By Iván Bornacelly, Maja Ochojska and El Iza Mohamedou
It’s 2027. You wake up, ask your AI assistant for job leads, and it replies:
“Good morning! As you completed a micro-credential course in behavioural design and have five recommendations for your green tech skills, I’ve found three job leads that closely match your profile. Shall we prep your applications?”
You sigh – not from stress, but relief. Thanks to AI you can more easily showcase your unique skills – not only qualifications – which are the main way you promote yourself to employers.
Let’s rewind to present day.
What’s really changed?
The world of work is changing, moving away from hiring based on signals like degrees or prior job titles, towards a system that values actual skills. Across OECD countries, for example, an average of 12% of candidate searches on digital platforms now use skills-based filters, compared to just 2% that rely solely on educational qualifications. In some countries, this trend is even more pronounced—as in the United States, where the number of roles that removed degree requirements increased fivefold between 2014 and 2022. These shifts are part of a broader movement, explored in the OECD’s new report, “Empowering the Workforce in the Context of a Skills-First Approach”.
In numerous countries, traditional assessments – like one-off exams or degree completion – are no longer sufficiently capturing the ways people learn and work today. The ways individuals signal their skills have multiplied and become more direct, particularly through digital platforms. Between 2018 and 2023, the average number of skills signalled by individuals increased from 10 to over 12, with the probability of someone adding skills to their online profile more than doubling in the same period. As a result, many employers are de-emphasising degrees when skills signals are strong. For example, between 2018 and 2022 in France, Germany, and Poland, employers hiring for key ICT roles facing acute shortages — such as cybersecurity professionals, IT architects, and tech-finance experts — increasingly emphasised specific skills requirements over formal degree qualifications. That’s not to say that degrees don’t offer merit and signalling value – they do, particularly in markets where trust in alternative credentials is low. However, we are seeing the creation and growing popularity of hybrid systems, where formal and informal learning pathways are visible and interoperable.
This move towards a skills-first approach creates challenges for employers, employees and training providers to redefine what counts as evidence of competence, how it’s assessed, and who decides what qualifies. In a skills-first labour market, assessments become more adaptive and ongoing – meaning they do not rely solely on one-off exams or formal diplomas, but instead track how individuals build and demonstrate skills over time. This shift requires a move away from static input measures (such as course completion) towards output-oriented evidence of what individuals can actually do, such as solving problems, managing teams or applying technical knowledge.
To support this transition, it is essential to develop trustworthy and transparent systems for verifying skills acquired outside traditional education. Unlike conventional CVs, which list past experiences without standardised validation, new mechanisms – such as digital credentials, structured skills portfolios and peer or employer endorsements – provide verifiable records that can be assessed consistently across contexts. This includes recognising learning gained through extracurricular activities, volunteering or informal work. However, this only works when these experiences are documented and validated through agreed frameworks or third-party platforms.
While skills-based approaches are gaining traction, it’s important to recognise that formal education still matters — a lot. According to most recent OECD PIAAC data, educational attainment remains a stronger predictor of employment and earnings than skills alone in most countries. But these findings don’t contradict the rise of skills-first practices; they highlight the need for a more inclusive model. A skills-first approach doesn’t replace degrees — it broadens the ways individuals can demonstrate their capabilities, especially in a labour market shaped by non-linear careers, rapid transitions, and lifelong learning.
These trends have sparked a lot of curiosity — and questions. Ahead of our recent webinar on the report, we asked participants to share what they most wanted to know about the skills-first transition. The questions came in from educators, employers, learners, and policymakers across countries. Below, we respond to some of the most frequently asked ones.
What people are asking about Skills-First
Which professions or industries can realistically adopt a skills-first approach, and where do formal degrees remain essential?
Not every occupation can – or should – eliminate formal degree requirements. In other words, while many jobs are becoming more open to candidates without traditional academic qualifications, this doesn’t mean that all roles should be “degree-optional.” Some professions, due to their complexity or regulatory frameworks, will continue to rely on formal qualifications as a baseline requirement.
Skills-first practices are spreading fastest in tech and digital services (where up-to-date portfolios often matter more than diplomas), logistics and customer service, creative industries and the green economy – where microcredentials and certifications are gaining traction.
However, in regulated professions such as medicine, aviation and law, degrees remain essential. These fields rely on standardised qualifications to ensure public safety, legal compliance and ethical accountability. That said, a Skills-First approach can still complement traditional pathways in these fields by encouraging employers to value demonstrated skills alongside formal credentials, particularly in recruitment for supporting roles or in continuing professional development.
Are skills-first hiring going to make hiring discrimination disappear?
Skills-first practices have the potential to tackle sources of bias, such as age or gender discrimination. In practice, it depends on visibility of skills-first practices and people’s ability to navigate them.
For example, older workers who actively add new skills – especially during employment gaps – significantly reduce their time out of work. Experience is valuable, but if it isn’t made visible on digital platforms where employers increasingly search for talent, it risks going unnoticed. While a traditional CV still plays a role, many hiring processes now begin with online searches and algorithm screening, meaning that if skills aren’t signalled digitally, candidates may never make it onto a shortlist.
Younger workers are more active skills signallers. But the types of skills they highlight, and how they signal them, matter. Women are more likely to signal transversal skills, while men more frequently showcase technical and disruptive skills (i.e. emerging tech skills). This gendered signalling pattern can reinforce existing workforce imbalances, especially if certain skills or signals are valued more in specific sectors.
How can governments support this shift?
Governments can take the lead in making skills-first practices work fairly and effectively. A key starting point is standardising how skills are validated — by creating clear frameworks for recognising microcredentials, digital badges (i.e. verifiable, shareable records that certify specific competencies), and informal learning. Public investment in lifelong learning is also essential, with funding models that support modular, flexible upskilling opportunities for people at all stages of life. Improving labour market intelligence can further help individuals and employers understand which skills are in demand, and where.
Importantly, governments should lead by example — for instance, by embedding skills-first practices into public-sector recruitment. But as this transition unfolds, it’s vital to stay alert to risks. Some labour groups have raised valid concerns: if not carefully implemented, a fragmented focus on skills could weaken established protections or create new uncertainties for workers. The goal isn’t to replace existing systems, but to build on them — making space for new pathways without losing sight of fairness, transparency, and the value of stable employment.
What if we trusted people over proxies like degree, job titles, or years of experience—and focused instead on what they can actually do?
It’s not about “burning your diploma.” It’s about broadening the ways people can show what they know and what they can do. A skills-first future doesn’t dismiss formal education – it simply recognises that learning happens in many forms, and that opportunity shouldn’t be limited to those who followed a single, traditional path.
This shift won’t be perfect or uniform. But it opens the door to a more inclusive and adaptable labour market, where potential is measured by capability, not just credentials. In this new world of work, skills are the signal that matters most.
Further reading:
Empowering the Workforce in the Context of a Skills-First Approach
