For those of you who value higher education, today’s blog will border on heresy or apostasy. As a college educated business owner, hiring manager or HR professional, it may go against everything you believe and have been taught in your educational past. But empirical data suggests that it is true.
A college education may not be an important pre-requisite for success in many careers. In fact, it may be irrelevant to success in many careers.
“But college makes us ‘well-rounded’ and prepares us to be successful in a chosen career!,” you say. Really?
If that’s true, why do so many college graduates want to change careers? According to a recent PARADE.com poll, only 39% of people would choose the same career if they could do it all over again. And why do so many college students change majors during their college years? Why do so many college students fail to earn their degrees?
For many people, college will create a huge debt and much discouragement, but not much more. For many others, it is simply not an appropriate choice. (A lot of entrepreneurs and happy employees will tell you that, by the way).
In March 2011, The Atlantic printed an essay – http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/06/in-the-basement-of-the-ivory-tower/6810/ - that stated college is perilously oversold, and demanding large amounts of money from often immature students is unjust. Written by “Professor X”, the essay titled “In the Basement of the Ivory Tower” actually was written by an anonymous professor of English at two Northeast U.S. colleges that are on scenic parcels of land.
“Beneath the surface of this serene and scholarly mise-en-scène roil waters of frustration and bad feeling, for these colleges teem with students who are in over their heads,” the essay states.
The writer states a tipping point, or “the bursting of our collective bubble,” typically arrives within weeks of when the semester begins, when students write and professor grades.
“Despite my enthusiasm, despite their thoughtful nods of agreement and what I have interpreted as moments of clarity, it turns out that in many cases it has all come to naught,” the essay states. “Remarkably few of my students can do well in these classes. Students routinely fail; some fail multiple times, and some will never pass, because they cannot write a coherent sentence.”
Need more evidence? A recent Rutgers University study that only about one-fourth of U.S. adults are graduates of four-year colleges. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110518/ap_on_re_us/us_college_grads_poll_3 The median starting salary for those who graduated between 2006 and 2008 was $30,000. For the 2009 and 2010 grads, it dipped to $27,000. And women graduates continued to make less than men. Nearly half the graduates say they’re working at jobs that don’t require a college education. And many of those who left those first jobs didn’t find a better situation. Seven in 10 said their educational background had some relationship to their first job. But for those who are now working elsewhere, only about 6 in 10 say their work is in the field they studied.
So, if a college education is NOT important, what IS important? Job-Fit.
This means having a job description for every position, and putting each person in your organization in the job that is right for them. And in order to do that, you’ll need to use different tools and think in different ways than you have in the past. In order to determine job-fit, you need to look at the candidate’s match with the thinking style (like language and math problem-solving abilities); behavior and personality traits; and occupational interests.
The Profile XT assessment is an excellent tool for determining job-fit in potential employees. My website is full of information about this assessment and many others.
Don’t get me wrong here. Some jobs require a college degree. I wouldn’t see a doctor, dentist, lawyer or accountant who didn’t have a degree from a reputable institution of higher learning, in addition to a lot of other specialized training and professional certifications. But a liberal arts, psychology, sociology or art history degree is not required to work in retail, or to sell things, or to perform many other jobs that provide a good living, self-respect and job satisfaction for a lifetime.
If you’re an employer who has been placing a high value on college degrees without looking at job-fit, I encourage you to try a different and better way. This may just be the solution to your high turnover problem, or the way to creating a highly engaged workforce.
Alas, many stuck in the dominant paradigm will resist this factual presentation, and will not even bother to read the linked articles above which present the very real and compelling supporting evidence. You’re getting what you’re getting because you’re doing what you’re doing. Status quo reigns eternal.
But for those who want to try something different? Contact me. I can help.
