http://money.cnn.com/2014/07/02/pf/worker-skills/index.html?iid=SF_BN_River
The article I reviewed discusses the topic of how employers don't look at college degrees and how well an applicant did in college but if they have the skills to do the job well. The author used facts from a survey site that surveyed over 2000 adults. 72% of the adults said that being trained in a specific skill is valued higher than a college degree by their employer. 80% of respondents say that they have never been asked about their college grade point averages during a job interview. It's clear for most jobs that spending the extra money to go to graduate school is not necessarily required to land a high paying job.
I'd like to think the article is just saying that an employer doesn't want just a robot but someone who can actually communicate with people, contribute to the culture at the employer's work space, and be social. Even though someone may have earned a 4.0 grade point average from Harvard, an employer may choose someone over the applicant from Harvard because the other applicant can communicate well, work well with others and isn't afraid to voice their opinion. Employers are now looking for the intangibles of applicants and not just one specific skill.
I agree that the article is making the argument that, in today's economy, employers are looking for more than someone with a college degree. However, after reading the article, I felt that the author overemphasized the importance of other skills, as opposed to that of receiving a college or graduate degree. Yes, many jobs require experience, and having experience in an area where you are looking for work will always be beneficial, but in many fields, having a college degree is a requirement. The author may downplay its importance, but without it, an application may not even be considered, regardless of work experience. A college degree may not be necessary in every field, or even seem relevant in the day-to-day minutiae of many professions, but in the jobs that college graduates are looking for, having a college degree is what will at least allow our applications the opportunity to be considered.
ReplyDeleteI think this is true to some extent, but not 100%. I believe that employers really do value real world skills, but I think succeeding in college causes the ability to have real world skills. If two potential employees went into an interview and had the same amount of skill without looking at their resumes, and one of them had a college degree and the other did not, the one with the degree would most likely receive the job. I do believe that employers will look for the skills for the job, but I believe that a college education will help you receive those skills easier.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, a good college degree is definitely important to get a well-paid job. That being said, I feel it is also important for the person looking for a job to have valuable skills and experience in the area of his job search. Employers, I believe, now look for those job-related skills and experiences at first over the college degrees because they want some return on their investment. If the company has to train a new employee without any skill in that particular job, the company’s productivity might go down as the person training the new employee may not actually be able to perform his original task and just focus on the new employee. If this goes on for the rest of the new and upcoming employees, the company might suffer huge loss. Moreover, if this trend continues for all the companies in a particular area, the overall job productivity in that area might go down, and the economy which is dependent on it may suffer as a result.
ReplyDeleteI feel one step that can be, or is taken now a days is allowing the new employees to train through the virtual media using simulators that can train them according to the needs of the company and also give them valuable ‘real-time’ job experiences. In that way, the company looking for good candidates can be more productive by hiring highly merited college graduates as well as providing them with real-time, on the site training.
Earning a college degree no matter what area you specialize in, helps you become ready for the work force in a lot of different ways. That being said, by no means does a degree guarantee you a job. I do see how employers value applicants having experience in a certain specialty or area but in my opinion those with college degrees are more valuable than say someone without one but who has more work experience because college graduates have a more diversified skill set and advanced knowledge. This way college grads may be quicker to adapt and learn a new job than someone with just work experience. They can also bring different aspects to the company with a wide range of knowledge that they gained while earning a degree. Maybe employers don't hold the value of GPA very highly, but they should hold the fact that college does teach skill sets that apply to the work force that shouldn't be underestimated that one cannot gain without a college education in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion earning a college degree, has more scope because there is more growth as having a skill might earn you a job but the long-term prospects of that job are less as there wont be growth or job security. A skill can get you only so far in the job search and statistically college graduates do better than those you do not have a degree.
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