The Must-Read Articles for Talent Professionals This Week

When it comes to skills-first hiring, many companies talk a good game. They announce they’re dropping degree requirements and insist they’re evaluating candidates based on all they have to offer. But a recent study by The Burning Glass Institute and Harvard Business School found that even though these companies talk the talk, they don’t always walk the walk.

According to the study, there’s been a nearly fourfold increase in employers who have dropped degree requirements from 2014 to 2023. That should be good news — except that it resulted in an increase of less than 1% in the hiring of candidates without degrees. Overall, the study’s authors estimate, this shift created new opportunities for about 97,000 workers out of 77 million yearly hires, or fewer than one in 700 hires in 2023.

“Our analysis makes clear that successful adoption of skills-based hiring involves more than simply stripping language from job postings,” the report said. “To hire for skills, firms will need to implement robust and intentional changes in their hiring practices — and change is hard.”

To learn more about this fascinating study, check out the article at the top of our list below of must-read articles for talent professionals. Further down the list, you’ll learn how a five-year gap in a candidate’s resume shouldn’t be a big cause for concern; why Gen Zers are more interested in salary and career growth than whether they like their job; and what a Georgetown professor thinks knowledge workers can do to avoid burnout.