Why Do So Many Jobs Request College Degrees?

iameggman
Fri, 25 Jan 2013 13:41:57 +0000

At one job interview I had a couple years ago, at a small law firm (hiring non-JD research associates), anyone with a “qualifying” resume was first given an IQ tests, before any interviews were done. Those who scored highest received interviews.

Lots of research indicates that IQ is a phenomenal predictor of one’s ability to complete a job. Though, regardless of IQ, there’s obviously much uncertainty about one’s interest / passion / motivation in being successful in a job. For the majority of people in the majority of jobs on Earth, their main motivation is “money to pay the bills”. And a very high number of people work hard enough to keep their job and do well, but they’re primarily motivated by “not being fired”, rather than by an interest in the work itself.



There’s also lots of studies that shows that IQ tests only test for SPECIFIC LOGICAL ASSOCIATION intelligence, but not useful for an all-encompassing intelligence test. Its usual human arrogance to assume we understand everything about other animals and ourselves, if dumb down by a simple equation or test. Just look at the current food industry… (that might be another rant, however)

Also, IQ tests are also biased for particular lines of tinking, and are biased by the speed of the test-taker (similar to the Wonderlic, but not as severe).

Personally, I have issues with reading fast (think I’m somewhat an undiagnosed Dyslexic) and I sometimes read word that does not exist (usually its a similar sounding word). I also over-analyze questions greatly. Although I never took an IQ test, I can imagine I would do poorly due to my very slow test-taking skills, and doing poorly in multiple-choice tests.

However, I do not consider myself ‘stupid’. I hate to sound like a jerk about it, but I’ve always been considered the ‘more intelligent/insightful’ of my peers. Not to say I’m brilliant, but I’m far from a dummy just because I suck at taking tests.

I think also my bad test-taking skills comes from a poor educational background. I received only a handful of exams in High School, and never really learned how to take tests properly. That might also attribute to my overanalysis of questions in tests…

I went on a large tangent. My point is that there’s a lot of factors that go into intelligence that a simple test cannot determine. Intelligence in itself has debatable meanings.

Like your Research Associate position, many jobs now mandate testing and degress for jobs that do not require them. However, that has little to do with needing a better applicant, but rather finding ways to filter through the hundreds of identical-looking applicants with college degrees…and also shows the lack of real economic improvement since the 2007 collapse…