What are education requirements for employment?
Education requirements specify the academic credentials or degrees a candidate must have to be considered for a role. Before setting them, it’s worth asking: does this role actually require this credential, or has it just been listed out of habit?
Outdated hiring processes are among the most common ways companies unintentionally disqualify qualified candidates. Requiring a four-year degree for a role that has been successfully performed for years by people without one doesn’t protect quality, it can narrow your pool and may screen out your best candidate.
Some roles do have genuine credential requirements: a Registered Nurse must hold an associate or bachelor’s degree in nursing; a Certified Public Accountant must be licensed. But for many roles, the more useful question is: what skills does this role require, and what are the legitimate pathways to developing them?
Types of credentials and what they signal
No high school diploma or equivalent
Candidates without a diploma or GED have often built substantial practical skills through work, apprenticeships, caregiving or self-directed learning — sometimes in exactly the environments your role operates in. The absence of a credential is not always the absence of capability.
For roles where the work itself is the measure of performance, consider whether a diploma is actually relevant to what you’re hiring for.
High school diploma, GED or equivalent
A diploma or GED signals completion of foundational academic coursework. What’s often overlooked is what candidates built alongside it.
Vocational and technical programs are an important part of this. Many high school students complete rigorous trade programs graduating with industry-recognized certifications, such as in HVAC, electrical work, welding, early childhood education, automotive technology and more. In many cases, these certifications represent direct, job-ready training in fields with workforce shortages.
A note on international equivalencies: Not every candidate educated outside the United States will hold a diploma or GED, and that’s not necessarily a skills gap. Common equivalents include the Canadian high school diploma (Dogwood Certificate in BC, OSSD in Ontario), the UK’s GCSEs and A-levels, Mexico’s bachillerato and the International Baccalaureate (IB). If a credential looks unfamiliar, consider using a credential evaluation service rather than screening the candidate out.
Some college
Candidates who attended college without completing a degree may have done so for many reasons — financial, personal or because they found a career path that didn’t require one. They may have developed college-level analytical and communication skills, as well as subject-matter knowledge relevant to your role. “Some college” reflects their learning experience, not an incomplete resume.
Associate’s degree
An associate’s degree typically represents two years of focused academic or technical study. Depending on what you’re hiring for, this may be exactly the right preparation — not necessarily a stepping stone to something better.
For example, a forest technician, dental hygienist or network support specialist may be most effectively prepared through an associate’s program specifically designed for that work.
Bachelor’s degree
A four-year degree provides candidates with foundational knowledge in a field and the analytical frameworks to learn within it. It’s a strong preparation for knowledge-worker roles. Most candidates with a bachelor’s degree will still have needed to build role-specific skills on the job.
For roles where breadth of conceptual knowledge matters, where the work involves research, writing, analysis or complex communication, a bachelor’s degree may be a meaningful signal. For roles where what matters most is what someone can do with their hands or in the field, it may not be.
Master’s degree
A master’s represents advanced specialization — typically one to two years beyond a bachelor’s, developing deeper expertise in a specific domain. It’s often most relevant when a role genuinely requires that level of disciplinary depth: research positions, specialized clinical roles, certain policy or library science positions, for example.
Doctorate
A doctorate indicates a sustained, original contribution to a field. It’s often relevant for research, academic and some clinical or legal roles. Outside those contexts, requiring one is rarely warranted and may signal an overcredentialed job description.
Professional certifications
Certifications are often overlooked in hiring, particularly in trades, technology and healthcare, where they often represent the most direct signal of job-ready competency.
Trades:
- HVAC/R: EPA 608 (legally required for refrigerant handling), NATE, HVAC Excellence
- Electrical: Journeyman and Master Electrician licenses, NEC certifications
- Automotive: ASE certifications (mechanic, collision repair, and more)
- Construction and building: OSHA 10 and 30-Hour safety training, NCCER, plumbing licenses, contractor licenses
Healthcare and caregiving:
- Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA)
- Medical Assistant
- Pharmacy Technician
- EMT certification
- CPR/AED
Technology:
- CompTIA (Security+, Network+, A+),
- AWS and Azure cloud certifications,
- Splunk, Palo Alto, Google certifications
Business and management:
- PMP (Project Management Professional),
- PHR (Professional in Human Resources),
- SHRM-CP
- CPA
In many of these fields, a certification is the primary credential, not a supplement to a degree. Consider evaluating certifications as the substantial signal they are.
Military service and training
Military service is one of the most consistently underrecognized credential pathways in civilian hiring. Veterans may hold technical training, security clearances and leadership experience that maps directly, and sometimes far exceeds, the civilian equivalent of what you’re asking for.
Examples of what military training can represent:
- Cybersecurity Military Occupational Speciality (MOS) roles: Hands-on experience in threat detection, incident response, secure systems operations and compliance.
- Medical and healthcare MOSs: Combat medics and flight medics operate at a scope that translates to EMT and in some states paramedic-level credentials.
- Logistics, supply chain, and operations: Large-scale resource management under high-stakes conditions.
- Leadership: Military NCOs commonly supervise teams and manage operations years before civilian peers reach equivalent management roles.
When you see military experience on a resume, the most useful question isn’t “what degree did they get?” — it’s “what did they actually do, and what does that map to in this role?”
Internships, externships, and apprenticeships
Structured work-based learning — internships, externships, registered apprenticeships — is a legitimate and often highly effective preparation pathway. Apprenticeships in particular are industry-credentialed, often multi-year programs that produce journeyman-level competency in a trade or technical field.
When does a specific credential genuinely matter?
A small number of roles have legally mandated credential requirements — these are often non-negotiable and exist for good reason (licensure in healthcare, law, engineering and education, for example).
Beyond those cases, ask yourself:
- Has this role historically required this credential, or has it just been listed that way?
- Is there evidence that candidates without this credential perform worse?
- Are you screening out a strong candidate because they learned the same skills a different way?
Setting credential requirements without careful consideration can create barriers for candidates who face systemic challenges, without improving hiring outcomes.
When a skills-first approach may serve you better
Skills-first hiring evaluates candidates on demonstrated ability — which is, ultimately, what you’re actually paying for.
It may be especially effective when:
- You need the right match, not a larger pool. Credential requirements can narrow your candidate pool to people who look similarly credentialed on paper, while skills-based evaluation can get you closer to who can actually do the work.
- The role depends on practical knowledge. For many customer-focused, technical, trade and service roles, direct experience can be a stronger predictor of performance than formal education.
- You’re operating in a fast-changing field. In technology, marketing and similar domains, the ability to learn and adapt often matters more than where someone learned in the past.
Tips for communicating education and credential expectations
- Start with the role, not the credential. Before listing a requirement, confirm it’s tied to something the role actually requires. If you can’t articulate why a degree is necessary, it may not be.
- Be specific about what level and field actually matters. “Degree required” is less useful than “associate’s degree in a related technical field, or equivalent professional certification.”
- Distinguish required from preferred. If a credential is preferred but not required, say so clearly — and mean it. If you’d genuinely consider candidates with equivalent experience, write “or equivalent demonstrated experience.”
- Acknowledge international and non-traditional credentials. Let candidates know you’re open to credentials from other countries or non-traditional pathways. When in doubt, offer to discuss equivalencies in the interview process rather than screening at the application stage.
- Include in-progress credentials where relevant. If you’d consider a candidate close to completing a certification or degree, say so. This is especially relevant for apprenticeships and technical programs.
- Reconsider the list periodically. Hiring requirements drift. Review credential requirements regularly to make sure they still reflect what your role actually needs, not what was inherited from the last job description.
