Its official, 4 year degree needed even for file clerks, minimum wage jobs

[Homerboy]

I somewhat beg to differ.
If you hire that person with the 4 year degree at $10/hr for some low-end job, do you think they are going to want to stay in that position? Hell no. They are going to continue to look for work OUTSIDE of your company that fits their degree at a real wage. And here you are again looking to hire, train etc a new hire for that low-end job every x months.

 

[Train]

If you had your choice of candidates wouldn't you pick the ones with degrees over the ones without? Even if the job didn't require a degree. There are so many people unemployed or underemployed that it is easy to find people willing to work for less, even though they have a degree.

Not neccessarily, if you hire someone with a degree to a job that shouldn't really need a degree, there is a high chance they will leave as soon as a better option using their degree shows up.

Thats why it (used to anyways) be the norm for degree holders to withold the fact they have a degree for menial jobs, they didnt want to get turned down for fear of it just being a temporary gig until something better comes along.

On the fip side though, it could still be better to have high turnover of degree holders than idiots who barely go out of HS, depending on how easy it is to train someone. This of course assumes a degree holder is typically smarter.

 

[lxskllr]

I somewhat beg to differ.
If you hire that person with the 4 year degree at $10/hr for some low-end job, do you think they are going to want to stay in that position? Hell no. They are going to continue to look for work OUTSIDE of your company that fits their degree at a real wage. And here you are again looking to hire, train etc a new hire for that low-end job every x months.

That's an aspect that seems to get overlooked, and it's absolutely true. Looking over help wanted ads, I see gigs I wouldn't take for twice the money, and half the specifications. Their concept of reality must come from the Pakistani job market :^S

 

[IndyColtsFan]

My prediction is getting closer. I predict in 15-20 years even a burger flipper or walmart greeter will require a 4 year degree.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100474974


Even for a 10 dollar an hour office courier.

Consider the 45-person law firm of Busch, Slipakoff & Schuh here in Atlanta, a place that has seen tremendous growth in the college-educated population. Like other employers across the country, the firm hires only people with a bachelor's degree, even for jobs that do not require college-level skills.

This prerequisite applies to everyone, including the receptionist, paralegals, administrative assistants and file clerks. Even the office "runner" — the in-house courier who, for $10 an hour, ferries documents back and forth between the courthouse and the office — went to a four-year school.

A few weeks ago, I saw a job ad placed by my company for one of the lowest level positions in the company. It actually said "Master's degree preferred." That is for a $40K/year position.....

 

[SlowSpyder]

Now that we've gotten rid of many of the blue collar jobs that people could have gotten after highschool and made a living at, everyone goes to college to get a degree now. So what we've accomplished, is making everyone generate tens of thousands of dollars in student debt before they really even get a start on life. Oh, and all the other people looking for jobs have a degree like the one you have making it so that in a job search you no longer stand out to the potential employer.

 

[Texashiker]

It actually said "Master's degree preferred." That is for a $40K/year position.....

I can make a lot more then that welding, and without a masters degree.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I can make a lot more then that welding, and without a masters degree.

I think that's the point -- there are many jobs available that pay more than that and don't "prefer" a Master's degree. As we discussed in another thread, I think they drop the "Master's degree preferred" line in there so that when they hire people without them, they can "justify" paying them less.

 

[MaxPayne63]

If you had your choice of candidates wouldn't you pick the ones with degrees over the ones without? Even if the job didn't require a degree. There are so many people unemployed or underemployed that it is easy to find people willing to work for less, even though they have a degree.

If someone has a 4 year degree and applies for a $10/hr job that should be doable by a kid still in high school I would be asking myself what I could have missed in the app/interview that other employers saw and as a result didn't hire them.

It also seems like a security risk. How can a debt serf with a freshly printed degree live on $10/hr? That sort of goes back to the first point. If they can't afford to keep a roof over their head and ramen on the table then they might consider 'borrowing' things from their employer, or turn in to an addict of some sort.

 

[Baked]

This is what happens when higher education turned corporate. It's not about higher learning, it's about how much money the colleges are making off the middle class. Poor bastards.

 

[rudder]

People without a degree may not understand they are being exploited.

People with college degrees have student loans they need to start paying on in 6 months... so they will be exploited to have some cash flow.

 

[rudder]

I somewhat beg to differ.
If you hire that person with the 4 year degree at $10/hr for some low-end job, do you think they are going to want to stay in that position? Hell no. They are going to continue to look for work OUTSIDE of your company that fits their degree at a real wage. And here you are again looking to hire, train etc a new hire for that low-end job every x months.

Except with easy student loans... many universities have become degree mills... turning out worhtless people into the workforce. Now there are plenty of exceptions... but school populations have exploded as they take on tens of thousands of students each bringing in loan money. Colleges expand and can't keep these slackers on campus forever... so they get shitty educations and worthless degrees. Upon graduation the only thing they are qualified for is a $10/hour low end job.

 

[ichy]

A few weeks ago, I saw a job ad placed by my company for one of the lowest level positions in the company. It actually said "Master's degree preferred." That is for a $40K/year position.....

I learned that companies often "prefer" all kinds of fantasy qualifications that they know they'll never get at the wages they're offering.

