I’ve come to realize that in this day and age, your qualifications don’t mean much, especially if you know people in all the right places. In fact, after working for several years in a “professional” environment, I’ve come to realize that job requirements are usually in place to keep people out of a job.

I’ve witnessed first hand how a government position is created and filled. I find it extremely inappropriate that the supervisor usually recommends certain job “requirements” be placed on that new position. Requirements that are specifically tailored to the person he/she already has the intent of hiring. This way, HR is practically baited into hiring that person. When its all said and done, I’m sure the supervisor’s new employee is just the right person for the job, why wouldn’t he be? I mean, he matched the criteria perfectly!

Sometimes, neither the employer or HR is to blame for hiring completely incompetent people. Some job prospectors find it easier to pad their resume full of “white lies” and throw in all the right buzz words in all the right places. A padded resume combined with an HR employee knowing nothing about the specifics of the work the new employee is being hired to do makes for some fine hirings!

There are other times where a prospector meets the job requirements perfectly without someone tailoring them before hand. A prospector fresh out of college holding his shiny new bachelor’s degree, rejoice! Surely, having a four year degree must mean something? Not always…

While I’m not one to discourage higher education, I for one do criticize our education system. The mere fact that someone holds a degree from any institution doesn’t necessarily prove that this person is actually worth their weight in salt in the work environment.

This brings me to my main point behind this rant…incompetence of a college graduate.
The company I work for is required by the Air Force to maintain two people at my location to maintain the systems. My coworker holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Management Information Systems, and has been at his job for over seven years. Seven years! More than a quarter of my time on this earth!

Two years ago, a young teenage guy fresh out of high school scores a great job as a DoD Contractor simply by running into the right people at the right time, and proving his vast knowledge of computer systems. Hired! This teenager was met with animosity and crude comments of his skills, experience, and competence by the seven year veteran of the company.

During these past two years, several upgrades, updates, and new systems have come online falling under our responsibility. Our college graduate isn’t keeping up with the changes and is merely a glorified seat warmer. Speaking with several former staff members of his time revealed that all he has ever been is a waste of space. People from other organizations, other companies, and other military bases have all heard of his grand incompetence and lack of understanding of the system hes worked with for seven years!

My biggest question is, how does such a waste of space get away with merely “existing” for seven years? Is a college degree merely an excuse to become lazy and ignorant, or is it a combination of a college degree + knowing the right people?

Technorati Tags: College Graduate, Hiring Standards, Incompetence, Resumes