President Donald Trump is expected to sign an Executive Order today that will change how the Federal Government looks at resumes in hiring. The focus will shift to skills over degrees.

The Federal government is the largest employer in the United States with well over 22 million employees. Federal hiring includes everyone in the Executive branch, the military and the drones at the Department of Motor Vehicles. Looking at skills over degrees will make a huge change, except at the DMV, which is hopeless.

Commerce Secretary Wilber Ross and Ivanka Trump, the President’s eldest daughter, co-chair the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board. The board has been looking at the ways America works now and what employment need will take us into the future. The Policy Advisory Board’s mission statement directs:

Pursuant to Executive Order 13845, “Establishing the President’s National Council for the American Worker,” the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board will provide advice and recommendations to the interagency National Council for the American Worker on ways to encourage the private sector and educational institutions to combat the skills crisis by investing in and increasing demand-driven education, training, and re-training, including training through apprenticeships and work-based learning opportunities.

Whatever, you think of Donald Trump, he himself is a workaholic and put all of his kids at work on construction sites to earn their allowance. They know about skills and degrees.

Every year, we import workers from other countries who have skills that are not available in U.S. workers. High schools and colleges are focused on turning out people with degrees, but for the most part, no skills. I am not talking about people in the hard sciences. I am talking about art history and sociology majors.

Ivanka Trump stated:

“We are modernizing federal hiring to find candidates with the relevant competencies and knowledge, rather than simply recruiting based on degree requirements,” she told The Associated Press.

“We encourage employers everywhere to take a look at their hiring practices and think critically about how initiatives like these can help diversify and strengthen their workforce.”

Both inside with Federal hiring and outside in the private sector, Ivanka Trump has been focused on hiring and skills since her father was inaugurated:

Policy Board Co-chair, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told the Associated Press:

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, the board’s other co-chair, said the need for skills training and apprenticeships is as great as it was before the coronavirus pandemic forced millions of people out of work, pushing the national unemployment rate above 13% in May.

“Americans are eager to get to work but they need our help,” Ross told AP.

Americans love to work. Work fills a need, to not only make money, but to fulfill a desire to contribute. Work can give meaning to one’s life. But, the world moves on. The workforce is changing. Technology is changing. How we work is changing. The Coronavirus pandemic has shown us that as much as anything. Having a degree shows potential employer that you can take classes and finish a project. What is doesn’t tell the employer is what skills you bring to the table.

IBM agrees:

.@IBM CEO Ginni Rometty: “We have to make sure people don’t feel left behind by the #AI era. That means we have to hire for skills over degrees, and expand pathways for people to build in-demand skills for NewCollarJobs.” #wsj #wef19

— IBMPolicy (@IBMpolicy) January 24, 2019

We need an educated, skilled and adaptable workforce. The Executive Order that Trump signs today is a first step for the Federal government. The American people will need to step up next.

Featured Image: Chritiaan Colen/Flickr.com/cropped/Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)