The degree requirement is losing its grip on corporate America. According to OneTen’s fourth annual Impact Report, companies are accelerating the shift toward skills-first hiring—and the results are starting to add up.
The nonprofit coalition, which partners with major U.S. employers to open career paths for workers without bachelor’s degrees, says that as of December 31, 2024, it has helped facilitate over 158,000 hires and promotions totaling more than $21 billion in family-sustaining wages.
Why This Matters Now
The 2024 labor market was a perfect storm: skills gaps, demographic shifts, and rapid tech adoption all collided. For many companies, the challenge wasn’t just finding talent—it was finding the right skills at the right time.
OneTen’s pitch is straightforward: instead of filtering out candidates by degree, focus on validated skills—both technical and “durable” soft skills—to match talent to opportunity. It’s a workforce philosophy gaining traction as employers look to widen talent pools and adapt faster to change.
New Tools for a Skills-First Future
The report highlights several tech-driven initiatives:
-
Jobs Engine – Uses skill components, location data, and growth potential to flag roles suitable for recredentialing.
-
Skills Taxonomy – Maps technical and soft skills to job archetypes for consistent classification and matching.
-
Soft Skills Finder – Proprietary tool to validate durable skills like communication, problem-solving, and collaboration—helping employers see the full candidate picture.
Data, Playbooks, and Partnerships
Beyond tools, OneTen doubled down on practical research to help HR teams scale skills-first practices. Notable releases include:
-
Staying Ahead of the Curve – Skills-first strategies during economic uncertainty.
-
Creating Effective Skills-First Job Descriptions – A/B-tested guide for recruiters.
-
Assessing Soft Skills in the Workplace – Framework for measuring durable skills in hiring and promotion.
Strategic alliances with DeVry University, Military.com, Per Scholas, and Udacity have also expanded talent pipelines, connecting employers to trained, motivated candidates across sectors.
The CEO’s Take
“The future of work is already here, and it is undeniably skills-first,” said Debbie Dyson, CEO of OneTen.
“The companies that invest in skilled talent today—because of what they’ve learned, earned, and demonstrated—will be the ones driving innovation and economic growth tomorrow.”
Bottom Line
OneTen’s 2024 results reinforce a growing truth in workforce strategy: skills, not degrees, are the currency of the future of work. And as hiring technology evolves to detect and validate those skills more effectively, degree-based job filters may start looking more like relics of the past than requirements for the future.
Join thousands of HR leaders who rely on HRTechEdge for the latest in workforce technology, AI-driven HR solutions, and strategic insights
