Re: Obsession with University Degrees?

[Anne Weiler <annew -at- CHANCERY -dot- COM>]

Two thoughts about why some employers require degrees. I'm not holding
these up as good reasons, only reasons:

- Our profession is frequently lacking in respect from other professions.
In a company where engineers are required to have degrees, it helps pull
tw's out of the glorified typing pool status, if we have actually studied
to do our jobs. (Obviously this wouldn't carry as much weight in a
start-up company where many of the engineers don't have degrees either.)

The last time I was hiring, I had to work with a corporate recruiter. He
kept sending me secretaries who wanted to learn to write. I had to
stipulate to him that I wanted someone with a degree. I didn't really
require someone with a degree, but it was the only way to make him
understand that being able to type wasn't the same as being able to write.

- Some big companies put the degree requirement if they're expecting
applicants from outside the country. In order for a company to sponsor a
potential employee for a work visa, the person needs to have a degree
relevant to the work he or she is doing. I assume this is immigration law,
and I only have experience with this in the software industry in the US,
so don't flame me if it's different somewhere else.

That said, currently, in a department of 3 writers I have 1 person with an
MA in English, one with a diploma in MIS (and eons as a tech support rep),
and one with a degree in Business.

Anne

--
Anne Weiler (annew -at- chancery -dot- com)
Media Development
Chancery Software