Employer Series: The Deep End of the Talent Pool

How does an employer or hiring manager know the winds of the American labor market are about to blow in a new direction?

Perhaps when a Larry Fink—CEO of the investment behemoth BlackRock—declares, as he did recently, that the company needs to start hiring more critical thinkers with liberal-arts backgrounds than simply relying on the technical skills and experience of financial-services professionals.

When the top dog of a company with $10.43 trillion in assets—yes, that’s with a “t”—declares an interest in hiring those who might be considered non-traditional candidates, you can bet the pendulum may be swinging back after a decade of declining opportunities for those lacking degrees in STEM disciplines, law school grads or health-care providers.

The age of Hiring the Non-Traditional Candidate, it seems, has arrived. To be sure, nobody will leave a construction company to take up a career in brain surgery or direct a biomedical lab. But health systems would do well to consider such employees with field experience for maintenance roles or operations roles, or take office workers from retail settings and turn them loose on advancing health-informatics processes and AI. For the latter, especially, we’re talking about jobs that almost nobody has filled because they’re only now being created in mass numbers.

That’s especially true for companies willing to back up their recruitment with training dollars for new skills, executives in the talent-search sphere say. Such companies may find it easier to bring the right people on board, even if they lack a four-year degree or are pivoting to an entirely new career track that makes their college instruction a moot point.

But even if they find the right fit, landing the right talent is just the first step. Companies able to do that must capitalize on it, says Brian Huston, owner of OutrightHR in Lenexa.

“The sad thing is, most companies spend far too little time, energy, and effort on orientation and onboarding efforts anyway,” he says. “They need to clearly define what someone does on their first day, during their first week, or in their first month for certain roles. I find they often don’t already have a plan in place, setting every employee up for failure, and that’s doubly so for non-traditional workers.”

In that continuing quest for talent, more companies have decided to cast their recruiting net wider. Last fall, Intelligent.com released the findings of a study showing that 45 percent of American companies planned to eliminate bachelor’s degree requirements for some positions by the start of this year. 

Many others have already removed degree requirements for new members of the work force and for mid-level positions. Among them, the world’s largest retailer; Walmart last year announced that it was ditching degree requirements for many positions and rewriting job descriptions with that in mind.

Part of the trend is driven by the need for C-suite executives to reach their corporate diversity goals, with the knowledge that the right applicants can be trained with the necessary skills. Among other data points uncovered by various employer surveys:

• In a sampling of 800 U.S. employers, roughly 640—80 percent—said they were likely or very likely to prioritize work experience over education, irrespective of an applicant’s background. A large number want recent college graduates who have work experience but don’t limit consideration to their own sectors.

• The highest percentages of companies that have eliminated degree requirements generally hail from the IT, construction, finance and insurance sectors.

• The loosening of credential standards isn’t all-encompassing; 95 percent of companies continue to require bachelor’s degrees for key positions.

• Only 15 percent of companies posting on Ziprecruiter.com had college degree requirements in their job descriptions as of last fall.

The problem for recent college graduates without work histories, experts say, is that the technical skills mastered on campus usually don’t embrace the soft skills needed to advance their careers. A majority of employers are now focused on the way new hires—whether new to the work force or those switching tracks—demonstrate leadership traits, are good cultural fits, and show the greatest flexibility with their career path.

“I would say definitely, the rise of remote work, the increasing skills gap and a more diverse labor market are prompting employers to reconsider traditional hiring practices,” says Michelle Anderson, vice president of executive search for Omni HR Solutions in Overland Park. “I see employers revaluing skills, experience and competencies over formal qualifications. Some of our clients are looking for soft skills as well as prior performance, and they’re willing to train on the technical matters.”

Where is the biggest impact of this trend playing out?

“The trades and hospitality, I certainly think, have a high level of non-traditional candidates,” Anderson said. “We’ve also seen with not-for-profits an openness to those candidates. Even financial services, if people have the right demeanor and work ethic, and marketing, customer service and project-management roles.”

Solutions for Employers

Huston pointed out that during the review process, “hiring managers and employers need to understand that the assessment of potential fit is not a one-way street. Candidates are making judgments, as well.”

“My pitch is that first impressions matter, so providing clarity and support matters,” he said. He encourages all involved in hiring to “spend time on this, and on your training managers, too. Far too few new employees are given guidance on how to be good leaders. If you start with that foundation, those core management skills are the same things you want to develop with non-traditional employees, although maybe with a little more patience and guidance.”

There are, say, work-force development executives, excellent bottom-line reasons for expanding the candidate search field:

• For one, the diversity factor with hiring has a multiplier effect because it can help expand your customer base to customers with diverse backgrounds, as well. Someone with a background in marketing, for example, can help a retail establishment craft strategies to improve customer service because they’ve seen the way clients in other sectors have had to address customer satisfaction issues. Or the dreaded “resume gap” may reflect a period when the candidate traveled extensively overseas, experiences that might help if your company is entering new markets outside the United States.

• There’s no shortage of research to support the proposition that diverse staffing correlates directly to improved financial performance. The right fit as a hire may lack certain skills that require training, but the person seeking work might not command the level of compensation that career-track professionals demand.

• More efficient hiring. A shallow candidate pool imposes costs of its own in time and expense needed to yield the right fit. Keep in mind: For every gem you think you’re uncovering, other companies might also be assessing If you nail the right hire sooner in the process, you reduce the likelihood that you’ll lose out to a higher bid.

• Spark innovation. Breaking out of your traditional hiring box creates opportunities for new, even unexpected ideas. Those unconventional backgrounds are likely to yield thought processes that help resolve lingering organizational challenges—and, on some occasions, identify problems your team didn’t even realize it was facing.

For those on the other side of the hiring desk, Huston advises that the best way to make a quick impression with employers is by “trying to tell a good story: Why you’re interested in switching fields or why you think such a move would put you in a stronger career position.”

Applicants, he said, don’t have long to make a first impression. “So if you’re switching a field, or otherwise not a typical applicant, you’re already facing an uphill battle,” he says. “Don’t waste that opportunity. Have a compelling rationale and tell that story to a recruiter because if they don’t see it in the first three to five seconds, you may not get another opportunity.”

That same dynamic, hiring pros say, should give companies pause to rethink their interviewing process. Can you really know what you need to glean from an interview within a matter of seconds? A review of their own assessment practices may reveal that front-line hiring managers are making snap decisions that fail to fully probe how a candidate’s unique motivations can produce an outstanding cultural and organizational fit.

But again, it’s important for companies to know that the process doesn’t stop with the job offer.

Hiring executives and senior leaders, Anderson says, “need to develop more of an inclusive hiring practice and onboarding process, and revise job descriptions to focus on skills and competencies. They also need to implement training programs to help non-traditional candidates integrate smoothly, and they can offer performance-based incentives rather than just the typical salary band. And mentorship is very important—assigning mentors and emphasizing continuous learning.”