> It's funny how this thread has turned this way - all about the value (or > lack thereof?) of college degrees...
I almost meant my original comment as a "here's an item of irony, just read and discard" , but I have to say I have enjoyed following all the comments regarding degrees - or lack thereof. Disclaimer: Since I have not looked for a "Real Job" in about fifteen years, I only know what I read in the newspapers... or in newsgroups. Seems to me "college degree" is used by the larger firms - those with dedicated "HR" departments - as a criteria to screen in/screen out potential employees for a POSTED job opening when there are many applicants. After all, you can't interview EVERYONE, can you? There's only so many hours in the day, so you have to set SOME kind of objective standards, and "degree" sounds as good as any other arbitrary criteria, right? But I do remember in my career before I got into this line of work, that we, too, used "college degree" as a screener - but not the way it's used today. I was an mid-level exec in the distribution industry.(small business) .. and when we had an opening we looked at a 'college degree' of any kind as a general indicator of both intelligence and - more importantly - the ability of a candidate to actually "finish what they start".; that is, that degree did not necessarily make them any more or less intellectually suitable for consideration, but it was an indicator of "character" and "work ethic." .. the kind of things you just cannot teach "on the job." Of course, a genuine employment history, or a service in the miltary (with honorable discharge) were to us equally representative of character. I'd like to think small businesses still use 'character criteria' like this... well, I'd like to think ALL businesses do, but I've been around long enough to know better. End ramble.... Michael C. Mattias Tal Systems Inc. Racine WI [email protected] ------------------------------------ ... Please use the following Message Identifiers as your subject prefix: <SALES>, <JOBS>, <LIST>, <TECH>, <MISC>, <EVENT>, <OFF-TOPIC> Job postings are welcome, but for job postings or requests for work: <JOBS> IS REQUIRED in the subject line as a prefix.Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EDI-L/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EDI-L/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[email protected] mailto:[email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
