For companies struggling to hire during the COVID-19 pandemic, talent acquisition teams are left wondering — how do we fill the skills gap? One solution: focus on hiring employees based on the skills it takes to accomplish the job, rather than looking for credentials.This practice has had a drastic impact on the millions of workers who do not hold a four-year degree.
In a conversation hosted by Flatiron School on September 9, 2021, Rebekah Rombom, Chief Business Development Officer at Flatiron School, was joined by Maurice A. Jones, CEO of OneTen, and Obed Louissaint, SVP of Transformation & Culture for IBM, to discuss how they propose to connect top talent — who do not have a four-year college degree — with leading education and skill-building organizations.
The panel discussed how companies can start to hire based on skills, rather college degrees, and where employers should look for new sources of viable talent.
Jones and Louissaint raised several benefits of a skills-based approach. Chief among them: Evaluating candidates based on their skill sets instead of their work history or degree can help level the playing field for candidates, help companies discover the talent they already have working for them, and yield talent pools that are more diverse.
OneTen aims to facilitate one million careers for Black talent in America over the next ten years. OneTen has provided Flatiron School with a $50,000 grant to help advance this goal by awarding partial scholarships to Black individuals who do not have a four-year degree.
Through these and other initiatives, Flatiron School, OneTen and IBM are working to make the tech industry more inclusive. Learn more about how to create a similar scholarship.
