College credentials? Gen Z job hunters also need to learn specific skills for employers.
Once upon a time, a job seeker with a fancy degree from a school like Harvard or Tufts could expect a job with no questions asked.
But these days, many employers seem to be prioritizing skills over those fancy college credentials. Case in point: Recent Linkedin data showed that recruiters were five times more likely to search for candidates based on skills rather than based on degrees. In 2022, according to the Linkedin post, 30% of paid job posts had no degree requirements. That's up from 20% in 2019.
“What's new with Gen Z that's really interesting and exciting is that employers are leaning on skills-based hiring more than a traditional education pathway in order to fill different positions that they might have,” said Jason Dorsey, an expert on Gen Z. “To me, this is a very, very exciting development because it just opens up workforce roles to a lot more members of Gen Z from a variety of backgrounds and geographies."
Gen Z guru Dorsey points out that historically, employees have had to attain an “educational minimum,” whether a high school diploma or bachelor's degree. Now, he said, low unemployment rates (currently 3.8%) have put pressure on employers to assess candidates on a broader set of criteria ranging from problem-solving abilities to a potential employee's work ethic.
Second, technology has driven the increase in skill-based hiring. Today, Dorsey explained, companies require more tech skills than ever before. Meanwhile, prospective employees can acquire skills online without getting a traditional four-year degree.
"And that's exciting because, basically, that's the generation responding, right? Saying, 'Hey, I want to demonstrate that I have the skills but I'm gonna go in a way that works for me,'" said Dorsey. “I'm gonna go through, you know, one of these boot camps for coding or I'm gonna go do an online program for graphic design or any number of things like that to really focus in on the skills that matter to me and what I want to ultimately do."
But what skills should young people focus on, and how should they go about learning them? Some advice:
The right attitude
Attitude plays a critical role in hiring. Employees have become increasingly more “open to hiring for attitude,” said Dorsey. “This includes a much stronger employer hiring emphasis on employee reliability — showing up consistently and ready to work, problem-solving abilities, positive attitude, and perceived work ethic.”
In other words: Don't be a jerk.
Give them what they want
Look up employers, figure out what skills they’re seeking, and work backwards from there.
"I think the answer is figuring out what companies need, figuring out what the market needs, right? What's going to be the thing that drives revenue, that changes it or makes their product more disruptive," said Stephen Chu, chief legal and people officer at InStride, a career education company.
"Or," he added, "is their service more sticky? And then identifying what those roles are, taking those roles, and then identifying the skills that a young person can have to be very successful in that role."
Put your head down and learn
Dorsey listed some of the skills young people can learn online: coding, web design, video editing, content moderation, online customer engagement, digital marketing, data analysis, cyber security, social media marketing, IT support, and influencer marketing.
But, he noted, “no one size fits all.”
"Often the right balance is what works best for the learner and the reality of the on-the-job skills they need to succeed. For example, watching videos and reading books about sales can be helpful for base knowledge,” he said. “But at some point to become proficient a Gen Zer has to practice selling to a potential customer and get better at building interest, trust, and influence to consummate sales. This is true with many skills-based positions from customer service to coding."
Don't rule out a college education
Mark Beal, a professor at the Rutgers University School of Communication & Information, said that many of his students find tremendous value in both the knowledge and internship and networking opportunities higher education can offer. Higher education, he explained, often works in tandem with hard skills training to deliver the best results.
"It's gaining those hard skills, learning those hard skills," Beal said. “But I think it's a combination of those two things. Because I think, again, within the education path, you're still getting your networking, you're making these connections, you're getting internships, are gaining real world experience.”
Beal added that universities offer myriad opportunities for Zoomers to develop work skills that employers value. Many schools offer innovative "experiential and skills-focused courses” across different majors. For instance, in his course, he said students "research, plan, and execute a 15-week integrated marketing communication campaign."
Chu said that a degree can be useful even if it doesn’t relate to the field you want to pursue professionally.
"It could be the most skills-based job of all time but if you're using your mind and opening it up to different ways of thinking," he said, "you're gonna approach every problem that you're facing with a different view that is not so narrow minded, so narrow focused.”
Dylan Croll is a Yahoo Finance reporter.
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