Don’t Require a College Degree When You Don’t Need One

In a tough job market like this one, most employers want to raise their expectations about who to hire.  That’s smart.  This is a great time to raise your standards. 

But one of the worst ways to raise your standards is by demanding a college degree for jobs that simply do not require a degree.   That actually does the opposite, it actually lowers the caliber of candidate you can hire. 

The unemployment rate among college grads is far lower than the unemployment rate among people without a degree.  The difference is astonishing.   Check out this interactive graph by the New York Times – “The Jobless Rate for People Like You“.   Our national unemployment rate varies from 3.7% to 48.5%  depending on your race, age, and level of education.   (Bear in mind, that’s the national rate, the DC Metropolitan Area enjoys much lower numbers).  

I should probably note that I do not think that employed candidates are better than unemployed candidates (I’ve addressed that myth before).  

And no,  I’m not debating the value of a college degree, I’ve already discussed that as well).

My point is this:  when you require a college degree, you jump from a candidate pool with relatively high unemployment (high school grads) to a candidate pool with half their rate of unemployment.  Therefore you are competing with many other employers for a candidate pool that simply enjoys more career opportunities.  By insisting on a degree, you simply have more competition, and therefore fewer good people to choose from.

I should note that extensive research shows that years of education do not accurately predict performance on the job … any job. 

So when you require a degree for jobs, you have used a criteria that does not predict success on the job (years of education)  in order to (arbitrarily) narrow the pool of candidates you are considering, and in doing that, you have eliminated some of your best potential candidates.  

So, while demanding a degree may make screening resumes easier, but it will probably make your hiring decision worse.