{"id":119231,"date":"2022-12-23T00:02:45","date_gmt":"2022-12-23T05:02:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/?p=119231"},"modified":"2022-12-22T08:58:46","modified_gmt":"2022-12-22T13:58:46","slug":"utah-eliminates-degree-requirements-for-many-state-jobs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/utah-eliminates-degree-requirements-for-many-state-jobs\/","title":{"rendered":"Utah axes degree requirement for 98% of civil servant jobs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em>&#8216;Instead of focusing on demonstrated competence, the focus too often has been on a piece of paper,&#8217; Utah governor says<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Utah will no longer require a bachelor&#8217;s degree for about 98 percent of its civil servant jobs, according to a recent decision by the state&#8217;s Republican governor.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The state executive branch has 1,080 different classified jobs. Of those, 98% \u2013 or 1,058 \u2013 do not require a degree,&#8221; according to a news release shared with <em>The College Fix<\/em> by Governor Spencer Cox &#8216;s media team. &#8220;Instead, the state\u2019s hiring managers and hiring committees consider comparable experience as equal to educational qualifications at every step in the evaluation and recruiting process.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><em>The College Fix<\/em> reached out on December 16 to Emma Williams, Cox&#8217;s public information officer, to ask whether the governor expects a reduction in degree-seeking high school students as a result of the policy and whether it expects other Utah government entities to advance similar initiatives. Williams responded by directing <em>The Fix<\/em> to the governor&#8217;s December 13 news release.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDegrees have become a blanketed barrier-to-entry in too many jobs,\u201d Cox (<em>pictured<\/em>) stated in the <a href=\"https:\/\/governor.utah.gov\/2022\/12\/13\/news-release-gov-cox-launches-skills-first-hiring-initiative-for-state-government\/\">release<\/a>. \u201cInstead of focusing on demonstrated competence, the focus too often has been on a piece of paper. We are changing that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><script>!function(r,u,m,b,l,e){r._Rumble=b,r[b]||(r[b]=function(){(r[b]._=r[b]._||[]).push(arguments);if(r[b]._.length==1){l=u.createElement(m),e=u.getElementsByTagName(m)[0],l.async=1,l.src=\"https:\/\/rumble.com\/embedJS\/ugavb5\"+(arguments[1].video?'.'+arguments[1].video:'')+\"\/?url=\"+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+\"&args=\"+encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify([].slice.apply(arguments))),e.parentNode.insertBefore(l,e)}})}(window, document, \"script\", \"Rumble\");<\/script><\/p>\n<div id=\"rumble_v1z9sl0\"><\/div>\n<p><script>\nRumble(\"play\", {\"video\":\"v1z9sl0\",\"div\":\"rumble_v1z9sl0\"});<\/script><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The state executive branch has 1,080 different classified jobs. Of those, 98% \u2013 or 1,058 \u2013 do not require a degree,&#8221; according to the release.<\/p>\n<p>Cox pointed to projected improvements in employee productivity, recruitment of talent and expanded opportunities &#8220;to attract diverse candidates, including underrepresented groups.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The governor also highlighted the need for more state-sponsored apprenticeships and on-the-job training programs as alternatives to traditional four-year degrees during his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=WqKsG9SEE14\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">press conference<\/a> on December 13. His administration will support private sector efforts with taxpayer dollars.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">State funds will be used to \u201creimburse employers who cover customized training\u201d and to support \u201capprenticeship programs in functional areas such as IT, healthcare, electrical, and others,\u201d Cox said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Community college recruitment manager affirmed the need to remove barriers<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>One human resources staffer at a Utah community college told\u00a0<em>The Fix<\/em> that she thinks removing degree barriers is a positive idea.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOverall, employers that are able to remove barriers to broaden searches, diversify talent pools, and address hiring needs is a great idea,\u201d Lauren Erlacher, a recruitment manager at Salt Lake City Community College, told <em>The Fix<\/em> over email on December 20.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI believe higher education prepares students for finding careers, but as a manager in Talent Acquisition, I also believe in opening up job opportunities and identifying the qualifications a position needs to be successful, whether it\u2019s education, skills or experience,\u201d Erlacher stated.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Utah&#8217;s opportunity expansion part of a nationwide trend<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>This is not the first state to take the step of reducing degree requirements for state positions.<\/p>\n<p>Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, also a Republican, announced in March that he would lift the four-year degree requirement to apply for thousands of state jobs as part of a \u201cfirst-in-the-nation workforce development initiative,\u201d <em>The Fix<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/bachelors-degrees-have-become-optional-for-more-jobs-across-industries\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Hogan stated the Maryland government will work with partners to recruit candidates \u201cskilled through alternative routes,\u201d such as community college, military training, apprenticeships, or, most commonly, on-the-job learning, according to the news release.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, bachelor\u2019s degrees have become optional for more jobs across industries nationwide, a development driven by high labor demand and more alternatives, according to a labor research think tank.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;After a sustained period of degree inflation, employers\u2019 demand for bachelor\u2019s and post-graduate degrees is starting to decrease perceptibly,&#8221; according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.burningglassinstitute.org\/research\/the-emerging-degree-reset\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">report<\/a> issued this year by the Burning Glass Institute.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/college-students-value-job-skills-training-over-elite-education-survey\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">College students value job-skills training over \u2018elite education\u2019: survey<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>IMAGE: Gov. Spencer J. Cox\/YouTube<\/p>\n            <div class=\"article-truncate-control\">\n                <button class=\"show-complete-article\">\n                    Read More                <\/button>\n            <\/div>\n\n        ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8216;Instead of focusing on demonstrated competence, the focus too often has been on a piece of paper,&#8217; Utah governor says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1263,"featured_media":119256,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1085,1077],"tags":[47435,47161,32836,47436,47434,4771,47430,44590,19608,47431,47432,43222,2165,47433,45652,995,15502,9359,7167],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/GovernorCox72.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Oh4L-v15","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119231"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1263"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119231"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":119328,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119231\/revisions\/119328"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}