As long back as we can remember, we have always debated whether education is more important or experience to get a job. The answer isn’t in the favor of one but a combination of factors. An even more concerning question is: will past work experience help you get your foot in the door or a higher degree will get your foot in the door. Will innovating education help to end the debate? Further, beyond obtaining a job, will your experience or education serve you better in staying employed, growing in your career, and help you make a good living for decades to come.
Let’s dissect the arguments of the debate.
Work Experience vs. Education
The answer isn’t in the favor of one but a combination of factors. The major conclusions from the debate between education and work experience go as follows.
1. A higher education degree only proves that you can succeed in academia. Real-world job differs highly from academics. Success in real work gives employers a more specific judgment of the candidate’s offerings. In this regard, innovating education seems an appropriate option to impart the skills required to make graduates job-ready.
2. Work experience gives you a specialized set of skills and makes you an ideal match for a particular job. Higher education, on the other hand, gives you skills that are imperative for advancement tomorrow.
3. A higher education degree shows that you have the specialized knowledge and skills that employers are looking for and can be transferred to the workplace with minimal on-the-job training.
Value of work experience
A degree is highly valuable for new graduates, as it serves as evidence for employers that the candidate possesses the necessary skills required for an entry-level job in their respective field. Employers view graduates with a degree as prospective employees who can get up to speed, require zero-to-little training on the job, and may require employers both time and money.
Work experience while pursuing a degree helps too. Whether the experience came in the form of an internship or a part-time job to pay the bills.
Any work experience you’ve acquired along the way can help, too, whether it came in the form of an internship in your field or simply a job to pay the bills. According to research, such experience helps students acquire employer preferred skills like teamwork and time management and helps them see firsthand the practical value of the skills acquired in the classroom by applying it in real life.
Further, if a degree was obtained 15 – 20 years ago, the degree is almost irrelevant now. This is especially true for fields that require specific technical skills, which keep advancing. Even after good amount of experience, you will need to show potential employers that you have been constantly learning and keeping up with the industry standards. Further, professional certification helps as well, indicating continuous progress and skill development.
Value of education
The 2018 Bureau of Labor Statistics suggests that the more you learn, the more you can earn. Among workers, aging 25 and above, with a doctoral or professional degree had the highest weekly earnings. Master’s degree holders closely followed the latter with weekly earnings reaching $1,497. Doctoral and professional degree holders earned $1,883 and $1,861 respectively.
Bachelor’s degree holders earned $1,248 weekly, associate’s degree holders earned $887 weekly, and high school diploma holders earned $592 weekly.
The more you learn, the chances of unemployment become lower. In May 2020, BLS data shows the unemployment rate among doctoral or professional degree holders was under 2%, while among bachelor’s degree holders the unemployment rate was over 2%. The unemployment rate among high school diploma holders exceeded 5%.
In brief, having a degree on a resume gives candidates an edge while hiring.
Conclusion
As evident from the above data, the benefits of higher education are undisputable. Work experience, on the other hand, is necessary to keep progressing and advancing in respective fields. Innovating education to bring academic programs up to real work will also help.
