Employers Equate College Degrees With Being ‘Career-Oriented’

02.22.13
Employers Equate College Degrees With Being ‘Career-Oriented’

Deciding to go to college has always been a big decision, but it may be even more important now than ever before. Many companies are requiring a college degree for all positions, even the most entry-level ones, according to a recent article in The New York Times.

“Degree inflation” is the result of many factors. Two reasons stood out to me. The first is that the high volume of applicants to entry-level jobs creates more demand, so employers can be pickier. “When you get 800 résumés for every job ad, you need to weed them out somehow,” said Suzanne Manzagol, executive recruiter at Cardinal Recruiting Group. Another factor that one employer expressed to the Times, is that college graduates appear to be more career-oriented, and not just in it for the paycheck.

We reached out to our followers on Facebook to find out what they thought about the idea that college graduates are more “career-oriented.”

Joshua Daniels disagreed. He wrote in his post that finances play a bigger role in one’s decision to go to college. “With such a dismal job market, even with a degree, it is understandable to me why many wouldn’t want to take on tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt for a college education right now,” he wrote.

Gerald Bowman also disagreed. He wrote that college should be attended when someone is 100 percent sure of what they want they want to do. “I’d only recommend college if a young person wants to pursue a specific career, an econ or science/ engineering degree, or plans on pursuing a PhD or some types of professional school.”

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