SYDNEY -- Australian tech companies are easing educational requirements for job openings, emphasizing practical skills over background in an aim to diversify their workforces.
Canva, a graphic design software maker, dropped educational requirements for its positions a few years back. The unicorn -- a private company valued over $1 billion -- now assesses candidates based on their skills to enhance workplace diversity.
Culture Amp, which tackles HR issues using IT, has also removed educational requirements from most job descriptions, except for some specialized roles. Justin Angsuwat, HR head, told Australian media that a degree is the weakest indicator of a person's skills.
Logistics software developer WiseTech Global is taking similar measures. "This skills-based recruitment approach helps us to create diverse teams to better solve problems," said Angelina McMenamin, the company's head of talent.
McMenamin explained that WiseTech Global is taking a "human-centric approach," which focuses on the individual and their potential for long-term success. "We believe their work ethic, problem-solving style, and learning agility, are stronger indicators of future contributions than past titles or education alone," she added.
As of 2023, 32% of Australians aged 15-17 held a university degree or higher, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. In Japan, the figure for people 15 or older was about 20% as of 2020, based on that country's census.
Australian firms have traditionally valued educational background highly. The Australian Computer Society, a tech industry group, reported that 97% of IT job listings nationwide in 2021 required a university degree or higher, surpassing the UK's 90% and the US's 86%.
However, a growing labor shortage in the tech sector is pushing more companies to rethink this approach.
Australia's tech industry employed 935,000 people as of May 2023, up 8% from the previous year. It's projected that 1.3 million workers will be needed by 2030.
Continuing to rely on educational background for hiring could also widen the gender gap in the industry. Women make up 26% of Australia's tech workforge, significantly lower than the 48% across all industries. Men with STEM -- science, technology, engineering and math -- degrees outnumber women 3-to-1 in the country.
0 Comments