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Here is an example of credential inflation for a job. I found this job on Indeed.com, but I am not showing the employer's name:
"Join a thriving startup in the heart of downtown Seattle! We are looking for a bright, fast learning data entry & customer support professional to join our team of high achieving professionals. If you consider yourself an overachiever or the most reliable person in a group project, you will fit right in."
Job Type: Contract
Salary: $14.00 to $15.00 /hour
Experience: Customer Service: 1 year (Required)
Education: Bachelor's (Required)
How could a job for "data entry & customer support" require a bachelor's degree? I can't see how such a basic job could require such a level of education, at such a low rate of pay.
Your governments did that, meaning your federal, State and local governments.
Whenever government forces employers to pay higher than market rates for labor, employers respond by demanding value for that labor.
The Free Market wage for that jobs is probably $7.50-$8.00/hour, but because Seattle has a minimum wage, and employer has to pay more than market value, so they demand more experience, more education, more skills or more qualifications to match the value.
It's also possible that the data-entry position requires decision-making skills, which may be related to financial matters.
You can't have people with GEDs or high school diplomas making financial decisions, because they don't understand money and couldn't comprehend how money impacts the company.
Also, I suspect this job may not actually be data-entry. It smells like a sales job disguised as data-entry, or involves selling at some level.
Well at least they are posting the salaries of these positions. The worst ones is where no salary is posted and you don't have a general inclination of what the position may pay until AFTER you are offered the job. Thats after you wasted all your time on applying, traveling to the interview, interview process only to find out the salary is crap and the employer won't budge on salary on a position that requires a lot of work and responsibility. Then they wonder they can't hold on to anyone or they continue get worthless bottom the of the barrel employees.
Its happen to me a few times then you find out the employer is in complete disarray with horrible reviews. Well hell, its no wonder the place is a mess, you can't even offer decent salary for what you are expecting out of your employer. Thats your FIRST Problem.
Every time there is a litany of job openings at a place, sometime I have to wonder WHY. Because people are going to leave a quality employer
It isn't Seattle, the entire $15/hr movement is pushing it. If people want $15/hr, employers will start asking for more as well...
This has been happening for way longer than that movement. I saw ads like this 15 years back. Employers have always had ridiculous requirements while being willing to pay only minimum wage. This is why there is a minimum in the first place. They think they deserve great workers without paying for them.
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Since the job involves "customer support" perhaps the employer wants to ensure that the candidates have a good command of the English language, can spell, and use correct grammar. That, hopefully, is more likely with a college graduate. More often than not lately, employers require a degree for any and all positions, just because they can. As long as they get applicants with degrees, they will continue to require them. The people that report to me here in Seattle do some data entry, and no degree is required (preferred only) but we do require 3 years experience. Their pay starts at about $25/hour.
Since when was college (other than perhaps trade school) supposed to be training for a SPECIFIC job at a specific company? Some companies are really picky and want experience and knowledge just so, often with hard to find software. Unless you have a company training in the schools for a specific job, which would take us back down the road of feudalism, I don't see how it can happen.
job training will not lead to feudalism. in the internet age. community colleges focus on hands-on training and they and society are doing fine
Here is an example of credential inflation for a job. I found this job on Indeed.com, but I am not showing the employer's name:
"Join a thriving startup in the heart of downtown Seattle! We are looking for a bright, fast learning data entry & customer support professional to join our team of high achieving professionals. If you consider yourself an overachiever or the most reliable person in a group project, you will fit right in."
Job Type: Contract
Salary: $14.00 to $15.00 /hour
Experience: Customer Service: 1 year (Required)
Education: Bachelor's (Required)
How could a job for "data entry & customer support" require a bachelor's degree? I can't see how such a basic job could require such a level of education, at such a low rate of pay.
A job requires what the employer says it requires.
Since the job involves "customer support" perhaps the employer wants to ensure that the candidates have a good command of the English language, can spell, and use correct grammar. That, hopefully, is more likely with a college graduate. More often than not lately, employers require a degree for any and all positions, just because they can. As long as they get applicants with degrees, they will continue to require them. The people that report to me here in Seattle do some data entry, and no degree is required (preferred only) but we do require 3 years experience. Their pay starts at about $25/hour.
Most places won't start a customer support position at that type of salary though. You'll be lucky to even get $15/hr for that type of position in most places.
That position may just be a temp job at most companies
Having a Bachelor's degree for basic employment is becoming the new normal, like a high school diploma used to be. Employers can demand what they want and in an employer's market, they can demand a lot.
And who said that a Bachelor's degree is useless and too expensive? Any kind of Bachelor's degree in any subject is now very valuable. If you don't want to be shut out from many job opportunities that is. And making minimum wage too.
Years ago, a Bachelor's degree was much cheaper to earn yet would open the way to good paying jobs. Nowadays, more people go into great debt to get that degree, and yet that degree has been far downgraded in opening doors to good jobs. So people spend much more to get a degree that serves them less.
But the degree is now mandatory for many minimum wage jobs, so people have to earn them if they want to work. Hmm... for minimum wage jobs.
There are winners and losers in this new shell game. The losers are the workers, and the winners are... I think everyone knows who.
I'm so glad I wasn't one of those people hurrying to earn a degree without knowing if it would pay off or not.
I sat down and looked at which jobs paid the most with the least amount of education, and sounded like something I would like to do as a career.
Healthcare is a good field and it pays well. But it's not for everyone.
My husband has a licence/certificate and no degree. His base salary is almost a 6 figures ( not sales )
He works a 40 hr a week desk job. If he work any extra its OT. 1.5 or 2.0.
My point is, people really needs to be smarter when they choose a career path. Taking a 15 bucks an hour job, or minimum wage in this case, after going to college for 4 years is insane! I wish nobody would apply so they drop their ridiculous requirements.
Here is an example of credential inflation for a job. I found this job on Indeed.com, but I am not showing the employer's name:
"Join a thriving startup in the heart of downtown Seattle! We are looking for a bright, fast learning data entry & customer support professional to join our team of high achieving professionals. If you consider yourself an overachiever or the most reliable person in a group project, you will fit right in."
Job Type: Contract
Salary: $14.00 to $15.00 /hour
Experience: Customer Service: 1 year (Required)
Education: Bachelor's (Required)
How could a job for "data entry & customer support" require a bachelor's degree? I can't see how such a basic job could require such a level of education, at such a low rate of pay.
Assuming this quote is even close to the actual announcement, I can see a couple of possibilities.
a. Being a new start up they really don't know what they are doing or what they want the position to do and are hoping that whomever they hire will do that for them. Which is talent they won't likely find at that pay rate unless someone is betting on a equity stake payoff.
or
b. Given how watered down a high school diploma is today, they are following the trend of requiring a college degree to try to filter out all the high school graduates who only have a "6th grade education." A high school diploma just doesn't mean much anymore. Go up to the education forum and you'll find educators who argue you have to pass kids and give them a diploma even if they haven't learned anything because it will ruin their job opportunities if they don't get the diploma. There's you're real problem right there. Not government min wage laws. Not business being picky. But educators who fail their duties to society because they won't fail students who need it. They aren't helping anybody, and hurting a lot of people who now have to get a bachelors to prove they can do high school work.
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