Should we drop degree requirements in 2025? Trend Report

In partnership with

Hiring trends are changing faster than ever.

Intense competition for talent, pay transparency requirements, and consistently changing job requirements are driving HR teams to rethink traditional degrees as a qualification metric.

As a result, more companies and industries are making the move toward skills-based hiring.

But who’s doing it? What are the benefits, risks, and challenges of this change? Is it right for me?

We did the research to help you find the answers.

In 2023 alone, there was a 34% increase in job postings without degree requirements, with key sectors like information services (72%), software (62%), and construction (55%) leading the way.

Companies adopting this approach are seeing measurable results:

• Retention rates for non-degree hires are 20% higher than their degree-holding peers.

• Employers expanding skills-based hiring are benefiting from broader talent pools and higher productivity.

And more. Researching these trends and their impacts can be overwhelming and time consuming, so we did the work for you.

What insights should you expect?

This report on dropping degree requirements will help you:

• Understand Industry-specific trends: See how adoption rates vary across sectors and roles.

• Learn from the companies leading the charge: Discover insights from skills-based hiring leaders driving the change.

• Understand the benefits of this shift: Explore the increased retention, engagement, and flexibility it offers to businesses and job seekers alike.

• Access actionable strategies: Use this report to revise job postings, focus on measurable skills, and adjust hiring practices to attract top talent.

The gold standard of business news

Morning Brew is transforming the way working professionals consume business news.

They skip the jargon and lengthy stories, and instead serve up the news impacting your life and career with a hint of wit and humor. This way, you’ll actually enjoy reading the news—and the information sticks.

Best part? Morning Brew’s newsletter is completely free. Sign up in just 10 seconds and if you realize that you prefer long, dense, and boring business news—you can always go back to it.

Join 4.3 Million Readers Now

This 2025 Industry Trend Report is designed to keep you informed and ahead of the curve as the future of hiring evolves.

See you at the next JD roundup.

Are you enjoying the Job Description Roundup Newsletter? Our goal is to to grow the newsletter into the #1 resource for HR teams to streamline their work on JDs.

Write us a review to help us spread the word about our newsletter. We’d be grateful for your support 🙏 

Also, we get our ideas for content from our community - if you have a topic you think we should write on or would like to hear about, reply to this email. I’d love to hear it.