How Healthcare, Technology and Manufacturing Employers Are Evolving Employment Requirements and Expectations

With more than 9.8M job openings as of May 2024 (a 21% increase in job openings YoY), there is strong demand for highly qualified workers across all U.S. industries, especially in healthcare, technology and manufacturing industries.  

And today, while grads with a 2- and 4-year degree are still the main source of talent for organizations across the U.S. – around 5.3 million job openings require an associate or bachelor’s degree – many healthcare, technology and manufacturing employers are looking at past degree requirements. They’re focusing on talent with in-demand skills who can work alongside emerging technologies that are shifting business trajectories.  

New data from the 2024 Cengage Group Employability Report shows that these employers are recruiting and hiring talent with a mix of degrees and industry certifications – creating new opportunities (and pressure) for educators to evolve learning and equip grads with “hirable,” in-demand skills that support today’s workforce.  

To understand how employers are building their workforce (and how educators can adapt learning to improve graduates’ employability), the 2024 Cengage Group Employability Report polled 1,000 U.S. employers across healthcare, technology and manufacturing to distill insights into these questions:  

• What are the hiring requirements for today’s entry-level positions? 

• What expectations do today’s employers have for new graduates entering the workforce? 

• Do recent graduates possess the skills needed to enter the workforce?  

• What skills and proficiencies are lacking in new talent?  

 

Employers Expect Degrees, But Value Skills 

Today, healthcare, technology and manufacturing employers still require a 2- or 4-year degree for most entry-level positions. However, over the last year, these employers have expanded their hiring search to include candidates with industry certifications and credentials (versus a 2- or 4-year degree).  

 

In fact, some employers say a degree becomes irrelevant within the first year an entry-level worker joins their company (healthcare: 38%, technology: 34%, manufacturing: 31%); instead, a “demonstrated mastery in skills” is the most important trait for an entry-level worker (healthcare: 41%, technology: 26%, manufacturing: 37%). 

 

Yet, Skilled Talent is Hard to Find 

With a growing emphasis on skills, recent grads aren’t quite meeting expectations with half of employers admitting they struggle to find talent (healthcare: 51%, technology: 42%, manufacturing: 55%).  

A lack of skills is the biggest barrier to hiring with healthcare, technology and manufacturing employers ranking “specific job function skills relevant to their position or field” as the top skill lacking among today’s entry-level worker – followed by “soft skills” and “tech skills / digital proficiency, especially in tools like GenAI.” 

To close some of these skills gaps, industry employers are getting involved and realigning with educators. Nearly 2 in 3 (62%) technology and healthcare employers and half (51%) of manufacturing employers maintain a relationship with educators to align curricula with in-demand job skills and needs.  

 

However, employers can’t wait for educators to close skills gaps as 3 in 4 employers plan to hire the same amount or more employees this year (healthcare: 79%, technology: 72%, manufacturing: 76%). Instead, employers are changing their expectations for talent (healthcare: 49%, technology: 57%, manufacturing: 37%) and anticipating they’ll need to upskill and retrain their workforce over the next 3 to 5 years (healthcare: 68%, technology: 72%, manufacturing: 60%). 

 

When it comes to tech skills, employers don’t expect talent to be AI proficient. But, they do believe candidates should have foundational knowledge of GenAI tools (healthcare: 64%, technology: 71%, manufacturing: 59%), which is critical to their business as the majority of healthcare (87%), technology (94%), manufacturing (86%) employers confirm the use of GenAI in the workplace. 

 

 

Aligning for the Future of Work 

As employers look to close skills gaps and hire talent that meets the needs of today’s businesses, educators and employers have an opportunity to further align and develop learning programs focused on employability. By prioritizing hands-on learning, developing practical skill sets and broadening access to new technologies like GenAI, educators are familiarizing learners with processes, applications and skills that are becoming increasingly important in today’s daily work setting.  

While educators have an opportunity to drive new value in learning, employers must also rise to the occasion by creating open, collaborative dialogue between the education ecosystem to support the evolution of learning programs.  

To understand the state of graduate employability more broadly you can download the full report here.  

 

Methodology 

The 2024 Graduate Employability Report was fielded in May 2024 to a sample of 1,000 working adults employed for wages across all fields, with demographic quotas set for gender and age ranges. The graduate/worker survey gathered 974 responses from individuals that recently graduated from their education program or intend to complete their education program within six months, across gender and age ranges.