Is your lack of a college degree hurting you? (employment, apply, degrees)

[iarch]

The United States is actually considered "over educated", lol.
But, I know of at least 2 gentlemen, who have some college, but believed they never needed a college degree. Now, they are not even considered, even though they have years of experience.
They were both victims of their early successes.

IS your lack of a college degree hurting your job opportunities?

[zz4guy]

I think some peoples possesion of a college degree hurts them. SOmetimes the degree is so worthless and the price tag so high they'd be better off w/o it. Yes, the US is overeducated in the non-science/math fields.

[myrc60]

for the most part yes. I graduated high school before PC's were even a luxury but the company I worked for put me in charge of support because I had to know how to use them. It is hard to get a job in that field without any certifications or degrees these days. I have even seen degrees required for Admin Assistant jobs on my search for employment.

[antiquesmountainapache]

It is going to depend on the individual situation and the area of employment. I do want to address one point. No degree is useless. It may not apply directly to many employment opportunities. It may seem frivolous to some people. However, any degree automatically shows that the individual who earned it has the following skills. 1. Persistence. They committed to something and completed it.2. At least one or two higher level math courses. 3. At least one or two higher level science classes.4. Writing and research skills.5. Time management and organizational skills.6. Higher level instruction that requires critical thinking and problem solving skills on an approriate level.In my working career I, like many others, have been at an advantage and a disadvantage with my degrees. Everything depends upon the individual situation.

[Morphous01]

Originally Posted by iarch

The United States is actually considered "over educated", lol.
But, I know of at least 2 gentlemen, who have some college, but believed they never needed a college degree. Now, they are not even considered, even though they have years of experience.
They were both victims of their early successes.

IS your lack of a college degree hurting your job opportunities?

No, not for me. I dropped out after two years of collage and took the entrepreneurial route. If I wanted to stay in the system, I might have been hurt, but then again, if I stayed in the system, I would have made my way to sales; and there are always sales jobs simply because it's a more difficult thing to do.

[Morphous01]

Originally Posted by zz4guy

I think some peoples possesion of a college degree hurts them. SOmetimes the degree is so worthless and the price tag so high they'd be better off w/o it. Yes, the US is overeducated in the non-science/math fields.

Yes, I agree with this. I truly believe collage it's over rated, overly expensive, and it waste valuable time. Also, many people preform jobs that they never got a degree in but they do just fine because they went through some sort of apprenticeship.

[GypsySoul22]

No, my 2 degrees are hurting me.
They'd rather hire someone with one degree or someone without a degree because it's more likely they will stay around and work for peanuts.

[WillysB]

I would agree that in too many cases a college degree is over rated, overly expensive, and it waste valuable time, especially considering the quality that is coming out of colleges as compared to established requirements.

Having attended a university where the principle degree program dealt with producing public school teachers I'm not a bit surprised that most cash register operators don't listen well, use poor grammar and don't count change for you.

Having worked in a major telecomm spending hours/days/years on conference calls for product development I find there are too many college graduates milking the pig skin and providing little to the product.

Lack of a degree hasn't always hindered my work success but then, in looking back, the only thing I really wanted to do was join the Army. Having met the girl I would later marry, only a few weeks before my draft physical, I was able to cop a lifetime deferment. In that scenario, a lack of degree would have hindered my career objective. But then, if I had joined the Army then I'd be dead today.

[Morphous01]

Originally Posted by antiquesmountainapache

However, any degree automatically shows that the individual who earned it has the following skills. 1. Persistence. They committed to something and completed it.2. At least one or two higher level math courses. 3. At least one or two higher level science classes.4. Writing and research skills.5. Time management and organizational skills.6. Higher level instruction that requires critical thinking and problem solving skills on an approriate level.

This may be true, but it comes at a cost. I find that people who spend all this time in school are some of the most BORING and mentally bankrupt people on the earth. This has to do with the fact that modern education and the way you learn, is a passive learning environment.

Also, despite all the years in school, these people are very compartmentalized in there thinking; they only know work and maybe one other subject, that's it. This is partly why the unemployment is so high, because when people like this get fired despite a healthy body these people don't know how to create a job to feed themselves. So....what happened to the critical thinking?

[LovingSAT]

Oh yea! The key is to go, do your assignments and get the degree. Consistency pays off in the end!