Why do people say that having a degree makes it easier to get a job?

[BigToque]

I realize that if you have a degree in a specific area, it will improve your chances of getting a job in the area that your degree focused on.

Business degree = marketing or accounting
engineering degree = engineering job
computer science = writing software
etc.

Once you get away from the few very specific degrees that give you very specific skills, a degree seems completely useless.

I've got my Bachelor of Arts (psychology) and I can't for the life of me find a decent job anywhere. Every job out there seems to require a specific skill and I have no employable skills.

I can't seem to find anything that will pay more than 10-12/hour. How the hell are you supposed to buy a house and support a family on that?

Anyway, I've decided to go back to school and get a second degree in nursing. This will mean a guaranteed well paying job, but I'm now gonna be in school until I'm 30.

 

[olds]

Depends on the degree.

 

[ViviTheMage]

dont want to hit that ceiling!

 

[vital]

why didn't you think of this before you majored in psychology?

 

[magomago]

with a non technical major, you need to really learn the industry you work in to build employable skills. this holds true for all fields, but ESPECIALLY for a non technical field. The degree itself doesn't mean much. I met a guy who studied psych who works in the engineering industry as a salesman and he loves it.

 

[warmodder]

Well certain degrees are sort of known for their uselessness--psychology being one of them. They're typically reserved for a student planning to move on to grad school because in that case the undergrad major isn't so important. Otherwise you would want to plan for a career path while in college and get a major to satisfy that plan. Kind of how you worked it out in the op.

 

[gururu2]

well the fact is that most individuals who possess a bachelors arent particularly skilled in anything and have to undergo extensive training before they become productive. even people who complete graduate schools have to work hard to find jobs. its true though, you always hear about how a person with a 4 yr degree gets out of college and nails that 60k/yr job. In reality, that is very rare. Of 30-40 people I know that graduated from UC Berkeley, maybe 20% went on to higher degrees, 50% picked up jobs not related to their major, and the rest found jobs in their field.

 

[tfinch2]

Originally posted by: BigToque
I realize that if you have a degree in a specific area, it will improve your chances of getting a job in the area that your degree focused on.

Business degree = marketing or accounting
engineering degree = engineering job
computer science = writing software
etc.

Once you get away from the few very specific degrees that give you very specific skills, a degree seems completely useless.

I've got my Bachelor of Arts (psychology) and I can't for the life of me find a decent job anywhere. Every job out there seems to require a specific skill and I have no employable skills.

I can't seem to find anything that will pay more than 10-12/hour. How the hell are you supposed to buy a house and support a family on that?

Anyway, I've decided to go back to school and get a second degree in nursing. This will mean a guaranteed well paying job, but I'm now gonna be in school until I'm 30.

I found Waldo!

 

[BigToque]

Originally posted by: vital
why didn't you think of this before you majored in psychology?

Everyone I ever spoke to said "just get a degree, it doesn't matter what you take". I decided on psychology because it was the only field of study that I actually enjoyed.

I took a year of computer science and a year of business before I decided on psychology.

I've got decent programming skills, as I've been doing it on my own for a number of years, but everyone says "so what makes you qualified? Get a CS degree and come back".

It doesn't matter at this point anyway, since I'm going back for another degree, but this last year has been hell for me.

 

[BigToque]

Originally posted by: tfinch2

Originally posted by: BigToque
I realize that if you have a degree in a specific area, it will improve your chances of getting a job in the area that your degree focused on.

Business degree = marketing or accounting
engineering degree = engineering job
computer science = writing software
etc.

Once you get away from the few very specific degrees that give you very specific skills, a degree seems completely useless.

I've got my Bachelor of Arts (psychology) and I can't for the life of me find a decent job anywhere. Every job out there seems to require a specific skill and I have no employable skills.

I can't seem to find anything that will pay more than 10-12/hour. How the hell are you supposed to buy a house and support a family on that?

Anyway, I've decided to go back to school and get a second degree in nursing. This will mean a guaranteed well paying job, but I'm now gonna be in school until I'm 30.

I found Waldo!

lol

 

[George P Burdell]

Why not get a Phd in Psychology instead of getting another degree? At least that way you can become a therapist of sort, help people and mint money.

 

[Dunbar]

I think what they say is that college grads make more money which is well documented.

 

[evident]

because it is easier to get a job with a degree in demand!
should have done a major that had a good ROI

 

[lyssword]

Because "professional" jobs in ads just flat out say "4 or 2yr degree required", mostly for high tech jobs. But what kind of jobs can you really get with psych degree? It probably also depends on location, in bigger towns it'll be easier to find job that requires your degree.

 

[SoundTheSurrender]

The answers easy. You choose a useless degree. Should of picked something useful.

 

[Corporate Thug]

psych is useless, unless you go to grad school and get into corporate counseling or consultation.

 

[Rogodin2]

Return on Investment is overrated.

I'll lock you in a car, where is your ROI?

Rogo

 

[JEDIYoda]

Originally posted by: BigToque
I realize that if you have a degree in a specific area, it will improve your chances of getting a job in the area that your degree focused on.

Business degree = marketing or accounting
engineering degree = engineering job
computer science = writing software
etc.

