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Subject:Re: Getting that degree From:kendal stitzel <kensti -at- KENSTI -dot- AUTO-TROL -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 30 Nov 1993 09:31:24 MST
This message will probably arrive late in the discussion (Colorado SuperNet is
typically overwhelmed by fanatical netters), but...
Steve Fouts writes:
> For my $0.02, I'll say that the reason that you demand a college degree in
> a field is to weed the crop of prospective candidates. Say you advertise a
> position for a tech writer and you get 257 resumis. Do YOU want to interview
> 257 folks and try to remember who is who? No. Leaf through them and reject
> as many as possible as quickly as possible. No college degree period. Whack!
> College degree in totally un-related field. Whack! Seventeen salaried
> positions in five years. Whack! Misspelled misspelled. Whack! Is it a
> manageable number yet? No? Whack some more.
Steve hits the nail on the head. I read a great little job search book called
"The Very Quick Job Search." The author points out that the primary job of a
human resources/personnel department is to weed OUT job candidates. The
challenge is to avoid getting axed--hopefully by magically showing up on the
employer's doorstep before the job is advertised and the thundering herd
arrives.
As to whether companies are badly managed just because they look for paper
degrees...I think the disease goes much deeper. Management gurus Tom Peters
and the Deming fellow are quoted to death but they are right: most companies
just don't have the belief in or commitment excellence/quality.
Another interesting book that is funny but has a lot of truth in it: "How
to Work for a Jerk." Lots of managers are just plain jerks that don't care.
You have to figure out which kind of jerk they are and give them what they
want. (I recently loaned this book to my human resources manager, so there is
hope for him. Interestingly, he is a lawyer by background.)
This gets into issues of hiring and job searching more than tech writing.
Apologies if that trips anybody's trigger.
Kensti the Colorado 'trol (not Kendal the Canadian 'trol)
kensti -at- Auto-trol -dot- com
techdoc 'trol somewhere under the bridge,
the butt of many insensitive goats
Auto-trol Technology
Denver, Colorado
