Companies are abandoning their degree requirements, opening up new pathways for those who have not attended college to find competitive, well-paying professions.
According to recent study from ZipRecruiter, the amount of employment requiring any degree over a high school diploma has been progressively decreasing since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to projections from the Bureau of Labour Statistics, by 2030, 60% of all new positions in the economy will be in professions that don’t call for a graduate, associate, or bachelor’s degree.
Data scientists at LinkedIn examined millions of member profiles and job posting descriptions submitted on the platform between 2021 and 2023 to identify the sectors where chances for job seekers without bachelor’s degrees are expanding the fastest.
For the purposes of this report, a “non-bachelor’s graduate” is a person who has either graduated from high school, earned an associate’s degree, or served an apprenticeship.
According to LinkedIn, the following positions for those without a bachelor’s degree are expanding the fastest.
1. Advise Taking:
Top positions include client advisor, business consultant, and solution consultant.
2.Marketing Top Jobs:
Marketing Coordinator, Social Media Manager, and Marketing Specialist
3. Research:
Top positions: business analyst, medical laboratory technician, and laboratory technician
4. Personnel resources:
Top positions include human resources specialist and assistant.
5. Communication and Media:
Top positions: production manager, editor, production assistant, and writer.
Some of these positions pay six figures: According to ZipRecruiter, experienced production managers can expect to earn at least $106,000 annually, while the highest-paid solutions consultants typically make between $113,000 and $167,000 per year.For candidates without a bachelor’s degree, recruiting for consulting roles has increased significantly in recent years, rising 34% between 2021 and 2022.
“People will hear ‘consulting’ and immediately picture a job at a big consulting firm, but there are a lot of freelance and contract opportunities where you can use your skills or expertise in a certain area, like sales, for example, to advise a company or client on a specific project,” says Andrew Seaman, senior managing editor for jobs and career development at LinkedIn News. “You don’t need a bachelor’s degree to do that.”
Similar to this, more businesses are reconsidering how they hire for HR positions, putting more emphasis on soft skills like leadership and communication than a candidate’s educational background, adds Seaman.
“There is so much valuable life experience a person can bring to an HR job, and more companies are offering training and certification programs to fill in any skills gaps,” he mentioned.
“For example, at the start of the pandemic, we saw a lot of people on LinkedIn who suddenly couldn’t do their jobs anymore, like bartenders and people who worked in hospitality, pivot to roles in HR, because they already had the people skills you need to thrive in such jobs.”
