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A new study from the Rockefeller Foundation and Edelman Intelligence questions whether the college degree is the best way to screen candidates for entry-level jobs.
The survey of 1,200 recent college graduates, human-resources officials, company executives and young people who face economic barriers found that the top metric for evaluating a new employee is how well he or she fits with company culture, according to 49 percent of employer respondents, criteria the study said can be subjective and unscientific.
As a result, 69 percent of employers require college degrees in the new-hire screening process, which the foundation calls a “blunt proxy for general skills, because employers lack alternate tools or methods to predict candidates’ career success.”
That also means young people who have faced economic challenges are at a disadvantage in the hiring process, the foundation said.
“The results of this survey underscore the real opportunity that employers have to strengthen their talent pipelines and improve employment outcomes by broadening and diversifying their applicant pool,” Abigail Carlton, managing director at the foundation, in a written statement. “We hope this research will encourage employers to take a closer look at some of their existing HR practices and explore how impact hiring may help expand entry-level employment opportunities for underserved populations and deliver tangible business value.”
