Welcome to The Hero 🗞️. This is approximately a 3-minute read.

"We care about skills, not degrees."

You've heard it a hundred times.

From managers who want to sound modern.

From job posts trying to pull more applicants.

And from companies that put out a press release.

Then Harvard checked the actual hires.

Fewer than 1 in 700 reflected the change.

Almost every company said it.

But almost none of them did it…

And if you've been taking it at its word, it's costing you.

The full breakdown is just below - don’t miss it! 😉

Here are some of the best links I've found since last time I emailed you:

Harvard did something very simple.

They didn't ask companies about their policy. They looked at who got hired.

They studied 11,300 roles at big firms - before and after the degree requirement was dropped.

The result?

About 97,000 more people without a degree got hired.

Out of 77 million hires a year.

Fewer than 1 in 700.

Here's why it happens:

A company announces it's going skills-first. Gets the headlines. And moves on…

Then the next role opens.

The manager who wasn't in that meeting writes the job post.

Adds "Bachelor's degree required."

Same as always.

Nobody stops them. Nobody ever does…

But here's the part that matters for you.

A third of these companies actually meant it - and you can see it in who they hire. They take people the others won't even look at.

So the gap isn't fate. It's a choice.

And you can spot exactly who's making it.

When a hiring manager says it, nod - then ask:

"The last few times you hired for this role, what did the people who got the offer have in common?"

That answer tells you what they really screen for.

Not the policy. The pattern.

👉️ Build your search around the pattern.

Most "degree required" lines are habit, not belief.

Someone wrote it years ago, and it stuck.

Ask early: "This degree - hard requirement, or flexible if the experience is there?"

Most of the time, it's flexible.

👉️ Recruiters who ask widen their pool. Recruiters who don't quietly toss out people the manager would've hired.

Here's the trap:

Your manager says skills come first.

So, you go find a strong candidate with no degree.

But they pass anyway - and now you've burned a week.

The fix is one message before you source a single name:

"To make sure I aim this right - if someone's clearly got the skills but no degree, are they in or out?"

Get the answer in writing.

If it's "in," you've just widened your pool with cover.

If it's "out," you learned the real rule before it cost you a search - not after.

Nobody actually wants the diploma - they want what they assume comes with it.

So, decode it…

"Bachelor's required" usually means:

Find that proof somewhere else and put it right at the top of the resume.

Example:

He built a product from scratch that achieved 40k active users in two years.

👉️ Don't argue the degree. Replace it - show your hiring manager the exact skill they were really screening for, in plain sight.

The fastest way to change how a manager hires is to show them a hire that worked.

Keep one example ready:

A no-degree candidate you placed who outperformed.

The promotion, the numbers, the manager who'd hire them again.

Drop it subtly during your intake:

"Last quarter I placed someone for a role like this - no degree, but was the top performer eight months in. Want me to include profiles like that?"

"We do skills-based hiring" is usually hope, not a habit.

The data shows the gap is real - and it shows up again and again.

The gap between what your hiring manager says and who they actually hire is real.

Most recruiters never see it.

Now you do - act on it.

There are a few ways:

Or you can just reply to this email.

I reply to absolutely everyone who writes me back 🙂