What Do Employers Think of Your Degree?

— Susan Aaron, The Learning Coach

One of the most-frequently asked questions on the Learning Q&A message board is, "Which form of education should I pursue?" Faced with many choices -- universities, skill-building schools, certificates, online degrees, weekend programs and a host of other options -- prospective students are often overwhelmed. But one thing is clear: Most people want their education to lead to a job, so students are always concerned with how potential employers will view their educational credentials.

To answer that question, Dr. Alan Tuchtenhagen, director of admissions for the University of Wisconsin at River Falls, began a research project into employers' perceptions of educational attainment as part of a doctoral program at Hamline University in St. Paul.

River Falls is less than 30 miles from Minneapolis and St. Paul. During the boom of the late '90s, employers in the region were desperate for qualified employees. "Unemployment in the Twin Cities in 2000 was less than 2.2 percent; for college graduates, it was even lower," Tuchtenhagen says. Businesses were impatient with area colleges and started looking at for-profit educational outlets to train people faster. Large companies were on the brink of taking high school grads and training them in-house.

To learn more about employer needs, Tuchtenhagen partnered with the Twin Cities Human Resource Association and developed a questionnaire about preferences in educational attainment to be answered by local human resource staffers, the people who first screen potential employees.

The Findings

First, he found that HR personnel "still value a college degree for professional positions." Respondents said candidates with college degrees are valued for having knowledge of their field, the ability to be trained and having attained a mark of achievement.

Next, Tuchtenhagen asked, "Does it matter if the institution granting the degree is nonprofit or for-profit?" Many prospective students wrestle with choosing between a broad, conventional education and a more career-focused option. Nonprofit colleges and universities, with missions usually focused on providing a well-rounded education, are considered the most traditional route. For-profit colleges, which are generally more focused on career-development skills and feature shorter time commitments from students, are considered the less traditional option. The answer? "They don't care," says Tuchtenhagen. "Ninety percent [of respondents] had no preference."

Online Learning

Another surprising finding concerned Internet degrees. Tuchtenhagen asked, "Does it matter if the employee's degree was obtained through a program offered totally over the Internet?" According to Tuchtenhagen, "Twenty-nine percent said, 'Not OK.' That struck me as a big number. Only 14 percent said it was OK, but 57 percent said they didn't care. I thought, for March of 2001, when this survey was taken, that was pretty significant."

On one hand, the "Not OK" response is higher than for traditional degrees. However, Tuchtenhagen found younger HR workers were more accepting than older ones. Keeping in mind the survey was done in 2001, he believes acceptability for this type of degree will continue to grow.

Learning Rankings

When asked to rank traditional, for-profit, corporate (in-house) and nontraditional degree formats, such as Internet, evening and weekend degree programs, on a scale of one to five, Tuchtenhagen found:

• Traditional degrees received the highest marks (4.35).
• For-profit degrees came in second (3.53).
• Nontraditional formats, such as online, ranked third (3.3).
• Corporate degrees received the lowest marks (3.03).

Tuchtenhagen says these findings are revealing, because all forms of education earned marks of 3 or higher, thus earning a passing grade.

As with all research, the scope of this study is limited. If you apply Tuchtenhagen's findings to your own decision making, remember that human resource personnel, the survey takers in this research, do not control the entire hiring process. In addition, the research was conducted during a boom hiring period. The perceived size of the applicant pool -- smaller when the survey was conducted, but larger in tougher economic times -- may affect hiring preferences.

And of course, this survey concentrated on the Twin Cities area and may not be representative of the entire country. Still, Tuchtenhagen's research provides insights into making educational decisions.

Related Links

• Hamline University
• University of Wisconsin - River Falls

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