Hiring employees is a risky prospect and firing a bad hire can be an expensive and lengthy process, depending on the jurisdiction. So naturally employers want t

Hiring employees is a risky prospect and firing a bad hire can be an expensive and lengthy process, depending on the jurisdiction. So naturally employers want to minimize the risk of hiring someone incompetent. Decades ago the use of IQ testing for job applicants was made illegal. Requiring a college degree serves as a legal and socially acceptable proxy for a level of intelligence. Whether or not that is actually valid is another matter. From an employer’s perspective the amount of effort to require a college degree is virtually nill and it helps to cut down on the sheer number of applicants they have to process.