 

[ichy]

This is what happens when higher education turned corporate. It's not about higher learning, it's about how much money the colleges are making off the middle class. Poor bastards.

I think part of the problem is that high school diplomas have been devalued so much. You can be borderline illiterate and still graduate from high school.

 

[OverVolt]

My prediction is getting closer. I predict in 15-20 years even a burger flipper or walmart greeter will require a 4 year degree.

Your prediction is dumb... why do I think that?

The waste of resources it would be to send all wal-mart cashiers to college, the economy would crash and burn long before it came true.

College is big into "know that" knowledge. Meanwhile all the workforce cares about is "know how" knowledge. A repair shop doesn't care if you know who invented the internal combustion engine, just that you are a competent mechanic and can fix the timing belt.

Nor does walmart care if you can do calculus as a cashier if all you have to do is swipe the items and press cash or credit, and be able to count money.

The tags are correct though :awe:

 

[MaxPayne63]

Your prediction is dumb... why do I think that?

The waste of resources it would be to send all wal-mart cashiers to college, the economy would crash and burn long before it came true.

The Fed just needs a bigger printer.

 

[OverVolt]

I think part of the problem is that high school diplomas have been devalued so much. You can be borderline illiterate and still graduate from high school.

No it has to do with social status and (almost- with a few exceptions) nothing to do with actual knowledge.

We chipped away at traditional forms of social status with "even a trailer park welfare baby could become CEO if they put their mind to it!" aspirations and so employers can't tell competent middle class employee from incompetent semi-illiterate drug dealers at the high school level, and so education is the only way they can tell up from down in the applicant pool.

 

[Hugo Drax]

Your prediction is dumb... why do I think that?

The waste of resources it would be to send all wal-mart cashiers to college, the economy would crash and burn long before it came true.

College is big into "know that" knowledge. Meanwhile all the workforce cares about is "know how" knowledge. A repair shop doesn't care if you know who invented the internal combustion engine, just that you are a competent mechanic and can fix the timing belt.

Nor does walmart care if you can do calculus as a cashier if all you have to do is swipe the items and press cash or credit, and be able to count money.

The tags are correct though :awe:

Waste of resources for who? Not Walmart they are not paying for the degree, you are.

As time passes and more and more degree inflation sets in, the college degree will become the new Highschool degree. It will be expected of everyone who applies for a job that they have a degree.

As the pool of work shrinks but the pool of humans looking for work continues to grow, new barriers need to be set in order to minimize the workload on the HR department.

There are plenty of people with 4 year degrees working in Starbucks already so at some point it will be expected.

 

[Engineer]

A few weeks ago, I saw a job ad placed by my company for one of the lowest level positions in the company. It actually said "Master's degree preferred." That is for a $40K/year position.....

I started as a Controls Engineer in 1994 making $38,500 and rose VERY QUICKLY from there. I just saw a job listing for a BSEE Controls Engineer with 5 years experience in industrial controls starting at $30,000 up to $45,000 depending on higher levels of experience.

I couldn't believe what I was reading.

 

[Imp]

I somewhat beg to differ.
If you hire that person with the 4 year degree at $10/hr for some low-end job, do you think they are going to want to stay in that position? Hell no. They are going to continue to look for work OUTSIDE of your company that fits their degree at a real wage. And here you are again looking to hire, train etc a new hire for that low-end job every x months.

Unless... that person has no other prospects, thus he/she is applying for that $10/hr job. Person may not have much ambition, may feel "stuck" in the "security" of the job and its consistent paycheck, and depending on how well the company plays it, it could keep that person there forever with faux promises of promotions.

For example, my craptastic company has me working as an engineering tech requiring a 2 year diploma (maybe 3)... despite me having an accredited bachelor's and a master's degree (not foreign, top university in country). Prospects suck and security of job is relatively good.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Sad.

It's all a big money grab. I'm glad I'm done school and already have a job, no need to worry about this anymore.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I started as a Controls Engineer in 1994 making $38,500 and rose VERY QUICKLY from there. I just saw a job listing for a BSEE Controls Engineer with 5 years experience in industrial controls starting at $30,000 up to $45,000 depending on higher levels of experience.

I couldn't believe what I was reading.

Yeah, I graduated with a BSEE in 1993 and $38K was around the average starting salary then. The listing you saw is by someone who is trying to take advantage of the bad economy but is being very short-sighted; no one will stay in that position long at that pay.

 

[yhelothar]

A lot of positions would purposely hire people without degrees, since they won't expect as much of a salary.

 

[unokitty]

" ...15% of taxi drivers in 2010 had bachelor's degrees vs. 1% in 1970. Among retail sales clerks, 25% had a bachelor's degree in 2010. Less than 5% did in 1970.

"There are going to be an awful lot of disappointed people because a lot of them are going to end up as janitors," Vedder says. In 2010, 5% of janitors, 115,520 workers, had bachelor's degrees, ..."
--USA Today


OP may be onto something.

Uno

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

In 99% of America, $10 an hour is NOT minimum wage.

 

[dquan97]

This is a better article w/ pics! http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/20/b...quired-by-increasing-number-of-companies.html