President Donald Trump, facing an uphill task of resolving unemployment problem due to impact on business following COVID-19 pandemic, has signed an order directing federal agencies to fill up job vacancies based on merit, rather than the minimum level of education for candidates seeking open positions. The order rightly recognizes that for a job, a candidate with several years of relevant experience may be just as qualified, if not more so, than one who has collected a stack of advanced degrees. “Employers adopting skills- and competency-based hiring recognize that an overreliance on college degrees excludes capable candidates and undermines labor-market efficiencies,” as per the order. “Currently, for most Federal jobs, traditional education — high school, college, or graduate-level — rather than experiential learning is either an absolute requirement or the only path to consideration for candidates without many years of experience. “The order still allows federal agencies to prescribe minimum educational requirements for job candidates if the degree is legally required by the state or local government where the federal employee will be working. Besides, they may consider a candidate’s education if the degree “directly reflects the competencies necessary” to do the job. Federal agencies will develop assessment practices to determine a candidate’s skills and qualifications for the job. These may take the form of formal skills tests or some other means of assessment but cannot rely only on job candidates’ self-evaluations of their skills. Changes to job classification and qualification standards will take effect within 180 days. (Image courtesy to nativeamericacalling.com)
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