Getting Hired When You Don’t Have a College Degree

When I was in high school I assumed everyone went to college. My brothers were both away at Ivy League schools at the time and just about all of my friends were busy prepping for the SATs and visiting college campuses. But one good friend at the time told me he didn’t think he was going to go to college and I was shocked. I managed to convince him to go which in retrospect was not a great idea because he hated the experience and left after his second year.

I thought he should go because he was so smart. Not your typical straight A student smart, but street smart. He used his wit, charm, and good looks to talk his way out of anything and he was always able to stand up for himself, no matter what cards he was dealt. To me, it just seemed like college was a logical place for him to refine these skills and figure out how to apply what he knew to the real world. A few years after he left school he earned his real estate license and went on to become a successful agent and later start his own agency. He’s great at what he does because he knows what will sell, he sizes up people quickly, and he’s a great negotiator…people want to do business with him not because of his education, but because of his experience.

I have another friend who I met in my early 20s who was exceptionally smart in the traditional sense. He’s very well read with a rich vocabulary and an incredible imagination. He could have a conversation about just about anything from history to sports to music to literature and wow you with what he knows. He just never chose to learn what he knows through an institute of higher education. I caught up with him recently and now middle-aged and currently unemployed, he has decided to go back to school to earn a degree because he can’t seem to get past the job boards without one. His classes are way too easy for him and knowing him the way I do, he is probably bored by them already.

Both scenarios beg the question “What does a college degree have to do with intelligence or the ability to do a job well and why are many employers listing it as a hiring requirement?”

I recently sat in on a recruiter panel where a recruiter from a Fortune 500 company admitted to adding a Bachelor’s degree to the list of job requirements on job postings because it made it easier to screen out candidates. There was no discussion around the relevancy of the degree in predicting success in the job; just that the requirement made it easier to sort candidates in a competitive job market. I know that this recruiter is not alone in this practice which presents a challenge for job seekers who lack a college degree.

I meet many job seekers who are very concerned with the fact that they lack a four-year degree. Many often express regret, guilt, and even shame over not having one. They seem to have bought into the idea that without the degree, they either aren’t qualified for the position or don’t stand a chance at landing it. This is not necessarily the case. The real issue is that they are dealing with a gatekeeper who has put up an obstacle that they can’t get past. But the solution isn’t to give up or decide that the gatekeeper must be right; the solution is to go around the gatekeeper and find another door for entry.

I often write about the fact that most people get their jobs through their network.  And when there is an obstacle in the way of  your search, your network becomes even more crucial. So if a lack of a college degree is the obstacle, getting the degree isn’t necessarily the most efficient way around the obstacle. Here are a few things to consider.

• Rather than trying to get past a job board with a structured set of requirements, try to find an insider at the company who can advocate for you and let the decision maker know all you have to offer. Try every possible angle; talk to friends and family, reach out to colleagues and people you know through affinity groups, and search your contacts on LinkedIn and Facebook to find an in at the company. Once there is someone advocating for your candidacy and singing your praises, your academic credentials rarely become an important factor in granting an interview.
• If you have any college credits, list the university and area of study on your resume to show you have some college experience. If you have more than one year of college, you may want to list the number of credits you have as well.
• If you have licenses, certifications, or training classes that are relevant to your target audience, list them on the resume to show your dedication to continuing to gain knowledge in your area of expertise.
• When interviewing, showcase stories that prove you have been successful in your previous roles…maybe it’s a story about being the top sales person, the accountant who reaped the greatest savings for the company, the HR manager with the best time-to-hire metrics, or the self-made CEO who led the company from being in the red to multimillion-dollar profits. Your recent professional accomplishments generally have more relevancy than educational accomplishments achieved decades ago.
• During an interview, ask if there are any concerns about your candidacy to see if the hiring manager brings up your education. If they do, discuss how you have performed as well as or even better than your colleagues with a degree. Maybe you trained colleagues who had more formal education than you on a particular product or were selected to lead a  project over your teammates despite not having a degree. Prove how your lack of a degree was not an impediment to doing your job well.

I learned a long time ago that education is not necessarily correlated with success in a job. I have read the success stories of corporate icons such as Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Richard Branson, Barry Diller, and Mark Zuckerberg, all who never graduated from college. If you have been struggling with your search and believe that your lack of a degree is creating a roadblock, try going down a different path to find the right contacts who can help you land your next gig.