Is college necessary or is experience enough

How much does someone need a college degree to excel at any particular job? This is one of the questions bubbling under the current debate over how Nassau County is choosing a new sheriff.

The original posting for the sheriff's job required a master's degree, but the man officials picked, an experienced city corrections officer, doesn't have even a bachelor's. Following complaints from several applicants, the county has now reopened its search, allowing work experience to substitute for diplomas.

It's understandable why a retired undersheriff would describe the need to re-do a national search as "sad." But, from another perspective, the county may have been ahead of its time with its first choice.

This past week thousands of students and parents sent deposits to institutions of higher learning, signing up for a four-year, presumably life-changing experience: a college education. But it's worth asking how valuable that investment of time and money will prove to be over this college generation's lifetime.

Here's a simple reality: despite what seems like a national obsession to get our children into college, less than half of this fall's entering class will graduate within the next 12 years (before they turn 30). A lot of people start college. Two-thirds of 25- to 34-year-old high school graduates have attended some college. Forty-six percent of all 18- to 25-year-olds are enrolled in school. But at present only a little more than a quarter of the population succeeds in finishing college - at least before turning 30.

Members of the current college crowd, Generation Y, are expected to do a bit better; over the next decade perhaps as many as 30 percent will graduate, with a few more obtaining a degree later in life. Generation Y will be the best-educated generation in history.

But not by enough. The number of jobs designed for college graduates will grow faster than the supply of degree-holders. Already two-thirds of new jobs call for a college degree, but only one-third of candidates have one. By the time members of the entering class of 2012 reach graduation, there is likely to be a shortfall of more than 5 million or more degree holders in the United States. Graduates should expect to find a very lucrative job market when they get out.

Or will they? Is it possible that the growing shortage of college-educated employees might, in an ironic way, decrease the value of a college education?

Before I incur the wrath of every parent, let me say that I'm a huge fan of education. In fact, my husband and I are among those thousands of parents who wrote a college deposit check this week. But the value of a college degree would decrease under several convincing scenarios.



One: As college-educated employees become scarcer and the competition to hire them fiercer, companies will be motivated to employ individuals without college degrees wherever possible, in jobs that today would routinely require a diploma-in-hand as the price of admission. Companies will screen candidates in different ways - relying less on the stamp of university approval and more on their own assessment of the individual's inherent capabilities and attitude - searching for those who are bright, motivated and, in some jobs, able to make them money.

I've discussed this with many senior executives. Most admit that they use college degrees primarily as a way to short-cut their own selection process - assuming that the colleges have chosen well, and that perseverance through the process demonstrates some level of diligence and commitment. One said, "If the candidates didn't have college degrees, it would make my job a lot more difficult - I'd have to spend more time screening candidates."

A former human resources executive posted this response to one of my recent blogs: "A new leader abandoned our standard practice of hiring only candidates with degrees. I thought this was absolutely appalling and wholeheartedly disagreed. However, as we began to hire people who did not have degrees, my thought process completely changed. Not only did they have more relevant experience, but they had a kind of 'street smart' that other candidates did not possess."

Most managers also acknowledge that they don't consider college degrees when they evaluate internal candidates. To the extent that college credentials hold value during the entry process, the value seems to fade in the face of a specific track record.

A second scenario: In their desperate search for college talent, companies will become like professional sports franchises - recruiting individuals earlier in the pipeline. It will become a badge of honor to proclaim that you were hired in your junior or even sophomore year in college; only those in the lower ranks of the class will make it through to be seniors.

My family has our own story here. Our son was thrilled when he was offered a full-time job in the film industry while a junior in college, conditioned on his willingness to drop out immediately. The company had decided that whatever he would gain by picking up that last English credit and the other remaining odds and ends that stood between him and a framed diploma would not enhance his ability to do the work. In this case, my husband and I intervened, arguing that he (we) had too much invested to stop short of the goal. But, I suspect more students (and parents) will face this dilemma in the years to come.

Finally, although I hate to say it: More and more young people (and employers) may be coming around to the view that at least parts of today's college education are not particularly relevant.

I recently overheard a young man talking loudly on the phone. The gist was that he was emphatically not returning to college. He was accepting the job - and was expressing great confidence that he could "talk his way up" once he got his foot in the door. Even though I wished he had substituted "work his way up" for "talk," I found myself smiling at his confidence and enthusiasm, so characteristic of many Gen Y's today.

Here is a comment posted in response to one of my recent blogs: "After a rough go at college, I found my calling in the corporate world. I have spent every day learning more from articles, books, seminars and real life experience then I could have ever learned in school. Now seven years after realizing that school wasn't for me, I run a multimillion-dollar project for the world's largest research-based pharmaceutical company. I express leadership, management skills and hard work to over 65 individuals who report up to me on three separate tiers. Being very young pushes me every day to work harder, smarter and quicker then the guy next to me. ... I'm already thinking about becoming a VP." And of course the list of super high-achievers who never finished college includes Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Woody Allen, Peter Jennings and Albert Einstein.

But, this argument has two sides. Higher education is a huge help and brings many benefits - maybe the greatest of which is the peace of mind that you will have when you change employers and need to make that excellent first impression yet one more time. There are many examples of capable individuals today being denied opportunity because they lack the requisite stamp of approval for entry. A man like Mark Farsi, Nassau's sheriff finalist, might make a fine hire with his 20 years of correction experience and 50 college credits.

So if you can spend the time and money to get a degree, you should. But at the risk of incurring the wrath of every parent, I'm going to hedge just a bit. Over the next decade I believe that more and more opportunities will open up to people with lower levels of formal education. Companies will be more willing to overlook the absence of a university stamp. You may well be able to work your way up.

• AUTO SALES

  TOWER FORD

• CARPET SALESPERSONS

  KAS CARPET

• COSMATITION

  CALIBER PHARMACY

• RECEPTIONIST PART TIME

  LA-Z-BOY FURNITURE GALLERIES

• ANIMAL CARE PERSON

  MALIBU PET HOTEL

• View all Top Jobs

Search jobs

---

All Long Island jobs

Post resume