The New-Collar Workforce

There are many reasons to attend higher education and receive a bachelor’s degree—to meet new people, explore new areas of study, and yes, as a means of accessing higher-paying jobs in the future. There was a time when achieving that coveted piece of paper at the end of a four-year program could open up a world of possibilities for new graduates.

Nowadays,however, things are a little different. For starters, the cost of tuition has increased exponentially over the years and as of 2023, the average student loan debt was just shy of $40,000 ($38,787 to be exact).

Additionally, as the number of adults receiving a degree has increased over the last 15 years, there has been a recent decline in freshmen enrollment. According to a report from the National Student Clearinghouse, enrollment was down 3.6 percent last fall, and the number of students who left college without completing their degree program was also on the rise.

Individuals who do not want to be saddled with large amounts of debt, or who are unable to complete a degree program, still possess plenty of valuable skills and should absolutely be considered qualified for a large percentage of jobs.

The term “New-Collar Workforce” is an umbrella that includes recent high-school graduates, long-term trade workers, and everything in between. In this article, we’re going to dive a little deeper into this new group of workers, and outline some of the sectors they might thrive in.

What is “New-Collar?”

New-Collar is a title associated with workers who have obtained (or would like to obtain) their skills through experience rather than traditional education. Some New-Collar workers have completed trade school programs, software/coding camps, certificate programs, internships, or even some college coursework. For freelancers and other more creative positions, the new-collar workers might even be entirely self-taught.

In place of education and technical training, their resume may highlight other outlets through which they have learned coveted soft skills like leadership, adaptability, and communication.

For example, workers who have childcare or other household responsibilities are oftentimes excellent multitaskers and problem solvers. Individuals who have spent time volunteering might’ve been put in charge of large groups or complicated projects. These skills should not be overlooked, and may even be more relevant to the position you’re hiring for than certain degrees would be.

Why have a degree requirement in the first place?

Obviously, a college education is going to be a minimum requirement for certain positions. Nobody wants to be operated on by a surgeon whose only training is a six-month online course.

That said, there are plenty of positions out there that do not require such an in-depth understanding of one specific thing. The problem is, research shows that job postings listing a degree as a minimum requirement are on the rise—even though that same survey found 9 out of 10 job postings that require a degree did not contain any duties/responsibilities that differed from non-degree requiring positions of the same title.

So not only are employers requiring a college degree for seemingly no specific reason, but this arbitrary requirement can actually lead to an unintended hiring bias. A 2021 survey found that among adults who opted out of attending college, a higher percentage of Hispanic and Black adults said they couldn’t afford it. By requiring all applicants to have a college degree without good reason, employers are creating a barrier that will keep a larger percentage of low-income and people of color from applying, therefore resulting in a less diverse candidate pool.

New-Collar Job Examples

In the modern day hiring world, experts suggest taking a “skills-first” hiring approach. This doesn’t mean you refuse to take education into consideration, it just means that hiring managers and recruiters should be looking at the skills the applicant possesses as opposed to where those skills were obtained.

Here are a few examples of important, well-paying positions that do not require a four-year degree:

1. Truck/Bus Driver

Average Salary:

Bus Driver — $50,890

Truck Driver — $83,158 

2. Mail Carrier

Average Salary: $56,330

3. Digital Technology Jobs in Healthcare, Engineering, etc.

Average Salary:

Sonographer: $75,682

Computer Technician: $43,729

Pharmacy Technician: $40,300

4. Field Service Engineer

Average Salary Varies

5. Web Developer and Other Freelance Creative Work

Average Salary Varies

New-Collar Hiring and Applying Insights

Regardless of all the insights and examples we’ve listed above, we know that applying for a job as someone without a traditional degree can be intimidating. Much of the resume advice found online focuses at least partially on how to highlight education achievements specifically, and may not provide valuable advice for showing off other coveted skills.

You can find more specialized resume and application advice on the CyberCoders insights page, but there is one very important thing you need to do even if you don’t follow any of the other advice given.

Put the words “bachelor’s degree” somewhere on your resume.

Due to common keyword algorithms used by applicant tracking systems, there’s a high chance that your resume will never get past the first round of scrutiny if it doesn’t include these words. Some jobs that may not even list a degree as a requirement on the posting, still might have this hurdle embedded into some of their electronic hiring programs. You can find creative ways to put this phrase on your resume without having to say directly that you don’t have a degree.

For example, listed under your experience or education heading, you could put something like:

Two years of University coursework in the pursuit of a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology.

Or in your professional summary you could write:

In lieu of spending four-years working towards a Bachelor’s Degree, I chose to enter my desired field of work immediately upon graduating high school.

If neither of these examples apply to your specific working background, and you’re worried about your resume being thrown out, you can always talk to one of our recruiting experts. At CyberCoders, our recruiters know exactly how to make an application shine, no matter what their experience and education entails. Go to our website today to learn more!