"Applicant must have college degree"; overblown need? - Granite Grok

“Applicant must have college degree”; overblown need?

If you walk around the Right blogosphere, you will see a lot of folks talking about the "education bubble" – lots of folks who were told to go to college, took on lots of debt, and now are either unemployed or underemployed.  The overriding problem seems to be the overemphasis on the credentials to do certain work only if you have a degree.  This?  Not so much at this bastion of conservative thought:

National Review is seeking a receptionist for its New York City office. Position is full-time, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., starting in November, and includes some editorial responsibilities. Benefits are included. Applicant must have college degree. Please send résumé and cover letter to kmurdock@nationalreview.com.

Sure, am giving them a bit of an assist on advertising the position, but really, a college degree to be a receptionist?  Now, I have nothing against receptionists – there are some great ones that I’ve had the pleasure to meet and some I’d rather not meet or talk to again.  Let’s be serious, though – one does not need a college degree to answer the phone, do filing, track packages, do mail related packages, or a number of other tasks that receptionists often do.

Nor does one need a college degree to be a software engineer either!  Some of the best I ever met made it through high school and then picked up a keyboard for the rest of their lives.  College?  In a lot of cases, for a lot of positions, I do believe it is unneeded.  I remember posting (in here somewhere) about the Ivy League graduate who bemoaned that, after getting her degree in early childhood education, she’ll never be able to pay off the student loans based on the low pay.

 

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