American businesses are increasingly eliminating college degrees as part of their requirements for corporate roles, which is part of a wider trend in the U.S. job market that is de-emphasizing the value of a four-year diploma, according to experts. American companies like Walmart, IBM, Accenture, Bank of America and Google have announced plans to reduce the number of jobs that require college degrees.
In areas where there are intangibles or where a company, they're looking for people who are conformist, willing to finish a long four-year project and take assignments and get them done, show up on time and all that, that's what college does for the labor market, is it filters out people who can't do those things and people who can,' Gibson explained.
People who apply for jobs without having chosen to attend college should be prepared to explain how they spend their time, according to San Diego State University Fowler College of Business lecturer Wendy L. Patrick. To some employers, real-life work experience, including both technical and managerial skills, are more valuable than a degree in a subject area in which they have no work experience,' she said.