Even without a college degree, it is possible to secure employment at some of America's largest companies. Companies like Delta Air Lines and Bank of America are open to hiring individuals without a college degree. According to a survey by Intelligent.com, 45% of US employers are planning to eliminate bachelor's degree requirements for certain positions by 2024. It appears that companies are increasingly valuing the skills of potential employees over formal qualifications, although there is still progress to be made in skills-based hiring practices. Some companies prioritize skills over educational background or have roles that do not necessitate a degree.
Kayla Nall, director of talent acquisition operations at Delta Air Lines, emphasizes the importance of experience, stating that organizations focusing on skills-based hiring care more about what candidates know rather than where they learned it. An Indeed report based on US job postings highlighted numerous job opportunities that did not stipulate specific educational requirements, with over half of them omitting any mention of educational criteria. Companies are embracing skills-based hiring practices to attract more diverse candidates and those who may not have had access to such opportunities previously. By emphasizing skills in job postings and enabling job seekers to develop those skills, progress towards more inclusive career paths is being made. Prominent companies have spoken about opportunities and provided advice for job seekers looking for employment without a degree.
Kelli Jordan, vice president of IBMer Growth and Development, told BI that several years ago, IBM "started to be a lot more thoughtful about really changing the requirements for our jobs and removing those college degree requirements from a lot of our roles."
"At this point, more than half of our US job openings don't have a bachelor's degree requirement, and we really start to think more strategically about the types of skills that are needed for different types of roles," Jordan said. "This is applied to all of the types of jobs across the spectrum of IBM, whether it's cloud computing or AI or cybersecurity or design."
Apprenticeships can be one opportunity for job seekers without a degree. Jordan said over 90% of IBM's apprentice graduates ended up being full-time workers at the company.
"Our US apprenticeship program is really a different entry point into IBM for talent that may have been previously overlooked or excluded from consideration," Jordan said.
People skills, like collaboration and communication, are desirable at the company per Jordan.
"Even as over time we may have to update the technical skills required for a role, all of the jobs at IBM are really going to lean into those types of people skills or power skills as part of what we're looking for when we're hiring a candidate," Jordan said.
Nick Curry, senior manager of emerging talent pipelines for Amazon Web Services, said in a written statement to BI that there isn't a typical skill or college degree requirement at Amazon due to the variety of jobs. Curry said, "We assess candidates on job-related knowledge skills and abilities for all of our positions."
"As the industry evolves, we find that candidates with a job-related skill set don't necessarily come exclusively with four-year degrees; therefore, we continue to seek out talent where talent thrives," Curry said. "We continuously look at innovative ways to reduce the barriers of entry to tech and attract more diverse talent to pursue a career in this industry."
Zoë Hoffmann, corporate communications at Amazon, told BI in a statement that there are "varying degree requirements for roles at Amazon" but also noted "a large number of roles either don't require a degree," including opportunities for business intelligence engineers or SAP integration developers, "or 'require a degree or equivalent experience.'"
Another potential opportunity for those without a degree are apprenticeships, Hoffmann said.
AWS has also worked on removing four-year degree requirements for jobs.
"Last year we launched a skills-based hiring program at AWS that will help us scale the number of job roles that will not require a bachelor's degree over time," Curry said. "In 2023, we removed the four-year degree requirement from more than 500 job requisitions at AWS, and are continuing to do this in 2024."
Plus, Curry said, "we are removing the requirement for a bachelor's degree for some data center and cloud support roles."
"We believe there will always be a need for college-educated learners, but we also want to create paths for employees through other means because college isn't for everyone, and we have employees who have joined the companies with an array of backgrounds," Curry said. "All of our apprenticeship programs and skills-based hiring programs in the US today are prime examples of hiring paths without the need for a degree at all."
While Rod Adams, PwC talent acquisition and onboarding leader, told BI in a written statement that "for the majority of our client service positions, candidates typically need to have or be on track to earn a Bachelor's degree in a relevant field of study," there are potential opportunities for those who don't have a degree who want to work at PwC.
"While the majority of our positions require educational degrees, we still look for candidates who have relevant skills and who are committed to continuing to learn at every stage of their career," Adams said. "We know that our people's skills, experiences, and perspectives are essential to our firm, and we'll continue to focus on attracting and retaining people who can help PwC grow and succeed."
Adams noted a few types of work at PwC where from time to time there could be opportunities for job seekers without a degree: "There are a variety of roles that don't require a college degree, including positions in Human Resources, Marketing, Finance, Sales, Workplace Services and Products & Technology."
Adams also noted how soft skills like teamwork and flexibility can be important for people applying for jobs.
"While a degree can be important, PwC and other organizations also value a diverse range of experiences that go beyond technical skills," Adams said. "Building your soft skills can be just as critical."
For instance, Adams said given "effective communication is crucial in any role," people looking for work could note instances they have shown strong communication skills. Highlighting problem-solving skills or adaptability could also be helpful.
Automaker Stellantis also noted some potential opportunities for those who aren't college graduates.
"For people without degrees, there are opportunities within our Software and Technology groups where work experience and technical skills may be given higher consideration in hiring decisions," Stellantis said in a written statement.
Still, there are a lot of jobs at the company where some level of degree is needed.
