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The nation is facing an “unprecedented challenge finding workers to fill open jobs,” according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. To expand the pool of potential workers, more employers are dropping college degree requirements and embracing skills-based hiring for certain jobs.
Boeing, Walmart and IBM are among them, and closer to home, Indianapolis-based pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Co. is touting the success of its Skills First program, hiring more than 130 Hoosiers without a four-year degree on their resume.
Without a college education and spread thin as a working mother, Autumn Smith thought working for Lilly was “just a dream—a hope and a wish,” but she’s now a full-time employee after completing one of Lilly’s Skills First programs.
Lilly leaders say the “bold strategy,” which launched in 2020, takes the company’s diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, commitment “to the next level.” The company pledged to increase the current representation of Black American employees in its U.S. workforce from approximately 10% to 13%.
“Creating access and removing barriers is a big part of our DEI strategy,” said Lilly Head of Global DEI Kelly Copes-Anderson. “Skills-first hiring focuses on specific skills, experiences and competencies a candidate needs to be successful in the role, rather than the degree, which can be harder to obtain for those who have been historically excluded, lived in marginalized communities or face socioeconomic barriers to education.”
Lilly’s Skills First initiative is made up of four apprenticeship programs that prepare people for positions in manufacturing, IT, research labs, marketing, or administrative services. Apprentices are “not just paid, but paid a family-sustaining wage” and qualify for benefits while they train in the program, said Copes-Anderson. Nearly 70% of the apprentices complete the program and gain full-time jobs at Lilly.
Before doing Skills First, Smith said she felt “stuck” without a four-year degree.
“I felt very limited. I was also trying to figure out how to find time within time; I’m a mom of three, so I was trying to figure out, do I pause work to go to school?” said Smith, who became an account lead for Lilly’s DEI and Employee Resource Groups programming after completing the apprenticeship.
Columbus-based Cummins Inc. and OneAmerica Financial in Indianapolis are two other major employers in Indiana with skills-based hiring programs. The Indiana Office of Technology was the first state government agency in the country to launch skills-based hiring with a connected apprenticeship program.
“[Lilly] is playing a leadership role for skills-first [hiring] in Indiana, but I see many other companies looking to [start] and contacting us to learn from our experiences and our approach,” said Copes-Anderson. “It’s unchartered space across many organizations but a great opportunity given that we have a tighter labor market ahead of us. This program definitely helps us expand the hiring pool.”
Lilly said Skills First also opens the door to furthering education; when apprentices move into an employee role, they have the same benefits as other Lilly employees, including education assistance. Smith, who once felt trapped not knowing how to pause work for school, is now earning her bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
“You can have a job, but I believe a career is what gives you sustainable income to be able to provide the things that are needed for your family,” said Smith. “And I’ve definitely been able to do that, and that’s exciting.”
Copes-Anderson said learning the apprentices’ personal stories is one of the most rewarding aspects of Skills First. She can relate to the advantages of getting a foot in the door at a large corporation; she began her Lilly career 26 years ago in manufacturing and climbed the ladder into leadership roles.
“This is probably one of the top programs that I’ve seen us do,” said Copes-Anderson. “Lilly is very interested in great talent, and talent is not necessarily limited to those that can get a degree. It’s a focus on what skills you bring to the table, not so much on the four-year degree.”
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