A New Beginning
A simple notice about a job hiring posted outside stalls or printed
on the pages of the classified ads in a newspaper may not concern those in the
working society—even students like us, who will in four to five years time
graduate from college. But a class does care who are evaluated by job
qualifications and later fail because of one requirement—a college degree. It
is undeniable that one of the many factors the Philippines remains stagnant in
its economic status is the continuous unemployment of, as if unable but
actually very able citizens of the country who are simply not given the chance
to get hired because they have not finished a college degree.
The capitalists
present in our country today are, unfortunately, overrating college diplomas.
Papers, for them, are much of an evidence of capacity rather than actual
experience. We can’t blame them because ever since, it has been instilled in
society that when you have achieved a bachelor’s degree, you are better than
those who don’t have one. There’s nothing wrong with degrees and diplomas, it’s
just that these diplomas aren’t needed when you’re in blue-collar jobs, such as
food servers, cashiers and more. College degrees are only true for professions
that require expertise and critical thinking such as doctors, lawyers and
engineers, but in baby-sitting, serving food in restaurants and cashiering, it
wouldn’t be a big deal. Knowledge isn’t obligatory, skills are.
Requiring a
college degree of job hunters is necessary and very important to jobs that
require specialization and academic knowledge. But there are some jobs that
don’t require such degrees like call center agents, tutors, security guards,
and welders, according to a research conducted. These occupations only require
skills, experience and ability. As long as the applicant is capable enough to
accomplish his/her duty well then a college degree is not necessary for those
jobs.
Having a
college degree should not be a necessity in finding a job. High school
graduates are not that bad. The only advantage that college students have is
the learning that they got from school. Not all college students can apply the
things that they had learned. An example is people who work as call center
agents. Not all of them are graduates of a certain degree but there are also
only high school graduates. Actually, according to the Labor Force Survey (LFS)
conducted by the National Statistics Office last January 2012, across
educational groups that were employed, one-third (33.7%) of the unemployed were
high school graduates, 13.5 per cent were college undergraduates, while 17.8
per cent were college graduates. It just shows that high school graduates are
also a big help in the economy for they are vastly employed.
Some countries
in the world hire job applicants who do not have a college degree. According to
Leigh Egan, “many employers are willing to hire entry-level workers while
allowing them time to further their education, while others will hire potential
employees as long as they meet the minimum job requirements.” Some companies
hire employees who have the skills and talents in doing some of the work.
However, they still have to acquire some of the basic job requirements.
Furthermore, there are high-paying occupations which do not require a college
degree, based on 2009 median wages that require only work experience or
on-the-job training. According to the study of Dawn Rosenberg McKay: “Earnings
vary by employer and will depend on factors including level of experience and
training, and location.” Examples are the Industrial Production Managers who
earned a median hourly wage of $40.90 in 2009 and the Transportation Storage
and Distribution Managers who were paid a median hourly wage of $38.22 in 2009.
In the Philippines, fast food or short-order cooks and food preparation workers
do not need much education as their skills are learned on the job. Those who
want to work as a cook or chef can take vocational school programs. Moreover,
most employers require Human Resources assistants (HR assistants) to have only
a high school diploma. But they must have a related occupational experience to
work in the above fields. Training usually takes place on the job.
Think about it,
would it be reasonable that the employment of food servers, cashiers, waiters
and many other skill-based workers is his or her college diploma, while the
highest position—presidency, could be attained by a high-school graduate as
long as he or she is elected by the people? Would it be fair that an
inexperienced university graduate fights for the same job with a
deprived-of-education-but-blessed-with-skills-citizen. Who do you think would
win? Open your eyes to the irrationality of the job market around us. Taking
into consideration the most important question: Can you do the job? School
might have taught us a lot, but not everything is learned within four walls of
the classroom; sometimes, those who’ve seen the reality of life have so much
more to offer.
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