Degrees Aren’t Proof: Do Your Employees Know Their Stuff?

Educational Trends in the Workplace

Two-year and four-year degrees are default requirements for a lot of office jobs. But they don’t necessarily prove what you think they do. Some degrees bring little value to the negotiation table, especially for technical jobs. And people without degrees can often outstrip their degreed counterpart’s knowledge with training. So whether you’re looking to expand your company’s size or you want to find ways to help your employees gain the knowledge and skills your company needs, don’t just look at degrees. Look at training certifications like:

1. Anything related to Google.

No matter what industry you’re in, Google is an important part of your workflow. It’s how potential leads are finding your business. It’s the platform your employees use to find solutions or verify information. While a lot of your employees will be familiar with the basic search function, that’s only the beginning. Encourage your marketers to take analytics courses and to learn about the new marketing platforms Google is building. Consider IT applicants who have completed the new Google IT certification on Coursera, regardless of their college history.

2. Salesforce certification.

Salesforce is hard to understand, even when it’s optimized and customized for your business. Chances are, it isn’t. The basic license is designed to be a good standard that any business can do business on. But if you have a Salesforce administrator who really knows the ins and outs, they can make Salesforce even better. They can also dive into all of the filter and automation features that new or basic users struggle with.

3. Free courses.

While certifications help, almost any employee can learn almost any task. When you’re hiring, look for signs of initiative and a good work ethic instead. You can work with inexperience and lack of knowledge. But you can’t work with someone who doesn’t want to work.

Go to Tangram to see how educational trends in the workplace are changing and how your company can change for the better with them.