Responding to emails, scheduling appointments, giving presentations and meeting sales quotas after meeting with your boss to discuss your goals. All of these are responsibilities of an entry-level sales representative, which requires a college degree.
According to the Cengage Group, 62% of employers require a college degree for entry-level jobs, and according to Harvard Business, unnecessarily high degree requirements can harm minority job applicants due to Black and Hispanic applicants being less likely to have a college degree.
The average cost of college in the United States is $38,270 per year, so if you can’t afford it, you are out of luck. 51.7% of Americans over 25 years old did not graduate college, and nearly seven million Americans are currently unemployed, and there needs to be a way to get people employed.
College should not be required for entry-level positions, inherently created for individuals with no higher education. With high unemployment rates, and a majority of companies demanding a degree, employers should accept otherwise qualified individuals without a degree to positions they are qualified for, which will help bring down the unemployment rates. Without the acceptance of otherwise qualified people, this brings unemployment to an even higher rate.
All of this is not to say that a degree shouldn’t be required for every job, but just for entry-level jobs. For example, a mechanical engineer posting should require a degree. Without a degree or experience as a mechanical engineer, this can lead to a lack of functioning generators, or even refrigerators. However, jobs made for people entering adulthood should not require jobs. One example of this would be for real estate. Some real estate positions require a degree. However, if they only require the certification to become a real estate agent, it would be much easier for future realtors to become employed.
Additionally, there are other ways for an employer to determine if an applicant is qualified, without a degree. An employer could determine if a candidate has had past work experience in other jobs, then an employer would know that they are qualified. Another way that an employer could determine whether or not a candidate is qualified for a job without a college education could be to assess their knowledge in a given field using an exam or hands-on learning.
Overall, I believe that people who are otherwise qualified, but didn’t go to college, should be able to get a job. If people are qualified enough to be knowledgeable in a field, they should be hired for jobs that act as stepping stones for future occupations. While people who didn’t go to college should not hold certain positions that require expertise, to combat unemployment, companies must start employing every type of qualified employee.