Is a university degree needed for a career now?
Every third university graduate cannot find a job, despite having a diploma. At the same time, the number of budget places in educational institutions is increasing. Experts have found out what is now necessary for higher education success.
Contents of the article:
No guarantees, no preferences
Not as many people in Russia have a university degree as is commonly believed. Perhaps the myth of universal higher education does not stand up to the test of numbers. According to the 2010 census, only 23% of the country’s population had one.
Since then, the number of educated Russians has increased slightly. A recent survey by the Public Opinion Foundation showed that about 31% of citizens are in the university “crust”. However, this does not provide any guarantee for the long term.
Of all those who received diplomas, almost a third will not be able to find work for at least a year, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said last September. And among those who managed to find a job, almost half of the vacancies were not in their specialty. When you don’t have time to study at the university or your experience in a given profession is more extensive than the source material that is mastered in lectures, you can buy a university diploma
however, the number of budget places in universities will increase. This year, more than 11, 000 additional places have been allocated in higher education institutions. In total, more than half a million students went to study in the fall. The problem, however, is that employers do not pay attention to diplomas and do not expect more from applicants than a good university “crust”.
The world’s largest employers, where graduates dream of working, stopped requiring diplomas several years ago. Such employers include Google, Apple, IT giant IBM, Bank of America, Hilton and Starbucks. In addition, we are talking about employment, including for key positions.
In Russia this trend is also obvious. “Even the most prestigious honors universities do not favor me or many other interviewing employers.” Sergei Khmeshin, rector of the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy, states. Today, knowledge is devalued due to accessibility; on the contrary, skills are valued even more.
The graduates themselves do not understand this very well. And even in those sectors where the labor market is clearly overcrowded. “For young professionals without practical experience, but with a law degree on their resume, the starting salary is set at 50-70, 000 rubles – this is the salary of a qualified practicing lawyer with five years of experience, the founder of the Urvista law firm. “They counted too many lawyers with a diploma, thinking that after university this position with a higher salary would be waiting for them.”
The expectations of the current generation of graduates are very high, as confirmed by the founder and CEO of the online university Skillbox Dmitry Krutov. But in reality, after graduation, they find themselves in a market where no one wants them,” he notes.
When profile matters
However, this is not to say that no one else needs a higher education. It’s too early to talk about this yet. The need for a diploma largely depends on what industry the graduate works in and what position he or she is looking forward to. Doctors, architects, engineers, and lawyers have not yet learned to cook outside of university.
Having a professional higher education is still important for 29% of employers, a recent survey by international recruitment agency Hays found. In total, more than 5, 000 people, both employers and industry specialists, took part in it. “39% of employers said that higher education is important in some cases for obtaining very narrow qualifications. Another 22% of employers believe that higher professional education is not necessary, and that the candidate’s experience, abilities and skills are more important,” says Natalya Makhmutkina, senior consultant at Hays.
The majority of employers surveyed by experts admitted that they are not ready to completely forget about diplomas. For example, in some positions in the company, we look not only at the fact that a person has a higher education, but also at the correspondence between the diploma and the person’s field of activity,” says Oksana Smushenko, co-owner of the company. Trade and construction company “Gelster”. — Today, higher education in itself does not provide many opportunities and advantages in the competitive labor market. However, without this, you lose your perspective completely.
In the recruitment industry, higher education should also be “by default,” emphasizes Natalya Makhmutkina from Hays. At the same time, clients, especially in the medical or pharmaceutical industry, have strict requirements for a professional diploma. A Hays senior consultant claims that “even if a candidate has enormous knowledge and experience working in one of the top five Russian and international companies, he will not be ready for consideration due to a lack of professional education.”
Some companies and organizations not only do not accept candidates without a higher education diploma, but also severely limit the list of universities ready to accept specialists. “There are employers who have a list of some of the top universities that are considering graduates. For example, to get an internship and get a job at the Ministry of Finance, you need a specialized university with high academic performance and a long history,” says Alexander Tsyganov, head of the Department of Insurance and Social Economics at the Financial University. Under the Russian government. According to him, today’s graduates can get interesting jobs without having a diploma from a prestigious university. “But these are exceptions to the rule, albeit quantitatively important,” he emphasizes.
Digital professions
The main exception is the IT industry. Here they are loyal to specialists without a diploma, for several reasons. On the one hand, there is a serious talent shortage in the IT sector. Employers do not have the opportunity to look for a new round of education. On the other hand, technology in this area is changing at lightning speed, as are the competencies required for a career. This means that even the knowledge of the best graduates with high scores becomes outdated within a few years of receiving their diploma.
