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Much has been covered about a segment of organizations removing academic degree requirements from job advertisements. A recent report by Burning Glass Institute and Harvard Business School indicates that from 2014 to 2023, the annual number of job advertisements that eliminated academic degree requirements from job descriptions quadrupled. This shift recognizes multiple avenues for skill acquisition, such as non-degree credentials (NDCs). However, the rapidly growing NDC marketplace lacks clear guidance for individuals, managers, and organizations to evaluate the quality of these credentials. The paper highlights the need for a reliable framework for evaluating NDCs, pointing out that employers might underutilize them or only value familiar ones, which limits workers’ ability to seek various career paths and job opportunities. Ultimately, there needs to be a way to evaluate the value and outcomes of a credential rather than just know whether someone has earned it. The paper provides various insights, including referencing a framework by EQOS (Education Quality Outcomes Standards) that raises questions for evaluation, such as: what skills do workers learn when they earn the credential? Where do workers who earn the credential end up, and how much do they make? Practitioners can use the insights to evaluate the quality of non-degree credentials.
