I decided to reprint with permission the following article as it seemed to be so typical of what was going on in the world of work.

There is a growing backlash against formal education nowadays. With the high cost of tuition, the lacklustre job market for post-secondary graduates, the popularity of skilled trades and STEM disciplines (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), the rise of massive open online courses, e-learning platforms, videosharing sites such as YouTube, Wikipedia, instructional books, online forums, discussion boards and coding academies/boot camps, many people are starting to advocate foregoing college or university altogether in the pursuit of practical knowledge and skills.

There is no question people who advise bright and ambitious young people not to attend postsecondary education have a point. Starting a business, completing an apprenticeship or internship, volunteering, taking an entry level job and working one’s way up within an organisation and pursuing less formal education and training can be excellent alternative ways of establishing a career and learning the skills needed to be successful.

Showcasing knowledge and skills online

Modern technology makes it possible for many people to showcase their self-taught knowledge, skills and abilities and even sell their services. Professionals are able to create online portfolios to showcase their work to potential clients and employers. Online platforms also support finding and searching for knowledge and provide an opportunity to obtain, practise and refine newly acquired skills.

This applies not only with respect to the new “gig” or “sharing” economy for shortterm freelance assignments and “slashers” who practise more than one career simultaneously, but also in terms of those looking to land full-time work. Indeed, several employers have relaxed educational requirements for candidates in recent years and have become more willing to hire nontraditional candidates with skills that were acquired other than through formal post-secondary education.

By focusing more on skills and competencies regardless of how they were acquired â€" employers can expand the pool of candidates, support social and economic mobility, increase diversity, reduce bias and cronyism and possibly adjust to the reality of a workforce with fewer post-secondary graduates.

None of this is to say higher education has no value or that professions such as law, medicine or engineering can or should dispense with the need for specific educational qualifications. I am a firm believer in lifelong learning and believe completing a degree is a great way to build resiliency and flexibility in one’s career.

I also don’t think this trend is actually going to completely ameliorate the challenges faced by workers without post secondary education. After all, because it’s often very difficult to prove self taught skills and employers tend to use education as a screening tool, I don’t think university degrees are going to become extinct any time soon. Educational inflation and credentialism are probably here to stay â€" at least for the foreseeable future.

Tips for employers

But employers can help facilitate the recruitment of self taught employees by relaxing or dispensing with degree requirements, testing candidates on their technical and professional skills and requesting portfolios of completed work. This approach can apply to people with little formal education as well as career changers, those with education in different disciplines and people with considerably less educational pedigree than the norm for the industry or position in question.

Above all, it is important to remember there are many ways to acquire knowledge, skills and abilities beyond formal education. Indeed, the 70/20/10 model of learning and development created by Morgan McCall and his colleagues provides that roughly 70 per cent of learning should come from on-the-job learning, 20 per cent from coaching and mentoring and only 10 per cent through formal learning and reading.

Originally written by Brian Kreissl
Musa Makhunga
musa@hrmatters.co.za
www.hrmatters.co.za