IT also forms a major part of startups. And their creators, as a rule, are heterogeneous in form and have a very flexible approach to personnel selection. The diploma itself does not provide experience. For example, someone who is trying to create a project, business or internship will be more interesting than someone who brought an excellent diploma,” says Evgenia Dmitrieva, IT Startup developer. She is responsible for the project office of the Elbrus club, which unites the winners of the Leaders of Russia competition. She emphasizes that in business, especially in small and medium-sized businesses, a lot depends on motivation and teamwork, and “a degree can’t cover that.”
“In the IT industry at the current peak of popularity, diplomas no longer play a role,” says Alexander Alpern, founder and CEO of Webinar Group. According to the expert, his company does not look at age or education when hiring; skills, experience and internal motivation are more important for it.
The same approach is declared in the company’s “Infomaximum”. As in many other IT structures, candidate assessment begins with a test task. How it was completed, how much was decided, whether it was done on time, what technology and approach were used. Then the employer asks about past experience working on projects – especially yesterday’s students and even young professionals often have a developed portfolio. “And if we are satisfied with everything, the matter may not come to a discussion of diplomas and accessibility of education,” says Alexander Bochkin, CEO of Informasym.
Today, not everyone needs higher education, and this is noticeable in digital professions, and not only in Isnik, explains Dmitry Krutov from Skillbox. “Among them, the proportion of self-taught programmers or DPO courses exceeds the number of professionally educated specialists,” he emphasizes. “The same goes for positions in design, marketing or management.” This shift is quite logical, since even employers do not quite understand which universities should produce targeted logisticians, smammen, account managers or account directors.
The willingness of employers to hire applicants in the digital sector without education is confirmed by statistics from educational websites. After receiving their diplomas, graduates find jobs faster than yesterday’s students.
To do this, Alexey Dolinsky, founder of Course Salitics Service, gives the example of the American company General Assembly, which trains programmers, designers, product managers and many other specialists in short-term programs in just a few months. More than 90% of graduates are working in their new professional field within six months of completing the program.” In Russia the picture is very similar,” says Dolinsky.
Ticket to a career
You can graduate from school after short courses, although they may be challenging, they are still not enough for professional development and career.
Today, software development is simply assembling construction kits at speed, says Zurab Bely, head of the Java practice at Reksoft. In his opinion, a university diploma for such a “machine” is not really needed. However, experts emphasize that promising areas need engineers and scientists, not machine guns. And it’s already difficult here without the basic knowledge that universities provide.
Among the IT developers there are many professionals who graduated from university and improved their qualifications, admits Svetlana Beloded, head of the QBF HR department, responsible for QBF personnel. “However, even in the IT industry, career advancement for employees without higher education is limited. They are unlikely to be able to occupy key positions,” she warns.
According to HR experts, the same applies to many other digital professions. When web designers, photographers and social media managers say that they don’t need a higher education, this is partly true, Natalya Makhmutkina is convinced. According to her, we are talking more about freelancers and freelancers. For them, experience, successful projects and the presence of famous clients are really important. Senior consultant Hayes emphasizes: “But if professionals are talking about building a career and working for a company they want to promote, having a college degree is desirable.”
Today, many employers take into account the amount of knowledge gained at university, as well as markers of general development and learning ability. For example, EAPTEC pays increased salaries for pharmacists with honors diplomas. “In other positions, a higher education diploma is a serious plus. Mainly because it makes the employee capable of learning and career growth,” says Anton Buzdalin, CEO. Teams working in the field of revolutionary technologies recruit people who graduated from the university with honors or with “the highest rating.” This, according to Buzdali, ensures that the candidate remains focused on the task for a long time and does not give up.
The lack of higher education makes them generally cautious outside the digital industry. The lack of higher education is still not a reason to reject candidates, says Svetlana Zhukova, a business owner in the Kirov region and an ambassador for regional support for entrepreneurs. But at the same time, I am wary of people who tend to ignore education. In any profession you need to constantly develop, so those who are not ready to learn are likely to become mediocre workers,” notes the entrepreneur.
Anton Melnikov, head of the CCT group, has a similar approach. He admits that he still sees the presence of degrees, but specific universities and specialties are no longer as important. The development is palpable. Depending on the method of communication, aspirations and internal content. And the contrast with those who do not have a higher education is enormous.”
There are benefits from university training even in those industries where it is not considered necessary. According to Ekaterina Cherkesova-Zade, director of Creative Industries Universal University, higher education helps “set your head up” and develops skills in critical thinking, research and information analysis. Without this, even if very applied, it would be difficult to master a creative specialty,” she concludes.
