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No degree, no problem: US employers look beyond college credentials
Companies such as IBM, GM and Walmart are focusing on applicants’ skills rather than education.
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Proponents say skills-based hiring has the potential to increase employment opportunities and raise wages for the nearly two-thirds of the US workforce that lacks a degree.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
Claire Bushey
Ms Chanelle Washington-Bacon reproached herself for years because she had not finished college. Long after she entered corporate life, she was haunted by her lack of a four-year degree.
But her feeling of inadequacy began to shift after the Atlanta project manager connected with OneTen, a coalition of top employers focused on developing the careers of black professionals and others without a college education.
