Not sure how much I want to delve into this one Beastie. I think a lot depends on what you do with your degree after graduation and what you were doing on your way to graduation. I use to counsel undergraduates in Biology, most considered themselves pre-med. One of the things I told them that would help get them 'noticed', since the competition for med school was against all the other 'smartest kids in the class', was their off hours schedule. If you graduate with top honors and were not involved in extracurricular activities...it doesnât carry the same weight if you did more with your life than book learning. I think most employers want some one diverse or âwell roundedâ.
Many of my 'classmates' now manage fast food places or work in retail. I am one of the few people in the group that I hung out with as an undergraduate that actually works in the same field that they majored in college. College seems to have turned into a âmajor in anythingâ just get the paper or you donât get a job mentality.
For the last few years I have been responsible for hiring employees to work in my labs. I need someone for a job that is a tedious one and requires a lot of manual dexterity. I look for someone with the enthusiasm to learn that can do the required work and that I can get along with for 8 hours a day. In my last lab the woman I hired was a HS graduate that upon completion of the practical part of the interview I knew she was the one I wanted to hire and she turned out to be a great worker. No she couldnât trouble shoot problems very well and her people skills were less than desirable but she was a damn good worker and could handle what the job needed. She still works there and it has been over 3 years now. Small salary increases but no real advancement available past the level she is at now. I set out to find the same kind of employee here in my new labâ¦.ok same skills a little more personalityâ¦. and Human Resources would not allow me to look at applications from people without a bachelor degree from an accredited school of higher learning because of the salary that I was offering. I have a great employee and she is very independent and is trusted to work on her own..... but did I miss someone who would have been just as good or even better without a degree?
Fair or unfair itâs just the way the world is these days at least in the education and science fields and I am sure many more. It is all relative. You may not think your degree is significant but ask someone without one how hard it is for them to find a job. With the flood of hopefuls with degrees it is getting harder to get even a ânothingâ job without one .The jobs that use to be available to HS graduates are going to the college graduates. The better jobs are going to those with an education that are a little more assertive or whose education is a little more specialized.
If you choose a career that allows outside âtestingâ for certification then a college degree may not be necessary. But if want a career and not just a job then I think it is becoming mandatory that âsome collegeâ be part of your resumeâ. That piece of paper has become a way of weeding out at least some of the applications. One of the things a college degree tells an employer is that you can make a commitment to do something for four (or more) years and accomplish tasks put before you.
Bottom line it all depends on how assertive you are and how good you are at what you want to do. Keeping in mind a degree might get you in the door but your skills are what will keep the job and allow for advancementâ¦.then againâ¦is advancement available if you donât have an advance degree???
Needless to say I believe education is important both for the practical and speculative knowledge that you gain. But I am not sure how fair it is to someone who is intuitively good at what they do.
Many of my 'classmates' now manage fast food places or work in retail. I am one of the few people in the group that I hung out with as an undergraduate that actually works in the same field that they majored in college. College seems to have turned into a âmajor in anythingâ just get the paper or you donât get a job mentality.
For the last few years I have been responsible for hiring employees to work in my labs. I need someone for a job that is a tedious one and requires a lot of manual dexterity. I look for someone with the enthusiasm to learn that can do the required work and that I can get along with for 8 hours a day. In my last lab the woman I hired was a HS graduate that upon completion of the practical part of the interview I knew she was the one I wanted to hire and she turned out to be a great worker. No she couldnât trouble shoot problems very well and her people skills were less than desirable but she was a damn good worker and could handle what the job needed. She still works there and it has been over 3 years now. Small salary increases but no real advancement available past the level she is at now. I set out to find the same kind of employee here in my new labâ¦.ok same skills a little more personalityâ¦. and Human Resources would not allow me to look at applications from people without a bachelor degree from an accredited school of higher learning because of the salary that I was offering. I have a great employee and she is very independent and is trusted to work on her own..... but did I miss someone who would have been just as good or even better without a degree?
Fair or unfair itâs just the way the world is these days at least in the education and science fields and I am sure many more. It is all relative. You may not think your degree is significant but ask someone without one how hard it is for them to find a job. With the flood of hopefuls with degrees it is getting harder to get even a ânothingâ job without one .The jobs that use to be available to HS graduates are going to the college graduates. The better jobs are going to those with an education that are a little more assertive or whose education is a little more specialized.
If you choose a career that allows outside âtestingâ for certification then a college degree may not be necessary. But if want a career and not just a job then I think it is becoming mandatory that âsome collegeâ be part of your resumeâ. That piece of paper has become a way of weeding out at least some of the applications. One of the things a college degree tells an employer is that you can make a commitment to do something for four (or more) years and accomplish tasks put before you.
Bottom line it all depends on how assertive you are and how good you are at what you want to do. Keeping in mind a degree might get you in the door but your skills are what will keep the job and allow for advancementâ¦.then againâ¦is advancement available if you donât have an advance degree???
Needless to say I believe education is important both for the practical and speculative knowledge that you gain. But I am not sure how fair it is to someone who is intuitively good at what they do.