Pondermania: Would You Hire Them?

By Neil S. Kohrn

Take a moment to consider the individuals pictured.

Their accomplishments are widely known. Some created entire industries. Others transformed existing ones, introduced revolutionary technologies, or changed the course of history.

How many would you consider hiring?

All of them? Some of them? None?

And there are many more.

Now, consider something you may not have known about these individuals.

Not one earned a college degree.

If a college degree were a mandatory qualification for employment, not one of these individuals would have made it through the initial screening process. They would have been eliminated before ever being interviewed.

Think about that.

Let me be clear. I am not suggesting that a college education lacks value. Quite the contrary. Formal education provides knowledge, discipline, specialized training, and opportunities that can be extremely valuable.

Nor am I suggesting that experience automatically replaces formal education. There are professions and responsibilities for which specific academic preparation and credentials are essential.

But this raises an important question.

Why is a college degree required for a particular position?

Is it necessary because the responsibilities demand specialized academic preparation, professional licensing, or a defined body of knowledge?

Is it evidence of certain capabilities that could also be demonstrated through experience, accomplishments, or other forms of education?

Or is it simply a requirement that has been carried forward because it has always appeared in the job description?

There is an important distinction between mandatory qualifications and preferred qualifications.

When a degree is genuinely essential, the requirement should be clear and defensible.

When it is merely desirable, organizations should consider whether exceptional experience, demonstrated competence, continuing education, and sound judgment can provide equal or greater value.

This is particularly relevant when evaluating individuals for leadership, strategic, operational, and advisory positions, where the ability to recognize problems, exercise judgment, develop solutions, and produce results is critical.

An organization may have a candidate with decades of demonstrated accomplishments, extensive industry knowledge, and the ability to address its most pressing challenges.

Yet that individual may never be considered because of a requirement that has little direct relationship to the responsibilities of the position.

What is the organization actually measuring?

A degree may tell us something about how an individual was educated.

It does not necessarily tell us what that individual is capable of accomplishing.

The issue is not whether a college degree has value. It most certainly can.

The issue is whether employers understand why they require one—and whether that requirement helps them identify the best candidate or inadvertently eliminates that candidate from consideration.

Pondermania

Are we hiring people for what they have learned, what they have demonstrated they can do, or simply for the credentials they possess?

Knowledge isn't power. It's survival.

Neil S. Kohrn

Communications Strategists International

Neil.Kohrn@commstratinc.com