Your degree is BS in what?

So you made the choice to spend a lot of money and commit years of your life toward getting a degree?  Good, now get your money's worth and be prepared to discuss and demonstrate some of the specifics of what you learned with the people interviewing you. That or prepare to be passed over.

Used to be not everyone had the time, money or inclination to go to college after completing high school and in those times just having a degree would elevate and set you apart from others competing for the same job. Things started changing in the 80's and then the 90's came with a huge push in all things technical and financial.  Industry screamed for a more educated talent pool, immigration caps were raised, government offered more student loans, schools started offering more degreed programs; all combining to create an economic landscape that today is bursting with new college grads and MBA's that are having a hard time finding jobs.  "Why is that?" you ask.

I submit that the difficulty for more than a few is because they're having a hard time explaining what they learned, why they learned it and more importantly, how both will positively impact their prospective employer.  Nobody cares if you were in the top 3% of your class if you can't answer a basic question in your chosen field of study, or worse, are offended by being asked a 101 question that you don't deem pertinent to the job.  (By the way, do expect to be asked how many were in the class and what criteria determined the percentages if you choose to go this route.)

If your degree is in education, computer science, accounting, or whatever, be prepared to have an intelligent, repeat, intelligent conversation about why you chose your field, what you learned that changed your life, and how making that choice can positively change other lives.  Can you talk about the theories of Freud and Jung, or what's really included in COGS so your month end reports are accurate?  Do you really believe Fibonacci is important and why would you use the big O notation in the analysis of an algorithm?

Almost anyone can obtain a degree today by paying tuition, showing up, passing the tests and meeting the minimum graduation qualifications; none of which is necessarily a guarantee of higher intelligence, just additional education.  Proof of education won't set you apart in today's job market, proof of intelligence will set you apart in any job market.

No degree?  I'll be talking about how to leap that hurdle in an upcoming post.

Feel free to follow me, use the 'share' toolbar below to send to a friend, recommend, comment and/or send me mail by going to www.otbcoaching.com...vinny