Across the globe, companies are starting to rethink how they recruit talent as a result of fast-moving technology, shortages of qualified applicants, and changing definitions of employability. In 2026, hiring organizations will not look to an applicant’s academic degree as the primary indicator of whether or not that person is ready for work. Rather, employers are focusing on what a candidate can demonstrate in terms of skillsets, practical experience, and role-specific competencies. The shift to skill-based hiring is primarily driven by digital transformation and changing workforce availability as a result of structural forces rather than cultural forces.

Recruitment challenges in major industries

Many of the largest employers in the technology, finance, logistics, professional services sectors report that they are having difficulty hiring individuals for their positions using only a filter of degree-based credentials. Therefore, organizations are creating new recruitment models that remove bias from hiring decisions and expand opportunities to include candidates without accountability based solely on a degree. The availability of skills assessments, project-based evaluations, and standardized certifications support this shift on a large scale.

Global talent mobility and skills evaluation

At the same time, advances in remote work and global labor mobility are opening up many more candidates than previously thought possible for organizations to consider. As a result, many organizations are now evaluating candidates based on their skills regardless of where they were trained. Skills serve as a consistent standard of measure for employers that can now compare applicants based on where they trained.

Multinational Hiring Evidence

Reports from World Economic Forum and LinkedIn demonstrate that hiring based on skills creates better matched roles and reduces time-to-fill in the competitive hiring market. As of 2026, more multinational employers will view degrees as contextual information rather than a means of screening out candidates. This signifies a greater shift across hiring trends and towards measuring competence instead of just degrees.

How Technology is Changing Hiring Decisions

Automation, AI screening, and validation of skills.

Recruitment technology and automated assessments

Recruitment technology is critical to the large-scale implementation of skills-first hiring. Applicant tracking systems now utilize automated assessments to assess the following: coding skills, analytical reasoning, written language proficiency, and task execution. As a result, they have decreased the emphasis on the educational history of applicants and have redirected focus onto data regarding what applicants did during the interview process instead.

AI and Skills Validation in Recruitment

AI-based screening technologies using companies such as HireVue and HackerRank provide employers with the ability to measure and compare all candidates fairly against a standardised measure of skill signals. This allows companies to achieve consistent evaluations regardless of geographic location or educational system and efficiently address volume hiring challenges.

Data-Driven Models of Hiring

More and more companies are relying upon statistical analytics to identify the relationship between job performance and the type of skills the person possesses rather than the type of credential they hold.

Evidence from global labour research

Research conducted by the OECD demonstrates that those positions with clearly identified skill requirements have lower turnover and are able to onboard new employees faster than roles that do not, and as these systems continue to mature, technology will reinforce skill-based hiring as a structurally efficient model rather than a fleeting trend.

Industry Adoption of Skills-First Hiring

Hiring Trends by Skill Type Across Various Industries The rapid growth of skill-based hiring practices has occurred at different paces between different industries. As it relates to the operational complexity of industry sectors, the technology, logistics and professional services sectors comprise the fastest growth in terms of hiring practices.

Performance-driven hiring models

As the success of performed roles can be easily measured due to the performance outputs associated with the roles, employers have become much more focused on functional capability vs. formal educational requirements in terms of increasing productivity and scalability.

The Employment Trends Influenced by Industry Leaders

As a result, many of the larger employers (e.g., Amazon, Deloitte, Siemens, etc.) within the sector have altered their role requirements to focus on skill mapping. Internal employment studies conducted by these companies show that screening candidates using a degree-based methodology restricted their ability to find candidates with the capability to perform well in technical and operations-related positions.

Standardization of Role Definitions

As these companies provide standardized definitions of what responsibilities and tasks individuals should perform, benchmarks will exist around job descriptions and the language used in recruitment efforts. The growing trend of hiring teams using task-based competence to drive hiring decisions vs. using academic Milestones provides additional alignment between job descriptions, hiring processes, and other hiring methods.

Industries using skills-first hiring models

The most common industries making use of skills-first hiring models include:

Role-based hiring categories

IT and Software Services
Logistics, Supply Chain, and Warehousing
Financial Risk Analysis and Operational Finance
Healthcare Support and Health Technology
Advanced Manufacturing and Automation

Degree Requirements and Job Market Evolution

The similarities in job hiring within these different industries represents the continued adoption of hiring methods that focus more on role related readiness, efficiency, and the ability of the workforce to adapt as opposed to traditional education-based hierarchy.

Increased Number of Occupation Types Without Degree Requirements

Changes in Requirements to Qualify for Jobs According to verification of the labor market data between the years of 2025-2026, there has been an ongoing trend of increased number of jobs that do not require a degree, particularly when looking at mid-skill level and digitally enabled jobs.