"In general, most non-bargaining unit positions (salaried) require an associate's or bachelor's degree," Stellantis said. "But for some positions, a degree might be a preferred qualification which would open those up to people who can demonstrate proficiency in other ways."
Working on soft skills could be helpful for job seekers who are considering applying without a degree.
"Candidates without degrees can enhance their consideration by detailing their professional experience and demonstrating ability in some of the softer skills such as leadership, communications or problem-solving," Stellantis said.
In addition to "demonstrating proficiency" in softer skills, Stellantis said, "earning additional training or certifications would depend on the field of interest but could certainly boost consideration for various positions." An online portfolio of work when applicable could also be helpful regardless of a job applicant's educational attainment to showcase skills.
"I feel like you have a place at Bank of America for those that have a degree, that have an advanced degree, but we also have several places for people that don't have a degree yet and are really trying to pave their way," Christie Gragnani-Woods, senior vice president for Bank of America's external community partnerships and regional banking talent acquisition executive, said.
Gragnani-Woods said that Bank of America hasn't required degrees for a majority of entry-level roles for years.
Gragnani-Woods said there's "a host of entry-level jobs" for job seekers and "then we can focus on the skills they need on the job and they would be able to join our Academy, which is our award-winning development and training organization."
For those without a degree, Bank of America has openings for relationship bankers, customer service representatives, trainees for its advisor roles, and operations analysts.
In terms of skills, Gragnani-Woods said Bank of America typically likes to see talent who are good at building relationships with customers as well as their team. Problem-solving and critical thinking are two other desirable skills.
"We like those that thrive on engaging with customers, really being able to handle challenging situations and bring those to resolution in a positive manner," Gragnani-Woods said, adding the company also looks for talent who take initiative.
At Intel, one opportunity for those without a bachelor's degree is working as a technician. Cindi Harper, vice president of talent planning and acquisition at Intel, said the company hires a lot of technicians who have different backgrounds.
Harper said while Intel does support "a lot of two-year programs, technical programs that have the STEM disciplines," there "are a lot of transferable skills without having the technical schooling."
Technicians make up 70% of Intel's workforce in their factories, Harper said.
"If they have equivalent experience in those domain areas, then we focus less on whether or not they come with a two-year degree and zero experience because that's the other side of the equation," Harper said. "We hire out of the two-year schools, which they likely don't have a whole lot of training and then we train them from within."
When asked about other opportunities at the company for those without a degree, Harper said people with equivalent work experience would be considered.
"We are a huge supporter of the college programs of a two-year, four-year, master's, PhD level," Harper said. "However, if they have equivalent to that in a work experience and/or more without the degree, they will be considered as well."
One tip from Harper for job candidates is to send an email that can highlight your interest or transferable skills you may have.
Nall, director of talent acquisition operations at Delta Air Lines, said that the company is a "skills-based hiring company," and noted a lot of the job positions at the company don't have degree requirements.
"I think we still see the value in the degree, but we want to create that equity, so we see value in any path in which you learned your skill," Nall said.
A news post from the company stated that in "2021, 94% of Delta's non-executive job openings that were filled externally did not require a college degree." Nall said, "that's probably stayed true over these last couple of years of hiring."
"When you think about what does require a degree, you can think of certain higher level like accounting roles, legal roles, those that formally require a degree," Nall said. "But for over 90% of our roles, there is no degree requirement."
But like other companies that talked to BI, having certain skills can be important for landing work at this company. Nall said three foundational skills at the airline are kindness, customer service, and quality mindset.
"Our focus is really on what skills are needed per role, and then assessing candidates based on their skills and proficiency levels in those individual roles," Nall said.
In terms of advice for job seekers, Nall emphasized talking about examples.
"Hiring managers want to hear real-life examples when they're asking questions, not hypotheticals," Nall said. "And I think sometimes candidates will land on, 'well, I didn't do that at a known name or a known entity or a known institution,' when in reality you did achieve an outcome. And it can be from any experience that you've had throughout your career, and sometimes that just doesn't look like the traditional path."
Pilots, aviation maintenance technicians, and flight attendants are three jobs where you don't necessarily need to have a degree at American Airlines.
Captain Cory Glenn of American Airlines said while the airline doesn't require a degree for pilots, the airline looks for professionals.
"We look for people who exhibit some of the core features of our corporate culture — and a lot of that has to do with caring for people and taking care of not just our customers, but also taking care of our colleagues and our employees," Glenn said. "There are ways to do that while you're doing training."
"It can be as simple as when you're going through flight school, working with study groups and stepping up to do student leadership roles in those flight schools, taking opportunities to kind of expand your horizons as an individual and just continuously be in a place of constant improvement and exhibiting that," Glenn added.
Glenn said airline pilots can be either a first officer or a captain and that this work is "probably the most customizable career" given it "allows you to adapt the amount of work and where you work and how you work and what you make to the things that are important to your life."
Even though there may not be a degree needed, aspiring pilots will need to meet some requirements to be a pilot like the ones mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration, per Glenn.
Kozetta Chapman, senior manager of tech ops recruiting and development at American Airlines, also noted to BI a few roles where people don't necessarily need a four-year degree, including material logistics specialists, aircraft cleaners, and welders.