There has been much discussion about whether a degree is necessary for every job. The answer is “no.”

About one-half of employers responding to NACE’s Job Outlook 2025 Spring Update survey said their organization has positions that are flexible in terms of degree. (See Figure 1.)

Many roles require skills that can be gained through alternatives to a degree. Operations, customer service, and administrative are the top roles that offer a degree equivalency. (See Figure 2.)

Most roles that offer degree equivalencies use a 1:1 ratio of years of experience to years of education. For example, more than half of survey participants use this equivalency for customer service, operations, and sales positions.

Why do employers offer degree equivalencies for certain roles? Given their focus on skills—and concerns about talent shortages—employers are looking at degree equivalencies as a means to building a successful workforce. (See Figure 3.)

Still, at this juncture, few respondents actually hire candidates who lack a degree for their professional jobs. The highest percentage of employers hires a candidate with equivalent experience less than one-quarter of the time.

The Job Outlook 2025 Spring Update survey was conducted from February 18 – March 21, 2025. Of the 216 total respondents, 176 were NACE employer members, representing 22.2% of eligible member respondents. The Job Outlook 2025 Spring Update survey was also distributed to nonmember companies; this group provided an additional 40 responses. The survey updates hiring projections for the Class of 2025; those projections were collected from NACE employer members from August 5 – September 16, 2024, and were reported in Job Outlook 2025, which was published in November 2024. The Job Outlook 2025 Spring Update is available on NACEWeb.