Why employers are removing degree filters

Due to an increased need for hiring from broader applicant pools due to lack of formal qualifications for positions, more employers are removing degree requirements from their job postings in order to improve access to talent and create employment opportunities. The move to do so is more a result of need and not a result of a strategic change in policy.

Impact of Degree-Filter Removal

The removal of degree requirements from job postings creates a wider applicant pool, which in turn leads to improved efficiency when it comes to hiring and employment.

Labour market research and verification

Organizations such as the Burning Glass Institute and the International Labour Organization have all recorded the removal of degree filters results in broader applicant pools and enhanced hiring efficiency.

Job categories most affected

The impact of degree filter-less job postings is most significant for jobs that require execution, analysis, or systems support.

IT Support and Systems Administration
Digital Marketing/Content Operations
Business Analytics/Reporting Roles
Customer Success/Technical Support
Skilled Operations/Platform Management

These trends indicate that Employability is now defined more by its relevance to and alignment with the skills needed for the job, rather than its relationship to formal educational credentials.

The Evolution of Tech Careers – Moving Away from Degree-Centric Entry Paths

Skills-based Hiring in Technology Roles

The area of Technology is at the forefront of this transition away from degree-centric hiring practices to skills-first hiring practices, as the output of job performance can be directly measurable through the work produced.

For example, Software Development, Cloud Operations, Cybersecurity, and Data Analysis will increasingly depend on an individual’s level of practical skills as opposed to the education level of the candidate.

As a result, employers are reporting that degree-based credentials do not reflect current technology tools in use, and that these credentials do not provide a basis from which to determine an individual’s ability to solve real-world problems.

Validation of Technical Skills by Employers

Microsoft, Meta, and Oracle are examples of organizations that assess their candidates using structured testing, coding challenges, and project evaluations.

The data from internal job postings indicated that candidates’ performance was very similar whether or not they had a degree when their skill sets were objectively validated.

Changing hiring evaluation methods

Due to the rapid pace at which technology changes, hiring companies are updating their skill requirement profiles more often than colleges can keep pace with curriculum changes to fit this demand.

Consequently, the use of degrees as the main method for evaluating job candidates for newly created positions has diminished.

Technology job fields with reduced degree focus

Web Development/Software Engineering
Cloud Computing/DevOps
Cybersecurity Monitoring/Operations
Business Intelligence & Data Analytics
Product Operations/Technical Support

The data shows that for technology jobs, many need to look beyond educational credentials and see that a candidate’s skills are the most important factor in determining a candidate’s employability.

Changing Concepts Worldwide and Increasing in Developing Nations on Expectations of Being Prepared for a Job

Employability defined by skills

Employability will continue to be defined by different factors than in the past, such as; practical skills, digital literacy and adaptability.

In 2026, the employability of workers will be increasingly compared on the basis of skills, rather than educational credentials, as there will be employers from different regions with different education systems evaluating candidates.

The emergence of Knowledge-Based Careers and Skill-Based Employment in Developing Economies

According to the World Bank and United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), it is clear that emerging economies greatly benefit from skill-based hiring strategies.

The vast majority of workers in countries like India, countries in Southeast Asia and parts of Africa are able to access jobs on a global scale due to their demonstrated skills rather than the granting of educational credentials.

Remote and contract work influence

In this era of increased remote work and contract work, employers are increasingly focusing on an applicant’s ability to complete tasks and work collaboratively, thereby removing any structural barriers that were created by geographic location or institutional reputation.

Micro-Credentials Instead of Traditional Graduation

Trends in Hiring

Education Providers Have Responded to Trends in Hiring

As labour market demand for workers with skill building credentials increases, Education Providers such as Universities, Private Education Providers, and Corporate Training Organizations are starting to incorporate short-term, skill-focused micro-credentials into their Curriculum Design.

They are building Learning Experiences around Competencies that Employers are actively seeking for their organizations.

These changes are being implemented as a direct result of feedback from Employers for “ready to work” Candidates.

Modular & Stackable Credentials are Recognized by Employers

Education Providers, including Coursera, edX and Google have been issuing micro-credentials that are directly mapped to the Workplace Skills required by Employers.

Therefore, Employers are becoming more accepting of the validity of Micro-Credentials from Learning Providers, especially when paired with Performance Assessment and Evidence Portfolios.

Employer value of micro-credentials

Micro-Credentials allow Workers to quickly Expand their Skill Sets faster than they could via a Traditional University Degree Program.

Employers value them as Secondary Indicators of Candidate Ability in Conjunction with Work Experience.

Most Micro-Credentials are available in the form of:

Certificates that demonstrate the skills required for a particular Job Role;
Technical Credentials issued by Tech Companies (Google and Microsoft);
Evidence of project-based Learning Experience;
Short Industry-specific Programs;
Corporate Training Certification.

