A Degree of Skill, a Degree or a Degree with Skills?

LinkedIn recently published its Future of Recruiting Report 2023 which, amongst other interesting insights, observes that 75% of recruitment professionals predict ‘skills-first’ hiring will be a priority for their company in the next 18 months. Furthermore, statistics show that the share of job posts that do not require a Degree has grown by +30% over the past 6 months.

Recruitment is a subject that we regularly cover in our Pabasso peer advisory board sessions

Years ago when an employer wanted to add to a skilled workforce they would recruit an Apprentice who would pay to be trained in a skill or profession and could then expect a career with that employer. The employer would only pay them when they had finished their Apprenticeship and were able to add real value to the organisation.

Those were the days I heard you say.

In today’s competitive recruitment market, we recruit the best we can afford, paying them from day one – even though we may not get any real value from them for some time. We invest in them in the knowledge that in due course a well-trained employee should deliver a return on that investment.

A Degree of Skill – ideally, we want the brightest candidates who are available – with some knowledge of the role they are being recruited for.

A Degree – if we cannot find a bright candidate with a degree of skill we might recruit a graduate who will ideally have an inquisitive mind, be ambitious, and have a work ethic.

A Degree with Skills –  a very viable and attractive alternative which should appeal to both school leavers and employers – the Degree Apprenticeship.

For those of you who are not aware of Degree Apprenticeship the UK Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) promotes them to potential graduates as follows:  ‘A degree apprenticeship enables you to gain a full undergraduate or master’s degree while you work. Degree apprenticeships take three to six years to complete, depending on the course level. You’ll spend most of your time working and you’ll also study part-time at university. For example, you might go to university one or two days per week, or in short blocks, such as a week at a time. Overall, you spend about 20% of your time studying vs. 80% of your time working’.

The big advantages to the potential graduate is that they get paid whilst studying and if they do well are likely to be valued employee by the end of their degree apprenticeship and offered a job in an organisation that has helped train them and brought them into the workplace.

And let’s not lose sight of the fact that they do not incur any student debt which according to most experts is averaging around £45k per student in 2023 with interest rates of up to 13.5%!

The Gov.uk Education Blog even promotes them with the headline ‘Degree apprenticeships: How you could get a degree for free’

The big advantage to the employer is that they get to mould the employee to their organisation and at the end of the Degree Apprenticeship should have a fully trained, skilled, valuable employee – with a degree, who has been adding value to the business throughout the process!

Please spread the word, more people need to be aware of this option, it’s a win-win!