Degree sections compulsory on job applications? How is this fair? This is unfair to individuals who haven't been able to obtain degrees for personal reasons. How are we different or under qualified to those who might have obtained 3rd's in their degrees? Had to leave an application for not having a degree despite 10 years experience within my field? Where is the logic and justice in this? I think all applicants should be given a fair chance.
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I don't necessarily disagree but times have changed you can no longer enter the finance field without a degree and more or less is a requirement. Are people who graduated college smarter? Most likely no, there's a lot of extremely dumb people but the only way for businesses to remove a whole segment of applicants is requiring a college degree. If you have been working for 10 years you would assume you have contacts who may be able to help you get a job other than applying online, otherwise an online app will surely reject you.
I'd say 70-80% of people w/o a degree aren't that smart. The fact is nowadays you are shooting yourself in the foot if you don't get one.
I'd say 90% of people in general are kind of dim.
I would say 100% of people who didnt get a degree and wanted to go into finance aren't that smart, how could they not have forseen the requirement of a degree. Also, getting a degree is not hard.
There fact the finance sector requires degrees for most jobs still doesn't make it right or fair.
I'm a contractor and now looking for a perm job, the reasons I'm applying directly. Even through contacts can't change the fact that degree will be requested to present at time of application.
I've clearly proven despite not going to university people can be successful. Most entrepreneurs don't have degrees today, clearly is another evidence that a degree is no necessary. Not all company that this degree rule but some that do need to re-evaluate their recruitment processes.
This is why people are lying and getting into the finance sector.
I'm not trying to be a jerk, but it absolutely is "fair".
On a job application they are trying to gauge your qualifications from your background. A college education, or lack thereof, is clearly a part of your background. I'm sure that there is also a work experience section on the application which will be taken into consideration as well. Of course there will be some employers who will not consider you due to your lack of education, but if your overall profile is good enough you should get some bites.
In my opinion you saying that not having a degree being held against you is tantamount to me saying that I should be able to be the Chairman of Goldman Sachs because I have the requisite degrees (but lack the work experience).
I wish you well and given your unique circumstances your best bet is probably a lot of networking. You'll need to get people to see you, the good employee, past the lack of a college degree. However, there are a LOT of people that do have the degree, which is a desired qualification whether you want to acknowledge it or not.
I have a buddy in the exact same situation and I'm trying to get him to pursue a degree. Is night school or even online an option for you?
Thanks for your response. I couldn't get a degree due to personal circumstances. My argument here is companies making the degree section compulsory, which then makes it impossible for me to even apply for the role. All companies I have worked for including banks have required degrees for the role, however with my skills and expertise, I have been given leeway. I feel its unfair for those companies who make the education/degree section compulsory, as due to this I will never be given the chance to even apply for the role, let alone to be considered.
I would love to be able to do a part-time or evening degree but again this not easy with a one year old baby and specially financially. I'm now torn between being a parent and pursuing my dream job.
I hope you can understand and appreciate my stance. This is not a negative argument for people at attack on my opinion.
And good luck to you all with degrees.
Getting a degree is like being a chef. You don't eat what you've been trained to cook and you can't eat unless you cook! You need to cook at a good restaurant first before you branch out and start your own.
Can you cook and not go to culinary school? Sure, but the market is flooded with chefs who have gone and have the paper from top institutions.
You are trying to court recruiters who put you into good restaurants. They want to be lazy and sort descending based on prestigious institutions, years worked, etc to save them time. You do no one any favors by being the mysterious unproven unknown.
There's always hell's kitchen or SharkTank! The same game is played in the MBA circles.
Do you know what board you're posting on? If you're a contractor trying to get into finance, a very base part of that process is getting a degree.
Yes but getting a degree is not like buying an ice cream. Your talking about a substantial amount of money required and time. And I certainly know what board I'm posting on and it's great to see how some of you are reacting to this. I'm not a dumb individual who couldn't be bothered to go to University but because of personal reasons I was unable to and unfortunately still have not been able to pursue getting a degree. If your willing to sponsor me today, then please do and I will happy give time to getting a degree. I am now a parent of a one year and again can not just get up and go to university.
I did not say that it is like buying ice cream. College is most definitely expensive (and in my opinion, way too expensive) but if that is the requirement, then you have to complete it.
Everyone has life struggles. Everyone has hardships. Everyone suffers from depression and anxiety, or has a close family member die, or has a kid unexpectedly, or gets a serious illness, etc. Most of these people still manage to complete a degree.
You being a parent means you may not be able to attend college full time, but it doesn't even necessarily mean that. I worked 30 hours a week during college and went full time. I think my brother worked something like 40-50. Part time college exists. Online college exists. Money-wise, loans exist too. There are many, many options here that you simply have to commit to.
If you cannot commit to completing a degree, for whatever self-imposed reason, then you simply can't work in finance. It is a requirement of the career path.
You're*
MR2713 Don't use your kid as an excuse. My mom finished her degree and a masters with four kids.
I get where you are coming from, but they need some way to screen candidates.. for what it's worth, EY removed the degree requirements from their application process
edit: after reading article PWC did the same
https://www.simplilearn.com/ernst-and-young-remove-degree-classificatio…
How can someone become a CPA at EY without a BA or BS? Maybe they're just doing that for the janitors.
I would suspect this is geared toward tech oriented roles - EY offers a range of services outside of accounting.
edit: maybe BO roles too
Why no enroll for community college?
It's cheaper and you can take classes part time. If the opportunity arises in the future you can always go for the bachelor's after an associates.
I agree. Community colleges often even have online classes.
Best bet is to target a community college known for feeding kids into a decent local university or three. This might be expensive, but you can always get a job and go part time. After your BS+internships+networking you can be in IB. Longer you wait, the tougher it will be (age discrimination). So start now for fun.
But some people do rarely break in w/o a degree. It may be this is rarer now due to dumbing down of high schools combined with an explosion in degree holders. It used to be rarer that people had degrees.
Just fyi companies are not charity, they can do whatever they want. If I choose to hire a girl who is 9 and above, thats purely my decision and I couldnt care less if anybody thinks its fair or not. Sorry, man, but your post has written major entitlement all over it and that will not get you anywhere. Suck it up and grind. And if think you got what it takes, what stops you from setting up your own business?
OP, can you paste the link to your SJW tumblr?
As someone who doesn't have a degree I have focused my efforts on the CFA. I still don't think I would get a job in PE or IBD (maybe FO AM at best) as a CFA, but I think I would help me start my own firm even if it very small.
Don't complain about a companies policy just focus on fixing the core of the issue. If that is an alternative type of education, networking, or apply to a different firm.
Just as a quick side note for you, @LeadingIndicator you cannot obtain a CFA charter without a degree. You can still take the tests and let companies know that you passed a certain level, but you cannot obtain the charter. This can get tacked onto the fairness debate, but that's the way it stands currently.
That actually isn't true.
The requirement as listed is:
"A bachelor's degree or equivalent education/work experience" I have over 8 years of professional work experience - 3.5 of which are at a large fixed income shop.
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