The continued expansion of micro-credentials supports Employers’ movement towards Skills-Based Hiring Models where Competency is an objective measure of an Applicant’s ability for Employability.

Operational Issues Related to Skills-Based Hiring Models

Challenges Associated with Accurately Assessing Candidates’ Skills

While there is a trend towards the growing acceptance of Skills-Based Hiring by Employers, there are still a number of Operational Challenges associated with Skills-Based Hiring Models.

The challenges that Employers face in the Ability to Conduct Accurate Assessments of Applicants’ Skills Across the Entire Organisation; to Effectively Monitor and Measure the Effectiveness of these Hiring Techniques; and to Assess Candidates’ Skills from an Evidence-based Perspective.

Issues Related to Reliability, Unintended Bias and Standardisation

According to Research published by Harvard Business School, two of the main issues related to Assessment Reliability and Unintended Bias in Skills Testing are that Assessments that are poorly designed may be more favourable to Applicants who have had previous experience with taking Tests than those who are truly qualified for the Role.

on skills instead of degrees.

Organisational investment and limitations

Consequently, employers are making significant investments in building out their skill assessment frameworks and processes for validating the skill assessments.

Many smaller employers do not have the resources to implement such systems, which slows down their ability to implement and take advantage of skill-based hiring on a larger scale.

Common operational difficulties

1. Developing assessments for skill sets related to positions – the assessments may not be developed or related to the work environment, position or industry.
2. Ensuring the assessments are culturally neutral across the different countries in which the company can hire.
3. Training recruiters on how to interpret the skill data from the skill assessments.
4. Integrating the skill assessments into the existing systems of human resources.
5. Finding a balance between the speed of hiring and the depth of evaluation.

Because of these challenges, the adoption of skill-based hiring is uneven even as it becomes apparent that skill-based hiring has a strategic advantage in the global job market.

Changing Metrics and Workforce Analytics

Moving from degree-based hiring to performance-based metrics

Employers are relying on more performance-based metrics to make their hiring decisions as they move away from requiring degrees.

Instead of using academic credentials as a basis for hiring decisions, employers are using metrics that link to employee performance.

Such metrics include rate of task completion, scores on skill assessments, and performance indicators that relate to early performance on the job.

This shift enables employers to make hiring decisions that align with the actual outcomes of the position.

Using Workforce Analytics and Data-Driven Decision Making

Companies such as SAP and Workday are utilizing skill metrics embedded in their workforce analytics platforms.

These systems can measure the correlation between a specific skill or competency and employee outcomes such as retention, productivity and movement within the organization.

While the skills information associated with degrees will always be available, the skills information will be viewed as contextual in nature versus predictive.

Hiring models and continuous improvement

The hiring models help organizations continually improve and develop hiring models that reflect future employee outcomes rather than the past.

The continuous feedback loop strengthens the credibility of hiring models that utilize a skills-first methodology.

Degree Disruption in Global Employment Services

Degrees as Further Tools, Not Primary Indicators

This hybrid approach helps avoid over-reliance on any one type of qualification.

Over time, as labor market demand changes, organizations continue to develop more accurate frameworks for how credentials and competencies integrate.

Degrees remain important in higher-order, academic, or policy-oriented positions, while they will continue to decline as more routine or functional position jobs.

Examples of Degree-Centric Employment:

Regulated and specialized professions

Clinical or healthcare professions (medical)
Legal professions (law)
Research-based science jobs (medical scientist)
Public and private policy determined government roles (government policy analyst)
Engineers in Unique Fields of Technology and Engineering

Hiring trends and employability evaluation

Over time, hiring trends across the world continue to evolve and change and continue to reshape expectations and bring new focus to skill-based hiring for employability evaluation.

Employer Requirements vs. Workforce Supply

Continuous shortages of qualified employees throughout numerous industries

An increase in education levels has not resolved the ongoing issue of workforce shortages within global employers.

The issue lies in the fact that the majority of degree programs are lagging behind the needs of the workplace now and in the foreseeable future.

With the current pace of digitalization and technological advancements in industries, the demand for practical and role-ready skills is rapidly increasing, whereas many of these skills may not be adequately covered within the educational curriculum.

Hence, skill-based hiring is a reaction to the unbalance in talent demand.

Employer Job Descriptions Reflect Gaps Between Education and Employment

Tracking data provided by the International Monetary Fund and the World Economic Forum clearly illustrates the trend of increasing vacancy growth for jobs requiring applied digital and operational skills.

In addition, more and more employers are turning to using task-based language to describe the specific tasks for open positions, instead of solely relying on qualifications to attract suitable candidates for these roles.

Task-based hiring and labour market access

Using the above terminology will enable employers to access previously unavailable segments of the labour force due to degree stipulations.

