Can STARs tear down the ‘paper ceiling’?
Recruiters are rethinking the importance of college degrees over experience
By Jean Saylor Doppenberg H ow important is a college degree to land a job requiring a certain level of skills? For physicians and others who must attain advanced degrees to practice medicine and the law, higher education is a must. But for millions of workers without a degree, their resume may have routinely been thrown on the “reject” pile over the years simply because that paper diploma was beyond their reach. “Tear the Paper Ceiling” (“paper” refers to a degree) is a national public service campaign that aims to convince companies to drop the four-year degree requirements for many jobs they are seeking to fill, greatly expanding the candidate pool in a time of low unemployment by focusing on applicants’ existing skills and experience. These people without degrees are being called STARs (skilled through alternative routes). The Advertising Council, a national nonprofit that
promotes public service announcements, created the campaign for Opportunity@Work, an organization that seeks to eliminate the opportunity gap in hiring and help millions of under-credentialed Americans find gainful employment. Opportunity@Work’s founding donor is Reid Hoffman, co-founder and executive chairman of LinkedIn. The organization says of the estimated 70 million STARs in the workplace, approximately 4 million have found high-paying jobs without needing degrees. According to tearthepaperceiling.org , STARs “reflect our nation’s racial and cultural diversity”: 61% of Black workers are STARs, 55% of Latinx workers, 50% of white workers, 66% of rural Americans and 61% of veterans. On the website, employers can download the STARs Hiring Playbook, which includes guides to help companies find skills-based talent and prepare for skills-based job interviews.
August 2024
NorthBaybiz 21
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