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It's just a fact that μ will lean right in an intelligence distribution when filtering out people with college education. Not everyone who goes to college is competent... but employers have a higher freedom of deviation while retaining competency. Maybe somewhere between 4σ and 6σ.
The answer to your second question is probably yes. Having a college degree doesn't make you unqualified to do jobs that non-grads do. Just like many non-grads are very capable of doing jobs that people with degrees do.
It's just a fact that μ will lean right in an intelligence distribution when filtering out people with college education. Not everyone who goes to college is competent... but employers have a higher freedom of deviation while retaining competency. Maybe somewhere between 4σ and 6σ.
The answer to your second question is probably yes. Having a college degree doesn't make you unqualified to do jobs that non-grads do. Just like many non-grads are very capable of doing jobs that people with degrees do.
Thread should be closed after this answer. Sums it up.
9 years as an admin assistant. Jesus christ it's no wonder that most jobs are in low wage retail.
Advanced knowledge of MS Outlook and Word. Intermediate knowledge of MS Excel, PowerPoint
-Excellent time management skills - ability to juggle multiple tasks
-Min of 9 years experience
-Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic and sometimes stressful production environment.
-Naturally proactive - willing and able to see/resolve issues before they occur.
-High-energy, "can-do" attitude.
-Prefer individuals only seeking long term Part-time work(Retiree, stay at home parent,student)
They put that in there because they can't come right out and say they don't want younger applicants--although I'm not sure why they mention student in the ad--seems contradictory. They want someone who won't need benefits.
I'm going to guess that some dishwashing jobs want experience because they want a ServSafe or similar certificate but don't want to pay for the training/testing. Could be wrong, but it makes sense.
Bachelor degrees are mainly rising due to for profits which allow anyone in. Those are already a poor investment and I think you'll see a decline soon.
In all actuality, those who hold a bachelors degree in the USA is still fairly small of the overall populace. Last figure from 2010 was 27%. In 1990, this figure was 20% so in a decade there definitely was an increase but not a dramatic one based on the recent pushes for all kinds of college education (for profits, online, etc).
It may seem like everyone in your world goes to college-- usually this "bias" if you will is because of the types of folks you surround yourself with.
Almost everyone I know has at minimum a bachelors degree-- probably 60% of those I know have a masters or professional degree. About 10% have a PhD. If I were to look at my "group" of folks, I would assume the college attainment rate was soaring. I have a natural bias based on the folks I can "see."
The reality is far from it. College still does not happen for many people. Heck only 85% of the populace are high school graduates and let's be honest, the literacy rate of many high school graduates would not be something I would write home about.
We're just going to have to disagree on this. I don't feel that everyone needs to go to college. College is not for everyone nor should it be. Whether that's changing the HS curriculum so it's more work related, or changing the College Curriculum and cutting out the first two years of bull****, aka General electives.
You are right. Not everyone needs to go to college.
I need someone to serve me at a restaurant, I need someone to mow my lawn, I need a mechanic for my car, etc.
Since we have so many "colleges" and "universities" who will let anyone in and graduate them (I am looking at UoPs types with a critical eye here), I think everyone thinks oh wow I can change my life dramatically by getting in since there are no barriers to entry. I don't agree. I think college should be reserved for those who can actually do something with it.
As for the AA of 2012 discussion-- I find the few admin positions left in corporations are few and far between (lets be real with most office automation and technology not many REALLY need some secretary to type memos or maintain a calendar) typically require a much more analytical, problem solving, and political type of savvy. The new admins may be analyzing reports, creating drafts of white papers, getting their executive through to another, etc. Basically truly becoming more of a high level assistant and capable of being a general manager in their own right for say a smaller organization.
The couple admins at a large law firm that I know fairly well are all college educated basically run the firm operationally wise. They act as business analyst for their technology, ensure that everyone knows how to bill for time appropriately, first point of contact for HR compliance, payroll, etc. They are not just "managing" calendars and taking calls at all. In fact, they have a low paid receptionist (they need a body to just answer the calls) and a couple college students who work during the week to do all of the things that honestly are not value added for the admins to do such as making photocopies for large projects, court runners, etc
I am essentially an administrative assistant (called a department coordinator in my workplace) and my role includes managing ALL of our social media, writing and editing copy that will be read by 50,000 people, organizing mass emails, producing the monthly newsletter (involving cooperation from about 2 dozen offices), maintaining the website with minimal supervision from our tech team, and doing the legwork and accounting for our big event. In the next few months, I am being trained to handle the production of all of our collateral.
That's on top of the normal "adminy" things like maintaining my boss's calendars (really just reminding them if they have a busy day - thanks Google Cal!), mailing things, answering phones, etc etc.
Long gone are the days where an admin just needed to know how to answer the phones and type up documents. I am expected to troubleshoot, train, and teach myself skills that we are otherwise lacking in the office (advanced Excel, Photoshop, increasing my HTML and CSS knowledge) and the turn around and teach that to others.
You need a 2 year degree in Office Administration, or as the Government terms it "Secretarial Sciences".
No, you did not used to have to have degrees for these types of jobs,and still don't if you have the right connections. I worked for a major defense contractor in the early 90's as an administrative assistant after taking just 1 typing class at night.
Welcome to what they like to call the "New Normal".
You need a degree in photocopying, faxing and filing
Yes it's stupid. On the job training is the best way to learn.
How many decades have you been away from work?
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