Originally Posted by QBeth
Wow, have things changed since I graduated (too many years ago)! You'd think they'd have enough self respect to dress properly and present a good image. My company announced recently that only college graduates need apply. A bad policy, in my opinion. Many talented people out there that have "native" intelligence who learn quickly on the job. Makes me wonder why high school students think they can drop out and still survive in today's world! :-(
I totally agree with you. I am a college graduate with a masters degree, but I learned early on that the piece of paper doesn't mean much in many cases. I have worked with someone who was so incompetent at basic math that we called the university to verify that she really did have the engineering degree she claimed to have - unbelievably, she did! I have also worked at a company where two of the top engineers didn't have any degree.
I have been turned down for jobs because I didn't have a PhD, even though I had been doing the exact same type of work the job called for for several years. In one case, the company concerned had asked for a personal recommendation from one of the leading authorities in the field, who had immediately suggested me since he was very familiar with my work, and even that wasn't good enough to get me an interview - go figure.