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SALT LAKE CITY — Brandy Grace's career in the public sector began when she was just 20 years old.
She didn't have a four-year degree at the time; rather, she only had a few college accounting courses under her belt when she began working in Millard County's accounting office in the 1990s. Still, she was able to build her way up to the role of county auditor, not through a degree but by her work performance.
Grace is now the CEO of the Utah Association of Counties, an organization that provides services to county officials across the state. She landed the job despite her lack of a college degree at the time she was appointed a few years ago.
She attributes her career rise to her tenacity and communication skills, which she believes comes from her upbringing more than anything else.
"These skills were not learned in the classroom, but instead, were learned from growing up on a farm — where getting up early and working until the job was done were a must," she says. "I believe that my desire to perform well and to learn comes from my own life experiences."
Her story exemplifies why Utah is looking at reevaluating bachelor's degree requirements in its hiring processes while asking private businesses to do the same, says Gov. Spencer Cox. State officials passed legislation in 2021 that bars minimum educational requirements for many government jobs, unless a minimum degree requirement is necessary.
The governor unveiled a new "skills-first hiring initiative" Tuesday that seeks to further expand job opportunities in the state, regardless of a candidate's degree status. He points out that Utah's executive branch has more than 1,000 different classified jobs — 98% of which shouldn't require a degree.
"Far too often, degrees have become a blanketed barrier to entry in too many jobs," he said. "Instead of focusing on demonstrating competence, the focus has often become on a piece of paper. ... There are different ways to learn, there are different ways to get an education and there are different experiences people have had."
An education paradigm shift
David Woolstenhulme, the commissioner of the Utah System of Higher Education, backs the state's endeavor, contending that it won't devalue a bachelor's degree or try to — or other degrees beyond that — but to adjust degree requirements to meet the needs of employers, instead.
Higher education, he says, should focus on skills needed for certain jobs. Many jobs will still need four years' worth of learning or more. However, there are many jobs that shouldn't require as much education.
Limited access to four-year degrees is a primary driver behind the state's efforts. Cox explains the current system rewards time spent in a classroom seat over various life experiences. But not everyone has the opportunity to go to college because of several reasons, including money.
"We have organized, as a country, a system of higher learning that very much incentivizes and rewards younger people who have an opportunity right out of high school to go to college," he said. "And if you don't get it in that small window of life, it gets so much more difficult."
Cox argues that there are plenty of people who don't have degrees but have life experiences that would qualify them to teach courses in their field of expertise, hence his desire to remove some requirements. He adds that there should be levers in higher education to allow students to test out of subjects "that they already know," so they can focus on skills they need to learn.
Certainly, there's value in pursuing a bachelor's degree, a master's degree or a doctorate degree ... but a degree should not be the only way to a good-paying job and having a fulfilling career.
– Utah Gov. Spencer Cox
This has major employment implications, especially as Utah deals with ongoing employment shortages. Some of these shortages began before the COVID-19 pandemic, and have since grown with Utah's recovery. The state's unemployment remains at 2.1%, which has "extremely" tightened the labor market, said Mark Knold, the chief economist at the Department of Workforce Services.
That said, he acknowledged last month that Utah continues to add jobs so the rate is not restricting growth at the moment.
Utah's new hiring initiative could help fill job vacancies across state government. Cox said it will likely impact some agencies more than others, such as the Department of Workforce Services and the Department of Health and Human Services. He also thinks it can help fill information technology jobs across the state, which previously required degrees.
"Certainly, there's value in pursuing a bachelor's degree, a master's degree or a doctorate degree ... but a degree should not be the only way to a good-paying job and having a fulfilling career," he said.
Putting the new concept to use
Utah government leaders aren't the only ones focusing on this issue. Several private employers in Utah had already made the shift in requirements, including Delta Air Lines, which employs about 5,000 people in Utah, according to Joanne Smith, the company's executive vice president and chief people officer.
Smith explained that Delta waived some education requirements in favor of zeroing in on "skills and competency" beginning in 2019. For instance, it began focusing on a pilot's ability to fly a plane and certifications related to that rather than whether the pilot has a four-year degree.
This push has helped hire more than 30,000 people for various jobs over the past year and a half, including more than 1,000 jobs in Utah. The company maintains that hiring the right people, regardless of degree, has the potential to pay off in the long run.
"It's growing a talent pipeline from within," Smith said. "And studies show that focusing on skills and competency rather than just a degree — or only a degree — (is) five times more a better predictor of success in how someone is going to do in the role."
In addition to the new initiative, Cox said Tuesday that lawmakers will "work closely" with state agencies in the upcoming legislative session on recommendations to further improve the higher education experience and reduce degree barriers.
These changes may include making it easier and cheaper for students to get into Utah institutions, including technical colleges and community colleges, through a single master application. This could allow students access to valuable trade opportunities without the steeper cost of a four-year degree, which, in turn, provides better access to well-paying jobs in important fields.
Meanwhile, given her own experience, Grace wants organizations in the public and private sectors to consider candidates who may not have a bachelor's degree or other educational markers. That includes county governments, like the one that gave her a chance even when she only had a few college courses to her name.
She also hopes that her story can inspire people who don't have four-year degrees or other "certain credentials" to know they can still hold leadership positions as long as they put in the work.
"Think of the unique skills that you have learned through your own life. Those are marketable skills," she said. "Those are things that make us more diverse, those are things that create diversity in our organizations, that make us better as a state."
