Copyright Inc. Magazine
Among the many workplace evolutions now in full swing is the trend among employers to place as much emphasis on the skills and experience of candidates without college degrees as they do the diplomas of university graduates. As that shift in recruitment criteria has continued, it has created new career pathways — many involving over $100,000 salaries — in so-called “new-collar” jobs that are enjoying increasing demand. The growing range of new-collar jobs is filling the gap between two traditional work categories: office workers who were initially hired on the strength of their college degrees, and manual laborers without those diplomas. People now flourishing in ‘tweener positions, by contrast, use skills and experience they earned in technical training, certification programs, or simply by working to strengthen the knowledge and abilities that many companies are now clamoring for. That also permits new-collar hires to hit the ground running and immediately produce results for employers, who often previously needed to onboard and train recruits fresh out of universities. As with so many developments today, tech is driving the growth of many new-collar jobs. But it isn’t the only sector generating those. Manufacturing, engineering, and especially health care companies are also increasingly hiring people who may not have college degrees, but do have the skills and experience to begin performing from day one. “These roles focus on bridging the skills gap in industries that rely on advanced technologies and specialized training,” said a recent post by job posting platform Monster, which detailed that growing employment opportunity. “For example, a software developer is considered a new-collar job and might acquire skills through coding bootcamps rather than a computer science degree. The key distinction is that new-collar jobs prioritize competence and capabilities over credentials.” Featured Video An Inc.com Featured Presentation Monster compiled a list of some of the booming new-collar positions, providing an idea of the varied sectors, specialties, and salaries increasingly open to people without degrees. While many of those positions sound highly technical, they are all open to self-taught candidates, or people who attained required skills on the go and are ready to put them to use. They include cybersecurity analysts now in high demand to protect companies from online criminals, and who are fetching salaries of $85,000 to $141,000 as they do. Data analyst roles are also multiplying for people with experience with “Excel, SQL, and Tableau, as well as programming languages like Python or R… (and have) strong problem-solving abilities and an eye for spotting trends and anomalies in data.” The site said those employees tend to make $64,000 to $114,000 in annual pay. Similarly, candidates with cloud computing experience are finding a rising number of work opportunities, most fetching between $95,000 and $160,000 annually. Even people who earned their HTML, CSS, and JavaScript chops developing websites for friends, family members, and neighbors can now export those skills to companies wanting to create state-of-the-art web platforms — and which are willing to pay $56,000 to $109,000 annually for help with that. But not all jobs Monster listed are based only on computing skills. It noted businesses needing in-house electricians now pay between $47,000 and $78,000 in annual salaries to those employees. People who both broaden and adapt that electrical know-how into other areas find ample work as heating, ventilation, and air conditioning technicians (whose pay ranges from $36,000 to $61,000 per year), and wind turbine specialists who earn from $49,000 to $61,000 in salary. And how many people currently slaving away over college textbooks and cramming for exams wouldn’t be at least a bit tempted by working as a video game tester instead? The growing number of those jobs becomes especially alluring with Monster noting they only require “attention to detail, patience, and a passion for gaming… (to) identify bugs and usability issues.” The pay for putting those skills to use in vetting games most college students spend hours playing for free? Between $72,000 and $124,000 annually. That sociology degree may start losing its luster compared to a career playing Minecraft or Pokemon Go for a living. Still, employers can face some challenges in hiring new-collar workers. For starters, many of those job seekers still assume companies continue favoring degree holders, and therefore won’t bother applying to those roles open to them. Others may assume those positions are effectively blue-collar grunt jobs set within professional environments, and look elsewhere for more promising prospects. To avoid that from happening, Monster and other job posting platforms advise companies to stress the importance of skills and experience over degrees in their recruitment announcements. They should also underline the critical contributions to the business those hires will provide, and opportunities for advancement they offer. Another suggestion for human resource managers with new-collar jobs to fill is to visit the online networking and social media platforms favored by people pursuing activities that hone the skills being sought — and use those platforms to initiate contact. Many hiring official may be surprised at the receptiveness and enthusiasm they find there. “I love it. Modern education needs a serious overhaul,” said one contributor in response to a thread about the new-collar trend on social media platform Reddit. “No reason for kids to go into a lifetime of debt for their sociology degree. A portfolio is way more valuable than a resume for a lot of tech jobs. Show me you can do it versus telling me where you learned how to do it.”
