Qualifications Required

[Sion_Barzahd]

This is something that i've heard people discussing for a week or so i think, and i might have even heard it mentioned on the news.

Plenty of people are losing their jobs lately, but the thing that is bugging me is that only people who've been to university or college and got some sort of specific education in that field can get new jobs.
For example, my friends dad recently got let go due to finance issues at the company he worked with. He does engineering, etc. and is your stereotypical 'handy man'. Hes been doing this sort of work for a good 25 years and is great at what he does.
But when applying for other places he is being told he needs to have an engineering qualification.
completely forget his 25 years of hands-on experience.

What i'm asking is, does this happen as much as i've heard? Is qualifications worth more than actual experience?

 

[sms_117b]

Depends on the employer, some wont take you if you have no experience, others like your example say they won't take you without relevant qualifications, that's due to the "sue culture" in case the employee makes a mistake, regardless how small

 

[Specter_]

Yes and no. Depending on what the company is looking for, how much money you want and so on...

I got my tech support job with no qualification whatsoever (except that I've built and fixed computers for the last 10-15 years, but I've got no certification for that and it's not even "work experience" since I did it as a hobby), but I'd get a hell of a lot more money with a college-degree. But with that degree I wouldn't have got that specific tech-support-job, because I would have been too expensive.

 

[Knight Templar]

Here (OZ) having that much experance is equal to level 4 (3?) education, and there are only five levels. Surely the UK has something like that?

 

[Incredible Bullshitting Man]

Don´t know the situation in UK but in here it´s kinda funny. Universities produce more and more Master of whatever but nearly most of the seem to end up register as unemployed. Too many highly educated for too few workplaces. That is if you happened to study, say for example, to become a Master of arts. Only select few subjects offer real potential in working life.

When it comes to qualification, here the emphasize is also on high education rather than experience. It´s pretty sad really, to dismiss a perfectly capable worker just because s/he isn´t educated enough. So we have situations where a person almost of pensionable age has to go through retraining just keep his/her current job.

 

[goater24]

Qualifications are an easy way for a employer to narrow down the candidates applying for a job. If you have 30 capable people applying for one job an employer will use education as a tool to narrow down applicants, also they will see a general certificates e.g Degree as a way of proving the candidates ability to learn.

I don't nescasarily agree with the system but from somebody who has had experiance in recruiting, its just the way its worked for me.

EDIT: Conversely being too qualified works against you, my partner is a Doctor of Evolutionary Genetics and after having trouble getting funding for a post doc is being turned down for asistance and tech positions as the employers feel she is over qualified and would not stay in the job for long. Its such a sham,e as she is a very dedicated professional. My logic would be that she is more of an assett and brings more to the table.

Its a funny old world we live in!

 

[EchetusXe]

What i'm asking is, does this happen as much as i've heard? Is qualifications worth more than actual experience?

Hopefully, as I have qualifications but no experience.

Its a pile of crap anyway, I wouldn't mind being a postman for the rest of my life. Who needs an above average salary? Would only waste it anyway.