Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Skills Hiring topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Presenter: skills‑based hiring may not eliminate credentialism
Summary
Dr. Jeff Stroll said skills‑based hiring can differentiate labor markets but warned it is unlikely to end credentialism, arguing decomposition into thousands of skills can increase complexity rather than reduce credentials.
Dr. Jeff Stroll told attendees that while skills‑based hiring helps employers target labor‑market needs, it will not automatically eliminate credentialism. “I think that's a bunch of malarkey,” Stroll said of claims that skills‑based hiring will end credentialism, arguing that breaking work into many discrete skills can create new complexity and '5,000 skills' markets rather than simplify credential signals.
Stroll said skills‑forward approaches can improve hiring precision by treating occupations as bundles of skills and can force education providers to think about skill portfolios. But he stressed that general education remains essential to economic flexibility: specific skills help with immediate tasks, while general education aids workers' ability to learn new technologies and move across jobs.
On certificates, Stroll said standalone short‑term certificates often show weak earnings returns, but certificates stacked on top of degrees or combined sequentially can provide measurable value. He urged policymakers to study sequencing and stacking rather than promote standalone short certificates as a universal solution.
