“Successful training programs for the disadvantaged, like Year Up and Per Scholas, have focused on tech jobs because demand is strong and the skills can be demonstrated through coding tests or industry-recognized certificates.
Dropping the college degree qualification for jobs requires work. The skills needed for a job have to be explained more clearly, and hiring managers have to be trained. Institutional habits, work force experts note, run deep. Companies reflexively seek out not only college graduates but ones from a handful of favorite schools.
‘This is still hand-to-hand combat at the company level,’ said Matt Sigelman, president of the Burning Glass Institute and a co-author of the report.”