Is degree the most important thing when hunting for a job?
By Soochow
@Soochow (40)
China
February 26, 2011 8:16pm CST
I'm from China and there does exist a lot of problems with the current enducational system.Every year millions od graduates in china fail to land a job ton their liking. The dog-eat-dog job market competition has been a killer for college students. Because of this, they spare no effort to obtain master's degree and a variety of certificates. I want to know ,does degree really matter when landing a job? Is a person with remarkable ability but has no college degree, will he succeed in your country?
1 person likes this
8 responses
@anna18 (142)
• Philippines
27 Feb 11
In the company i'm currently connected. Masteral Degree is a must. The college grades are taken into consideration and so are the working experience.
In some companies, they are after of your skills. They don't care if you topped your class. But these companies are very difficult to find. You must have the determination and the willingness to find these type of job.
1 person likes this
@peavey (16936)
• United States
27 Feb 11
Here in the US a college degree does matter, to an extent. But I think the most important thing one can have when looking for a good job is good job experience. All three of my kids started working when they were teenagers, going to school and working part time. By the time they graduated, they had solid work histories and have never had a problem landing a job. My son has worked in the same field since he was 15 and now commands an impressive salary at age 30. My youngest daughter started working for McDonald's and is now a chef. My oldest daughter has a worm farm and is the wife of a successful heating and plumbing worker, who, by the way, never went to college.
I suspect that a lot of the reason college graduates can't land jobs is that they are not willing to start where they are, which is at the bottom. If they would have started working when younger, they wouldn't have minded it so much and could now have the experience to get and/or have "climbed the ladder" to a better job.
1 person likes this
@rameshchow (4426)
• India
28 Feb 11
Whatever the degree it is you have to get good marks.
What ever the field it is you have to be in top ten position.
What ever the job it is, show our talent.
Only way to success and development.
@Rainbowliselle (498)
• Philippines
27 Feb 11
It depends. When the job opening is only for a clerk position then the company won't hire an applicant with a masteral degree because he/she is already considered as overqualified.
Ironically, many college graduates in our country landed jobs which are not related to the courses they had graduated from since nowadays it's really hard to find a good job. To cite a few: College graduates becoming sales ladies in malls. Teacher graudates or other college graduates working as domestic helpers in other countries because of good pay there compared to working as a teacher or as a profession here in our country. Sigh. But this is reality. I guess everywhere you go, many are jobless. At times, a college degree no longer helps. Being educated won't assure you a good job but being educated will make you stay away from those who are good in fooling other people.
@stellar126 (278)
• Philippines
27 Feb 11
This is a really interesting topic. I'm a firm believer that degree isn't every thing, and that experience and attitude count a lot more when in comes to a person's ability to land a job. But I guess this really depends. There are some professions where degrees actually matter. Like for example being a doctor or a lawyer. Having a degree in those line of profession makes the person trustworthy and capable. I mean, you wouldn't go see a med student in place of a licensed doctor to treat you, right?
But in some fields, especially creative ones, having a degree is not an indicator of competence or hirability. The most successful people I know in this fields are all undergraduates. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, they are all giants in their chosen industry but they never really had a college diploma.
I guess when it all boils down to it is how much the person is willing to work in order to achieve his or her goals. The degree is just icing on the cake.
@titchy1231 (732)
•
27 Feb 11
i dont think degrees are anymore unless you want to be a doctor or lawyer or similar. most companies these days want experience
@jhaidro (877)
• Philippines
27 Feb 11
I think that in some cases it does but from I am experiencing now, the company that I am trying to be a part of does not look at it so much. They say that what they do is not learned from any school. They say that it takes heart and dedication to survive in the marketing field. I just hope that things do not go so bad for me and my new team mates.
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