There’s lots of hiring going on and I’m getting lots of calls about it, so I thought I’d post responses to some of the more uncommon questions.

One question that’s surfacing frequently, in various forms, boils down to, “What’s the real value of a college education?”

The answer is that it depends on when it happened, i.e., how long ago—not what most people want to hear.

The best CEOs and managers with whom I’ve worked say that the value diminishes roughly 20% a year, so that at the end of five years it has little meaning when evaluating a candidates skills and abilities.

By that time, the question of what they can do for you should be based on what they’ve already accomplished for someone else, not the renown of their alma mater, or the GPA they carried. We’ve all known people whose career pinnacle was graduating from a name-brand school (whether under-grad or graduate degree(s)), not what they did afterward.

Education is of the most value when it’s freshest, because

• the technical aspects (software, engineering, finance, chemistry, marketing or some other field) are most relevant;
• how to learn and where to find information, two of the most important skills acquired, are freshest; and
• graduating is proof of tenacity, self-discipline, and other positive character traits.
• Hand in glove with the above question is, “Can experience can really offset formal education?”

Look around at past and current leaders and you’ll see that the answer to this one is a resounding, “Yes!”

And it’s more true today, when it’s difficult to even get in the door without a sheepskin, than is was in the past.

With or without a degree, look at

• the quality of your candidates;
• what they’ve already accomplished, at work, personally, professionally, and academically; and
• what you want them to do

then hire the person who is most likely to accomplish your mission.

You always want to hire the right person, at the right time, and for the right reasons, one of which may be schooling—or not.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 12th, 2006 at 10:07 am and is filed under Hiring, Retention. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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