Once you get away from the few very specific degrees that give you very specific skills, a degree seems completely useless.

I've got my Bachelor of Arts (psychology) and I can't for the life of me find a decent job anywhere. Every job out there seems to require a specific skill and I have no employable skills.

I can't seem to find anything that will pay more than 10-12/hour. How the hell are you supposed to buy a house and support a family on that?

Anyway, I've decided to go back to school and get a second degree in nursing. This will mean a guaranteed well paying job, but I'm now gonna be in school until I'm 30.

you are being held back by the type of degree you have....

Not to sound rude but your B od arts in Psychology isn`t worth caca.......sorry....
I know alot of people who have B of Arts in Psychology who are working at Mikky D`s...etc....

You really need to pursue a master program where they will let you use your B o art`s in Psych to jump into another field....

Now if you had your master in Psych you would totally be on your way....

 

[krunchykrome]

Originally posted by: BigToque
I realize that if you have a degree in a specific area, it will improve your chances of getting a job in the area that your degree focused on.

Business degree = marketing or accounting
engineering degree = engineering job
computer science = writing software
etc.

Once you get away from the few very specific degrees that give you very specific skills, a degree seems completely useless.

I've got my Bachelor of Arts (psychology) and I can't for the life of me find a decent job anywhere. Every job out there seems to require a specific skill and I have no employable skills.

I can't seem to find anything that will pay more than 10-12/hour. How the hell are you supposed to buy a house and support a family on that?

Anyway, I've decided to go back to school and get a second degree in nursing. This will mean a guaranteed well paying job, but I'm now gonna be in school until I'm 30.

No offense buddy, but there's your problem. What did you expect to do with that degree, honestly?

With a Psych degree, you need a graduate degree to get a job. Im saying this from personal observation and from knowing a few people with Psych degrees.

 

[WombRaider]

Since psychology is something you enjoy, you should pursue a master's degree in that field.

 

[Eeezee]

It depends on the degree and what job you want. Obviously a degree in business isn't going to help you land a job as a researcher.

I was told a good story at my university, actually. They were trying to hire a new lab coordinator (guy who basically runs all of the labs) and had a huge pool of candidates. The guy in charge of hiring personally new one of them, new he was a great guy and would do a great job. All of the candidates had master's degrees except for one guy with a PhD in physics. The PhD applicant got the job; he didn't personally know the employer, but he had a better degree (and technically more experience, PhD requires an extra 4 years of lab work anyway).

High degree >> lower degree. Degree >> no degree. It's as simple as that. If you have 50 job applicants and 10 of them have no college degree, it makes it that much easier to choose who to interview.

 

[Rogodin2]

Sometimes you need to expand your ratio.

I majored in Philosophy, Russian, and History, even though I was reading and enjoying the DCS studies.

Where did such a degree propel me?

I'm working in SO.

Rogo

 

[Eeezee]

Oh, and you probably should have researched your degree before you got heavily involved. Psychology is the "joke" degree of sciences. It's just barely more useful than having a degree in English or Art History. And from what I hear, it's fairly easy compared to other science/engineering degrees.

For the record, I believe psychology is a science in infancy, it's still considered a joke because it hasn't had enough time to mature. The neuroscience aspect of psychology is certainly legitimate, but the therapy/counseling stage is still viewed as largely a waste of time by most people.

When you were choosing your major, did you not look at what kind of jobs you would get with a BA in psychology? Having a degree in "anything" is worth nothing. You need to have the right degree for the right kind of work you want.

 

[Apple Of Sodom]

I work with a lot of people, some with degrees, most without. In my experience, people without degrees have less dedication to projects as well as less drive. They have a lot less knowledge base on which to call, and they often lack critical thinking skills. Most irritatingly, almost none of them can sit down and learn a new concept. It is just too difficult.

Furthermore, a degree from an acredited university (instead of something from a craptacular college like University of Phoenix Online) means that these people have taken a lot of other classes to make them well rounded. In studying for my master's in engineering (software) I had to take numerous psychology, business, and writing classes. I had to read literature, debate ethics, and all sorts of other junk. I hated it then. Now I realize it makes me a much better person.

I forget who said it, but the quote I love is "He who knows how to learn knows enough." Simply put, someone who has gone to college, studied, and gotten a degree knows how to learn. This isn't true for every discipline (seriously, how hard is it to get a BA in English?) but is true of most, if not all, scientific disciplines.

 

[Eeezee]

Originally posted by: BigToque

Originally posted by: vital
why didn't you think of this before you majored in psychology?

Everyone I ever spoke to said "just get a degree, it doesn't matter what you take". I decided on psychology because it was the only field of study that I actually enjoyed.

I took a year of computer science and a year of business before I decided on psychology.

I've got decent programming skills, as I've been doing it on my own for a number of years, but everyone says "so what makes you qualified? Get a CS degree and come back".

It doesn't matter at this point anyway, since I'm going back for another degree, but this last year has been hell for me.

Everyone you ever spoke to was apparently a liar. Or they didn't know what they were talking to. Either way, you were misinformed.

Your degree is actually fairly important for most jobs. Obviously any $10-15/hour isn't going to care about your degree, but then you don't technically need any degree for most of those jobs.