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I didn't say they were. They aren't, that's the issue. A college degree overshoots the level of qualification necessary for a general skills job and comes short
by tpeo 9y ago
I didn't say they were. They aren't, that's the issue. A college degree overshoots the level of qualification necessary for a general skills job and comes short of the qualification necessary for a specialized position.
Also, your crosswise comparison between an experienced candidate without a degree and an inexperienced candidate with a degree only tells me that you put more weight into experience than having a degree. It really doesn't tell me much about whether a degree is a good signal, but only that it's worse than experience. Now, if you had told me that you don't consider whether a candidate has a degree at all then I'd be able to infer that they are terrible signals and carry no information at all.
- dsr_ 9y agoI said what I meant: they're not reliable signals. You've got a space of time in a person's life between, presumably, graduating high school and sending you a resume. What did they do with that time? Merely having a degree doesn't say much. Merely not having a degree doesn't say much. Having an honors BS in CS from CMU, MIT, Stanford, or a bunch of other schools implies academic competence and exposure to a certain range of ideas. But I don't know that they can be productive outside of that environment. Having an ordinary BS in a STEM subject from a random college that I've never heard of means even less to me. But is it zero? No. Holding down a job for those four years is a signal, too, and it needs evaluation. What kind of job? While living at home? Did anything progress during that time? Is it relevant to what we're trying to hire for?
- saint_fiasco 9y agoFor most people, college education funges against job experience. It's hard to work full time while also being a college student.