A college or university degree will no longer give American citizens a leg up when seeking some jobs with the federal government of the United States, Campus Gist has learned.
This comes as President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order that will overhaul the government’s hiring practices so that a job applicant’s skills will be given priority over a degree.
According to American newspaper New York Post, the development will allow government to hire a more inclusive workforce based on skill instead of a person’s education level.
What this means is that applicants for federal government jobs will now be vetted based on their skills rather than if they have a relevant college or university degree.
At a signing ceremony at the White House, President Trump said the order would create a more merit-based system and opportunities for Americans who had previously been excluded from the workforce.
“The federal government will no longer be narrowly focused on where you went to school, but the skills and the talents that you bring to the job,” he said.
“The order will direct federal agencies to shift to skills-and competency-based hiring rather than degree-based hiring which “excludes capable candidates and undermines labor-market efficiencies,” Trump added.
Trump praised his daughter, senior adviser and American Workforce Policy Advisory Board co-chair Ivanka Trump for leading the charge on the hiring edict.
“This will allow us to better recognize the talents and competencies of all Americans we hire,” the First Daughter said, calling on the private sector to follow suit.
“This will ensure that we’re able to hire based on talent and expand our universe to qualified candidates and ensure a more equitable hiring process,” USA Today quoted her as saying.
“The federal government will no longer be narrowly focused on where you went to school, but the skills and talents that you bring to the job.”
Ivanka Trump said the new hiring practice will show that the government is leading by example as it tries to recruit and retain the best and brightest workers.
With 2.1 million civilian workers, the federal government is the largest employer in the US and the new order will open doors to the two-thirds of American adults who do not possess a degree.
Campus Gist understands that job applicants for federal jobs will be now be vetted by relevant experts who will assess whether they possess the skills and ability to perform the job that they are applying for.
College or university degree requirements won’t be tossed completely, but skills in jobs where having a degree is less important will be stressed under the new order.
NYP/USA Today