reliance, often excessive reliance, on a person's credentials, specif. academic degrees, as indicators of his or her abilities or potential for success as an employee
See credentialism in American Heritage Dictionary 4
noun
Overemphasis on diplomas or degrees in giving jobs or conferring social status: “Neo-liberalism made useful points in its critique of vested interests, of bureaucratic follies [and] of credentialism”(Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.)