S. big-data evidence finding about a 10-percentage-point higher two-year retention rate for non-degreed hires placed in roles where degree requirements were dropped, compared with degree-holding peers. Source: OECD, Positioning Skills as the New Currency of Work. | This is an observed result in the studied setting, not a guaranteed effect of removing degree requirements in other roles or countries. |
| AI-related UK vacancies, 2018–2023 | A study summarized by the OECD found AI-related roles’ share of UK postings rose 21% from 2018 to 2023, while mentions of university degree requirements for those roles fell 15%. Source: OECD summary of Bone, González Ehlinger and Stephany. | This describes a specific occupation and labor market over a particular period; it does not establish that degree removal improved hiring outcomes. |
The World Economic Forum’s 2024 report defines the principle succinctly: “Skills-first” strategies focus directly on skills rather than how they have been acquired. World Economic Forum, Putting Skills First.
Which approach works better for employers?
Choose skills-first when capabilities can be assessed directly
For roles where essential tasks and competencies can be clearly described and evaluated, skills-first screening can let employers consider qualified candidates whose ability comes from experience, training, or other pathways rather than a degree. The potential advantage is a wider pool and less dependence on credentials as proxies. Those benefits depend on having a sound assessment process; removing a degree requirement without replacing it with relevant evaluation leaves hiring teams with less evidence, not better evidence.
Keep degree requirements when they are necessary
Some occupations require formal qualifications or licenses. In other jobs, academic study may provide knowledge that is genuinely important and difficult to assess efficiently another way. In those cases, employers should retain the requirement and be clear about why it is necessary. Skills-first practice can still help evaluate additional capabilities, but it cannot replace a mandatory credential.
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Many roles benefit from considering education, experience, and demonstrated skills together. A degree can show a relevant foundation; a work sample or structured interview can show how a candidate applies knowledge to the actual work. The useful question is not whether a credential is good or bad in isolation, but whether each screening signal is job-related and adds information beyond the others.
Rank #3
Compare the approaches against the role
| Decision factor | Skills-first approach | Degree requirement |
|---|---|---|
| Legal or technical necessity | Useful for assessing capabilities beyond mandatory qualifications; cannot override legal credential or licensing rules. | Necessary where law, regulation, or a genuine technical requirement calls for the qualification. |
| Fit to actual tasks | Strong when assessments represent the work candidates will do and use consistent criteria. | Useful when the qualification’s learning outcomes directly support essential duties; weaker as a generic proxy. |
| Candidate access | Can include capable candidates who developed skills through different routes. | Excludes candidates without the specified degree, including those who may be able to do the job. |
| Reliability and consistency | Depends on well-designed, accessible assessments and trained evaluators. | Simple to screen consistently, but a consistent screen may still measure the wrong thing. |
| Time and resources | Can require time to design assessments, review work samples, and calibrate interviewers. | Can be faster to apply as an initial filter, though it does not by itself establish job readiness. |
| Outcomes after hiring | Potential outcomes must be monitored in the employer’s own roles; survey associations do not guarantee performance or retention. | Value depends on how well the qualification predicts the work; a degree requirement alone does not prove better outcomes. |
How to implement a skills-first approach responsibly
- Start with the work. List the essential tasks, the capabilities needed on day one, and the skills that can be learned after hiring. Separate mandatory credentials from preferences.
- Rewrite requirements around evidence. Specify required capabilities in the job description. Keep an education requirement only when it is genuinely necessary or legally mandated.
- Choose job-related assessments. Use structured interviews, work samples, or other relevant skills assessments. Ensure each measures actual work rather than access to coaching, expensive preparation, or unrelated traits.
- Apply the same criteria. Give candidates a consistent process and evaluate responses against defined standards. Train hiring teams to reduce inconsistent judgments and credential-based shortcuts.
- Pilot and measure. Begin with a defined group of roles and compare applicant mix, assessment results, time to hire, quality of hire, and retention against a prior baseline. Use the findings to adjust the process rather than assuming the change worked.
The OECD describes a broader four-step direction: identify priority roles and stakeholders; update job descriptions to specify required skills; adapt selection around demonstrated skills while promoting fairness; and extend skills principles into performance management and development. It also notes that evidence about effective implementation remains limited and largely anecdotal, so this is a practical framework rather than a proven universal recipe. OECD, Promoting Skills-First Hiring and Talent Management.
Quick Recap
Best Value
Risks employers should manage
- Weak assessment design: A test that does not reflect the job can introduce noise or reward test-taking rather than capability. Check relevance, reliability, accessibility, and cost before adopting it.
- Unequal access: Candidates may have different access to preparation, technology, or alternative pathways. Removing degree filters alone does not ensure fairer representation.
- Hidden credential preferences: Hiring teams may continue to favor degrees informally even after job postings remove them. Use structured criteria and review how decisions are made.
- Overclaiming results: Survey perceptions and observed retention differences are useful signals, not proof that one method will outperform another in every employer’s circumstances.
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