In a recent article, I looked at how skills-based recruitment can help people who are traditionally overlooked get given a fair crack in the labor market. Such individuals often lack formal qualifications and are instead skilled through alternative routes.
“Skilled through alternative routes” refers to individuals who have gained skills, knowledge, and experience through non-traditional paths, rather than through formal education or traditional career pathways. Alternative routes may include self-directed learning, on-the-job training, apprenticeships, vocational programs, or other forms of experiential learning.
This term is often used to recognize and highlight the value and contributions of individuals who have acquired skills and expertise through alternative means, particularly in industries where formal education or degrees are not necessarily required for success. Employers and policymakers are increasingly recognizing the importance of alternative routes to skill development and are exploring ways to better integrate and recognize these pathways in education and workforce development systems.
A sizeable group
A recent report from Opportunity@Work highlights the difficulties these people face, however. Half of the US workforce consists of STARs, or Skilled Through Alternative Routes workers, who have been gradually losing access to good-paying jobs for years.
These workers, who possess valuable skills and knowledge acquired through non-traditional paths such as on-the-job training or apprenticeships, are often relegated to lower-wage work that fails to reflect their true worth.
A recent video highlighted 15 jobs that were once dominated by STARs. However, as employers have come to prioritize degrees over skills, STARs have been displaced from 7.4 million jobs that provided economic security and upward mobility, including positions in healthcare, management, and administration.
What’s more, those STARs who do manage to secure middle- and high-wage roles are paid less than their peers with bachelor’s degrees in the same positions. This undervaluing of STARs’ skills means that they may have to work for 30 years to earn what a college graduate earns on their first day on the job.
According to the report, a staggering 32 million STARs possess valuable skills that could land them in much higher-paying roles than their current positions. However, this problem is not exclusive to STARs alone. Employers are also disadvantaged when they overlook half of the workforce’s skills.
By shifting the focus from bachelor’s degrees to skills and recognizing the capabilities of all workers, employers can resolve perceived talent shortages and enhance diversity within their organizations. This requires a collaborative effort to restructure the labor market and eliminate the obstacles that prevent STARs from reaching their full potential.
