Harris touts skills-based hiring for feds on the campaign trail

Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris said at a campaign rally on Friday that as president, she would “get rid of the unnecessary degree requirements for federal jobs to increase jobs for folks without a four-year degree.”.

“Requiring a certain degree does not necessarily talk about one's skills,” she said. “And I will challenge the private sector to do the same.”

The federal government has been working to revise educational requirements for government employment across multiple administrations. The Trump administration issued an executive order in 2020 directing federal agencies to evaluate the skills of job applicants rather than rely on degrees as a proxy, except for positions that still require advanced degrees and professional licensing, like certain medical or legal occupations.

The Biden administration has continued to implement skills-based hiring policies. Some lawmakers are also interested in moving away from degree requirements.

“I will also make sure good paying jobs are available to all Americans, not just those with college degrees,” Harris said Friday, casting herself as a supporter of the middle class. “For far too long, our nation has encouraged only one path to success, a four year college degree. Our nation needs to recognize the value of other paths, additional paths, such as apprenticeships and technical programs.”

The current Republican platform does not mention skills-based hiring, although it does include support for “the creation of additional, drastically more affordable alternatives to a traditional four-year college degree.”

The push during the Biden administration to rely on competencies for hiring rather than education has included a special focus on cyber and tech jobs. 

In the cyber field, “the perception that a four-year degree is required for most roles in tech and cybersecurity” has been a “roadblock” for some qualified candidates, Camille Stewart Gloster —  who formerly worked as the White House’s Deputy National Cyber Director leading cybersecurity workforce and emerging tech issues and now runs a consulting firm — told Nextgov/FCW over email.

“Shifting to skills-based hiring makes it easier for employers and candidates to find alignment between needs and capabilities,” said Stewart Gloster. “This effort will empower job seekers at all levels and across sectors.”

“This may seem like an easy shift, but legacy infrastructure like old job descriptions artificially limit applicants and recruiters by anchoring hiring decisions on outdated and limiting archetypes of successful candidates,” she wrote.

In April, the administration announced that it is rewriting the fundamental classification, qualification and assessment requirements for the government’s tech-focused 2210 job series to align with skills-based hiring. 

The Trump executive order directed the Office of Personnel Management to review all classification and qualification requirements in the government’s competitive service and only use education requirements when they are legally required for job duties. 

Rewiring these baselines is a move that some experts have said is necessary to truly move away from relying on college degrees, as these requirements set standards like years of experience or educational attainment necessary to be qualified for a given government job.

Kemba Walden, former acting national cyber director, told Nextgov/FCW via email that “filling jobs based on skills not only improves the security of our digital economy, but expands it.”

The administration has supported cybersecurity apprenticeships and included skills-based hiring in its National Cyber Workforce and Education Strategy, Walden noted. The administration has also focused on removing four-year degree requirements for federal cybersecurity contractors.