Equivalencies!

You, Me and Degree.

Degree or no degree, that is the question. Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of education-less job seeking, or to take arms against those that think you need it. My main man, Bill Shakespeare. He was always thinking hard about what he was gonna put on the ole curriculum vitae. It’s true. Really. Ask Richard Dawkins, he’s seen the historical texts that prove as much.

Equivalency considerations for Hiring Managers and their organizations are tough things. There are multiple angles on this topic - compensatory considerations, business rationales for exceptions, X number of years needed to offset, etc. etc.

Personally I think postsecondary education needs to be valued in professional workplaces. Equivalency considerations can be slippery slopes, and before you know it, you’ve thrown out the diploma with the bathwater and near anyone can technically qualify for your job posting.

Now, I can also hold two opposing views in my head at the same time. It’s clear, especially in recent years, that in Canada we’ve overvalued university education to an extreme that’s hard to reconcile. The labour force is oversaturated with Bachelor Degrees going nowhere, when our otherwise smart and capable graduates could be exiting carpentry school with their ticket in hand. One example but, you get my point.

Pretty rich comin’ from a guy that works a desk job. 100%.

…. yet still, valid (I think).

“Why aren't you more flexible on the X-year cutoff?” makes a whole lot more sense when you see it in action - you hire someone who has 7-years experience for a 10-year experience stipulation, you'll see compensation compression faster than you'll see a tariff-pressured nation drop the elbows.

So once again, we're talking math. Not math-math (see Bonuses!) but indeed the calculations needed to assess just how big of a qualifications concession you're willing to make to bring in your perceived top talent for a job.

How your organization accounts for these calculations is unique to what it is you know you really need. If someone's managed Asset Managers for 20-years but went to school for…. Grade 12? Really?!… Yeah, I'd say they could be an investment management professional because THEY ARE. They meet in equibawancy, to quote Elmer Fudd. Y’cannot deny robust experience when education-less origins are firmly in a rearview.

So flexibility, nuance, and willingness to work around undeniable earned vs. learned credentials is key.

But Honey I Shrunk The Expectations is not a sequel Rick Moranis would endorse here, either.

-Matt