Dear Workforce: How Can We Retain Our Best and Brightest?
Supporting higher education is a sensible move, but whether you can do the job well is usually more important than a piece of paper.
Dear Workforce:
Our organization in the past has placed people in positions requiring college
degrees even though these people didn’t have college degrees. In other words,
we’ve been making a lot of exceptions. We’re finding more candidates with
multiple years of experience without the formal education. Should we stop
requiring degrees? I still feel like they have some importance.
-- Looking for a Way Out,
services, Apple Valley, Minnesota
 Dear
Looking:
I applaud your support of higher education. However, not every position
justifiably requires a college degree. For various reasons, you’ve placed people
without degrees in positions requiring a degree. How have they performed? Can
you still justify the degree requirement? A realistic review of job
specifications will help you open the field of candidates, justify positions
that need a degreed incumbent, and help you avoid lawsuits for discrimination.
You may also get a more diverse workforce.
You might consider a higher compensation level for people who have degrees.
Or, hire people without degrees with the provision that they will actively
pursue a degree, probably on the company’s dime. Supporting higher education is
a sensible move, but sometimes training, experience and ability to do a job can
be substantially more valuable than a piece of paper and a theoretical
education.
An educational degree does not predict performance, nor does it validate
competence. I’m reminded of the old question about what you call someone who
graduates at the bottom of the medical-school class: doctor.
SOURCE: Roger Herman,
CMC, The Herman Group, Greensboro,
North Carolina, March 25, 2004.
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The information contained in this article is intended to provide useful
information on the topic covered, but should not be construed as legal advice or
a legal opinion. Also remember that state laws may differ from the federal law.
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