Indeed survey shows a majority of job seekers believe employers should consider skills rather than degrees when considering a candidate’s qualifications

AUSTIN, Texas Indeed, a leading hiring platform, today launched Skill Connect, a new product to help job seekers without college degrees better promote their skills and completed training programs to potential employers. According to the U.S. Census, 62% of adults in the U.S. currently do not have a bachelor’s degree. These candidates are often overlooked because they lack academic credentials, even though they have relevant skills to offer.

Skill Connect is designed to help job seekers gaining skills through job training programs offered by our initial partners Per Scholas, Year Up, and Austin Community College find employment. Once their training program is complete, Skill Connect guides them through a custom resume process, pre-populating suggested skills and certifications. These job seekers can then be found on Indeed by employers searching for people with their skills and training.

A recent Indeed survey¹ reports that 64% of job seekers believe they have been overlooked for a job they were otherwise qualified for because they did not have the degree listed in the job description. It’s no surprise then that a majority of job seekers believe employers should consider other factors like experience (83%), career/skills certifications (72%), and skills assessments (65%) rather than degrees when considering a candidate’s qualifications. Indeed’s survey also shows that alternative training programs (such as bootcamps, certification programs, etc) are opening doors for job seekers without a college degree: 76% of those who have participated in a training program say it helped them advance their career.

“Promoting skills-based hiring is deeply connected to Indeed’s mission of helping people get jobs. Hiring based on skills rather than academic credentials will have a significant impact on helping job seekers facing bias and barriers find work,” said Abbey Carlton, VP of Social Impact at Indeed. “By launching Skill Connect, Indeed and our partners will help match employers to job seekers who have learned new skills through their training programs. With over three million employers hiring on Indeed globally, we are well positioned to help even more people get jobs through Skill Connect.”

“Skill Connect is a powerful tool, blazing the path for individuals to be evaluated based on their ability to excel with their skills, instead of relying on proxies for preparedness,” said Plinio Ayala, President and CEO of Per Scholas. “Per Scholas is proud to partner with Indeed on this innovative experience and looks forward to seeing positive impact among job seekers and companies alike.”

“Partnering with Indeed to help develop Skill Connect has allowed our interns and graduates to expand their reach and presence during their job searches in the market, leading to higher engagement and some great jobs,” said Morris W. Applehite, National Head of Corporate Engagement at Year Up. “Indeed took time and intentionality to work with Year Up staff and students to get a real sense of the job search experience and used that information to thoughtfully build this tool. We are excited to grow our partnership and impact with Skill Connect and Indeed.”

“We want our students to come out of our programs with the right skill sets necessary to be successful and unlock possibilities to rewarding and high-paying careers. This partnership helps make that happen,” said ACC Chancellor Dr. Richard Rhodes. “Through this partnership we empower students to pave their own paths to success and get directly into the workforce, earning living wages for themselves and their families.”

Indeed’s mission is to help people get jobs. Skill Connect reflects another step forward toward this mission as we seek to open up job opportunities for all. At Indeed, we are committed to helping 30 million job seekers facing bias and barriers get hired by 2030, with a focus on skills-based hiring.

To learn more, please visit Skill Connect.

About Indeed

More people find jobs on Indeed than anywhere else. Indeed is the #1 job site in the world (Comscore, Total Visits, September 2022) and allows job seekers to search millions of jobs in more than 60 countries and 28 languages. Over 3 million employers use Indeed to find and hire new employees. More than 300 million unique visitors use Indeed each month to search for jobs, post resumes, research companies and more. For more information, visit indeed.com.