No Experience or Degree

No Experience or Degree? You're Hired

'Wall Street Journal' sees looser hiring standards amid low unemployment

By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff

In this June 21, 2018 photo, a job applicant looks at job listings at a job fair in Sunrise, Fla.   (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

It's a job-seekers' market, apparently. With unemployment low, the Wall Street Journal reports that employers in a wide range of fields around the US are loosening up on job requirements in order to fill positions.


For those without a college degree or experience in a particular field, it means the door is no longer automatically shut. This is the opposite of what happened after the financial crisis of the aughts, when well-educated workers with loads of experience were laid off in huge numbers, and employers could afford to be pickier and raise the bar on job requirements. No more.

"Candidates have so many options today," an Adecco Group executive tells the Journal. "If a company requires a degree, two rounds of interviews, and a test for hard skills, candidates can go down the street to another employer who will make them an offer that day." The story is based on more than just anecdotal evidence. Postings on popular jobs sites requiring a college degree fell from 32% last year to 30% in the first half of 2018, while entry-level positions requiring three or more years of experience have fallen to 23%, down from 29% back in 2012. Some examples in the story: Those with only a high school diploma now have better odds of becoming a manager at Bank of America and Terminix pest control, while Intel and GitHub are hiring self-taught programmers.