DOVER – The state of Delaware has found success in removing barriers to employment access, replacing mandatory bachelor’s degree requirements with relevant work or life experiences in many state level jobs.
Claire DeMatteis, outgoing secretary of the Delaware Department of Human Resources (DHR), said the move has helped relieve several departments across the state of vacancies by allowing well-qualified applicants to shine through to hiring managers.
“At some point, about 25 years ago, there weren’t a lot of state vacancies. State jobs were coveted and so the state added the bachelor’s degree [requirement] to a bunch of jobs to make them harder to get, quite frankly,” she told the Delaware Business Times. “In January of 2022, when I became secretary, we started asking – are we creating barriers to employment by asking for a bachelor’s degree when it really isn’t necessary? A person’s work experience and life experience in many cases makes them qualified for a job.”
DeMatteis and other leaders acted on the hunch and started removing that degree requirement for several roles such as family service specialists and human resource advisors and analysts, as well as probation and parole officers, creating a more diverse work pool in the process.
After two years, the findings in the legislatively requested Job Requirement Project Report published by DHR didn’t surprise DeMatteis.
“It’s results is what it is. That’s what we’re looking for,” she said. “Some of these were really hard to fill jobs, but really important jobs, and we found that eliminating that barrier really helped in getting the best people in the door for those roles.”
The report found that several job roles were significantly impacted by the change in requirements. For example, family service specialist positions saw a 6% reduction in vacancy rates, and a 575% increase in applicants. There was also a 13% decrease in non-qualified applicants.
Human resource advisor and state human resource analyst roles experienced a 7% vacancy rate reduction in 2023 and a 4% reduction in 2024, with applications increasing by 9% and non-qualified applicants decreasing by 13%.
Probation and parole officer positions had no vacancies in 2023 and a 7% vacancy rate in 2024, with an 18% increase in applications and a 48% decrease in non-qualified applicants, the report stated.
Other initiatives over the years have worked to increase Delaware’s workforce, as well, such as the state offering to pay for education for future certified nursing assistants who choose to work in the state.
DeMatteis is quick to point out that eliminating the degree requirement did not mean that standards were lowered.
“People still have to have work and life experiences that make them qualified for the job. We’re still hiring qualified individuals. It’s just easier to get the right ones in a state job,” she said.
While key positions like accountants would still need corresponding degrees, DeMattis said the state will continue down this path for other specialist positions.
“We’re not stopping. This isn’t the end of it,” she said.
