Why An Education Still Matters In The Workplace

The other day I was driving in my car listening to the radio when the news came on. What caught my attention was a piece on how job seekers with degrees are struggling to get a job. That their education no longer has value or weight in being considered for a role, and experience seems to be more prevalent.

Entry-level work is no longer entry-level. Today, even your basic roles require you to have two to three years experience behind you. So this begs the question, how is one to even get this experience if theory based work plays no part to getting some practical hands-on work?

The answer, apparently, is working for free. Getting an internship is the new entry-level. Now, I have always said that nothing is for free – even if you are working and not getting paid, you are still getting something. Experience. However, doing something for free for a year or more on a full time basis is, in my opinion, exploitation.

Working for free whilst you study, doing a few hours a week, is a great way to combine your practical and theoretical in one. You are taking massive strides forward in your career and will be ahead of the competition. But, not studying at all (even if it is a short course), and simply working for someone with no other gains other than basic knowledge, and let’s be honest, most likely very little mentorship, is not going to help society as a whole. We need to consider the bigger picture, the bigger impact this will have in our community.

How can interns gain the necessary experience to land an entry-level job? Nowadays, most of us need to spend years at university to gain a strong understanding of a trade before entering the workforce. However, internships often involve mundane tasks such as photocopying, making coffee and conducting background research. While they are a foot in the door, they do not provide sufficient experience for todays so called entry-level positions that require three years of prior experience. This lack of true experience could be a significant barrier for interns who want to progress in their careers. Which means, they will most likely have to stay in the same company and hope for a proper offer. Furthermore, with the current economic situation, not paying a wage may lead to a mass depression and low socioeconomic state, making it even harder for individuals to thrive in their roles, not just due to a lack of knowledge.

My biggest concern is that if this trend continues, we will start to see a crumble of industries, and it will be a battle to eventually find and source people who are actually qualified to perform their duties.

It will also become evident that individuals who aspire to switch to another industry and pursue a career change will encounter significant difficulties. In most cases today, the only hurdle that they face is a lack of knowledge about the new industry, which can be easily addressed by taking a short course while utilising their transferable skills to make progress. However, in the future, this gap may no longer be bridged. If they don’t possess at least three years of industry experience, they may have to revert to an internship level, which may not be economically feasible for most people at that point. This will results in individuals staying in their trade and continue to cause mental health issues in our society, as well as impact the new generation entering and trying to learn from these individuals.

I value education and real life work experience. The combination is a power house. Why let the house fall by only giving away half of the real knowledge? So to sum my points up – education is vital, by bypassing it and trying to learn everything on the job is ok for some industries, but not for all. By making individuals work for free for an extended time, then paying them a low income for an entry-level role is exploitation. Especially during such a difficult economical period as we face today. Not having a streamlined source to learn the basics, will result in a disconnect of information sharing, more significantly to those who job hop.

University and TAFE is also a great measure on someone’s grit, determination and ability to learn new information. It also allows individuals to form project work skills, research skills, working towards tight deadlines and competing priorities, team work and understanding the consequences of not performing. All great skills to form before entering the “real world”. It also allows one to have a taste of the work and decide if they want to continue or switch courses early on.

My Career Angels…become who you want to be.