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If people with high degrees actually want to work menial jobs, they should leave off their high degree from their resume, so they don't appear too overqualified & don't get hired. Otherwise, the employer will either think:
A) the person won't work here long because they'll be onto something higher paying when it comes along
B) the person will demand a higher pay because they have the high degree(s)
If people with high degrees actually want to work menial jobs, they should leave off their high degree from their resume, so they don't appear too overqualified & don't get hired. Otherwise, the employer will either think:
A) the person won't work here long because they'll be onto something higher paying when it comes along
B) the person will demand a higher pay because they have the high degree(s)
But on the inverse the employer would want someone with a high degree because they can get more out of them vs someone who has not. If the median debt per student is say 25k that's more then other people and thus they have skin the game to last longer. For the life of me in the Boston area it is very hard to find work without a degree. Just high school is hard. A drop out? Nearly impossible. Heck to be a department manager in a Target it pretty much requires a bachelors degree. If employers cannot cut prices for customers they can provide service and a transcript is much more efficiently evaluated rather then a prior employer. Employers are limited to what they can and cannot say. Employee evaluation forms vary dramatically with employers but a transcript is a transcript. When I was in the private sector competitors worked against us, not with us. Why should we consider anything they say to be the truth?
"I've said it before and I'll say it again: if you are capable of being successful before college, you will succeed with or without a degree. If you can't succeed without college, going to college will in most caes, do nothing for you. You just can't fix lazy or stupid."
But when employers ask for degrees it can be pretty hard to quantify that you know that degree. Many professions require a degree. Doctors, lawyers, teachers etc.
Just because someone has experience does not really mean they know how to perform a given task. I have met people in their 60's that did not know how to write a check, 50's that did not know how to use MS windows etc. I do a bit of work with a Dentist that does not know how to draft a memo! How is this possible? Being a dentist by itself does not focus on paperwork. Their staff does all of that.
The student loan borrowers with that much are in the top 3-4% of all borrowers. 90% of borrowers took out less than $50K, the plurality are in the $20 to 40K range. That's not good, but very few are coming out with $100K in loans.
One of my friends who had a Masters in Engineering had to work at subway to support his family when he lost his job. It was for a few months & he found another soon. I knew another girl working at McDonalds who had Masters in Computer Science. Saw her there for almost a year. She would talk to me about applying at different companies. Unfortunately if you are bound to a place (like these 2 people) & cannot move away because of your spouse's job/education in that town, you have to find temporary jobs until something opens up in that town or closeby. Not every town has good career opportunities in your field so sometimes you have to just wait it out while trying to support yourself.
There's a difference between a Masters degree in Philosophy or some other Liberal Arts subject, and a Masters degree in some Engineering/Technology field - The latter is far more difficult. You reap what you sow.
At the same point though technology is deflationary not inflationary. So as prices constantly drop it means more and more to keep up. I would argue one year in IT is equal to two years somewhere else. If you want to be considered over the hill at age 35 by all means try. Also just because there is technology doesn't really mean that you can do it if you do not have ownership. M&A replaced R&D. As long as tech companies consider to sue the pants off of each other they will never really innovate. It's nice to have that creative can do spirit with STEM and everything but then it comes back down to earth once you realize that if it isn't a non profit that it falls under government or corporate bureaucracy.
So I see around here people throwing claims of people with graduate degrees working as baristas or fry cooks because the job market is so terrible.
I was thinking today, there are two Starbucks I go to regularly - one near my apartment, and another close to work. At the one where I work I've never seen anyone who looked older than maybe 25, and at the one by home I know one of the baristas and asked her, she told me that no one like that worked there.
So it got me wondering, is this something anyone around here has actually encountered themselves, or just one of those things that "everyone knows"?
I know personally people with masters that have worked at retail and as servers while looking for a real job. I know people right now with bachelors (not even fluff degrees, business type, civil engineering, and computer science) working in retail.
In the DC area, there are plenty of advance degree holders working jobs like retail and baristas. The Starbucks by the National Zoo I know has someone with a masters from GW working there, she worked there because the non-profit she was at let her go.
I live in Las Vegas where plastic surgery will buy you more in the job market than any degree.
I have a MS and my last job(unemployed now) was at Williams-Sonoma. Several(most) of my co-workers had degrees too. Since I moved to Vegas my top wage has been $12.10 per hour. All part time, no benefits, no PTO. I worked at a casino player's club for a while and that was $9 per hour. My supervisor there had a degree from Penn State, and 20 years of service at the same casino and she was making $12 per hour.
The last time I took a cab here, the driver had a PhD in History.
We exist and we are not all 20 somethings either. There are many skilled older workers out there seriously underemployed too.
Well Las Vegas did have that huge boom and bust. When housekeepers in hotels were making 50k I knew it wouldn't last. Not saying it is a bad place by any means but diversifying the economy should have led to more development. Yes Elko has the gold minds but it doesn't really trickle down to the LV area.
I have an MFA (a terminal degree) and I have been unemployed for some time now. I'm also 51. I recently applied for a managers job at Starbucks. Managers make 60K a year plus bonuses. I knew one manager in Brooklyn who made 70K last year. Don't knock Starbucks
Well a bachelors is the new HS diploma so of course you will see degree holders working menial wage jobs. There are too many degree holders, and not enough college required jobs.
Personally I think a lot of people would be better off perusing a skilled trade. If you peruse a skilled trade you get paid while learning and chances are you won't ever have to work a menial wage job. I think 90% of college majors offer very little return on investment and increases the chances of someone graduating only to work at Walmart or some other low-paid job where they could have skipped the degree.
The clock starts ticking immediately upon graduation. If you don't find a job shortly you have to prove to future employers that you have been continuing your education and brushing up your skill set. There are many low to no cost resources available online to do so.
Last edited by s1alker; 09-29-2014 at 05:07 AM..
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