Help a job seeker without a degree find employers that hire on skills.

Exa

Tech partner

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Help a job seeker without a degree find employers that hire on skills.

Most job seekers without degrees never learn which employers would actually hire them.

Skills-first hiring is growing, but from the outside every job ad looks the same. Candidates without degrees waste applications on employers whose 'degree preferred' means 'degree required' — while companies that genuinely hire on skills stay invisible in the noise. Tooling for this crowd already exists and all of it trusts the ad: AI matchers (JobRight, Simplify, Teal) score your resume against job posting text, and no-degree job boards (HiredBySkill, Tear the Paper Ceiling) tag listings by what the posting claims. Yet research keeps finding that most companies that dropped degree requirements barely changed who they actually hire. The ad is not evidence. Actual hires are — and nobody checks them.

Sep 1 26’

Challenge start

Build (31 days left)

Oct 1 26’

Deadline & Winners

What to build

Your Mission

Build an AI-powered solution that helps a job seeker without a degree find the employers that genuinely hire on skills.

Do not build another resume-to-job-ad matcher or a "no degree required" job board — both categories are saturated, and both inherit the same flaw: they take the posting at its word. The open problem is the lip-service detector. Your solution should separate real skills-first employers from performative ones using evidence of who actually got hired — the people in target roles who got there without degrees, what they had instead, and whether that path is repeating or was a one-off. How you solve it is up to you. Exa gives you the hiring evidence from company and people data; the rest is yours.

Start the challenge

How to build

Master the Challenge.

Scope

What Success Looks Like

There is no single right solution. You could take the problem in many directions — pick a specific user, a clear decision, and make that experience work well.

Tip:

Don't try to solve the whole problem at once. Pick a specific region, industry, or job family, then make that experience work well.

Support:

After signing up, you’ll receive kickoff instructions and access to the Discord for Q&A.

Requirements

Technical Challenge

Think about how your solution will identify employers whose actual hires — not job ads — show degree-free paths into good roles, extract the skills and credentials those hires really had, distinguish genuine skills-first policies from PR, and turn it into a target list one candidate can act on. These are opportunities to explore, not requirements you need to satisfy all at once.

Tip:

Your solution doesn’t need to be production-ready. We welcome everything from early prototypes to fully working implementations and ambitious technical explorations.

Support:

After the kickoff, you’ll get access to the mentors’ chat on Discord.

Use of tech

Recommended Tools

Exa provides a web retrieval layer that might be useful here. Exa's `people` index (1B+) can reveal which employees in target roles got there without degrees and what skills they had, the `company` index (50M+) maps which employers those are, and news search separates genuine skills-first commitments from press releases. Whether Exa fits your solution is up to you.

Tip:

Whether or not you use Exa in your solution is entirely up to you.

Resources:

Meet your mentors

Get a guidance from industry professionals.

Gain invaluable insights and support from seasoned experts who are passionate about driving positive change. Our mentors bring years of experience in tackling complex challenges, ready to share their knowledge and help you make a meaningful impact.

Start the challenge

Sep 1 26’

Challenge start

Build (31 days left)

Oct 1 26’

Deadline & Winners

Jury Panel

Put your solution in front of hiring managers.

Receive valuable feedback and insights from hiring managers and industry experts.

Submit your project

Community recognition

Winner

TBD

The winning project will be featured on Drawerrr’s Winners page and receive support, and exposure to take the idea further.

Community recognition

Finalists

TBD
TBD

The two finalist projects will be featured on Drawerrr’s Finalists page and receive support to continue developing their ideas.

Exa

If you choose Exa as part of your tech stack, the winner and two finalists will receive Exa.ai credits, exposure through Exa’s developer community, and technical support to help develop their projects further.

Sep 1 26’

Challenge start

Build (31 days left)

Oct 1 26’

Deadline & Winners

FAQ

Everything you need to know about participating.

Who can participate?

The challenge welcomes participants from all countries and skill levels, making it ideal for students and career switchers. Whether you're an entry-level individual with no experience or a seasoned professional seeking to broaden your expertise, this challenge suits your needs. We encourage diverse backgrounds, including scientists, designers, engineers, analysts, policy makers, community leaders, PR experts, economists, marketers, educators, and other professionals.

Is there a participation fee?

No. It's free for all participants.

How to get started?

  1. Create an account.
  2. Choose a challenge you would like to work on.
  3. Follow guides to solve the problem (solo or in a team).
  4. Submit your solution.
  5. Get the feedback from sustainability experts and results at the beginning of the each month.

Is there any deadlines?

You can submit your case at any point. The challenge results will be announced in the first few days of each month on the winners' page.

Can I participate as part of a team?

Yes, participants can submit the case as a team. There is no maximum number of team members, but we recommend up to five members.

How to obtain assistance from mentors?

You can find available mentors under the Connect page in your account. Mentor help is optional and not required to participate in the challenge.

Who will be evaluating submissions?

Submissions will be evaluated by the Jury panel, which will assess cases based on Innovation, quality of work and potential Impact.

Are there any awards for the winners?

The best cases will be published on the winners' page, and the team will receive prizes from our sponsors.

Can participants apply multiple times?

Yes, participants can submit multiple cases, either solo or as part of a team.

What happens after the challenge?

All participants maintain access to community chats, mentors, and network.

After challenge

Take it to the next level.

The Challenge graduates get the opportunity to connect with grant providers and organizations looking to pilot projects and take them to the next level.

Get started

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