Using this new approach allows employers to fill positions faster within today’s highly competitive labour market.

Education and Employment Gaps

Areas with the largest gaps between education and employment outcomes

The areas that have been highlighted as having the largest gap between education/training and employment outcomes include:

High-gap operational and technical domains

Digital Operations and Digital Platforms.
Data Processing and Reporting.
Technical Support Positions.
Process Automation and Quality Assurance.
Supply Chain and Logistics Coordination.

Employer emphasis on job competence

These gaps within these areas have encouraged employers to emphasise immediate job competence and measurable results above a degree as additional layers of hiring criteria.

Global Policy and Recognition of Skills

Acknowledgement by Governments and Regulatory Bodies

It is anticipated that by 2026, governments and regulatory organisations will increasingly recognise skills as a critical metric of the labour market.

On a global scale, many governments and regulatory organisations are developing policy frameworks that emphasise competency-basedThe above shows that relying on traditional college degree entry points does not meet the current and future demands of our economy.

International skills frameworks

Organizations like OECD and European Commission are developing standardized skills classifications that provide an avenue for employers to interpret skills credentials consistently across borders and across different education systems.

Skills as labour market signals

Through alignment with private employer practices, skills have gained credibility as a formal labour market signal, thereby diminishing the importance of a college degree as the primary standard to affirm qualification.

Institutional Support for Skills Validation

Public and private workforce initiatives

Examples of institutional efforts to support the validation of skills through publicly and privately funded workforce partnerships include:

Skills validation frameworks

National Digital Skills Frameworks
Public-Private Workforce Partnerships
Standardized Competency Classifications
Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition Systems
Employer-Aligned Training Programs

Policy reinforcement of skills-based hiring

As these types of initiatives continue to expand, skills-based hiring becomes reinforced not only by private employers, but also by policy frameworks that govern long-term employability.

The Future of Skills-First Hiring

Stabilization of skills-first models through 2026

The practices in hiring and recruitments by employers in various industries will continue to evolve toward a “stabilization” of a skills-first hiring model through 2026.

Through that timeframe, as companies grow more accustomed to using skill-based hiring processes, they will continue to refine how they assess the skills of candidates; i.e., develop greater quality measurement tools and norms to track the productivity and retention of employees by way of skills alignment.

The evolution of hiring methods has largely been driven by the availability of empirical evidence supporting the relationship of skill alignment and productivity and retention to the economy.

Forward-income hiring methods

Forward-income hiring methods will incorporate a combination of skills, work experience and education in the context of the role being filled.

Skills versus credentials

While degrees can still provide a basis for qualification for certain jobs, skills will serve as the most critical factor in determining who gets shortlisted and placed on the job.

Automation, AI, and Hiring Criteria

Dynamic skills evaluation

Automation and artificial intelligence (AI) will continue to reshape the nature of jobs and continually require that employers update the criteria used to determine which candidates possess the skills required for each available position.

As a result, employers will continually evaluate skills requirements and update them more frequently than they will update credential expectations.

Future hiring characteristics

Employers will see out from the future, among others, the following types of characteristics regarding how hiring will be conducted:

Assessment-based hiring features

The process of continuous re-validation of skills
Updating competencies based on specific roles
A greater emphasis on internal mobility
Shortening the time frames for hiring utilizing assessment-based methods
Reduced emphasis placed on static credentials

Conclusion

Skills-focused employability in 2026

These types of characteristics are indicative of a future employability landscape in which Adaptability and Measurable Skills will be the basis of employability as opposed to Fixed Educational Milestones.

To summarize, the global Job Market for the year 2026 will represent a shift away from the degree-focused hiring process towards the skills-focused hire based on Practical Capabilities due in large part to the Technological Transformation, Labour Shortages and the need to consistently evaluate talent pools on a continual basis.

Therefore, it is very important that Employers focus on Skill Verification in order to streamline their operations, minimize mismatches and develop the diversity of their workforces.

Degree credentials and skills-based growth

There has been tremendous growth in Jobs Without Degree Qualifications in the Information Technology, Operations and Service Sectors, which has been facilitated through the use of Assessment Tools, Analytics and Institutional Affirmation.

Long-term employability signals

At the same time, the value of a Degree Credential continues to exist, in the context of certain types of regulated and research-driven positions, thereby demonstrating a changing rather than a disappearing role for College Degree Qualifications.

As hiring trends develop and mature, Skills will remain as the single most stable and transferable indicator of Employability.

Such a Development will result from the Fundamental realities of the Labour Market Structure and will redefine how Organizations evaluate Readiness, Contribution and Long-Term Workforce Alignment within the Global Economy.

Why Skill-Based Hiring Is Replacing Degrees in Global Job Markets in 2026