I recently met with an agency recruiter and after 30 minutes of completing all the hard copy paperwork I was brought in to a semi private room. The first question that was fired at me:
“What is your degree in?”
In a millisecond I went from my usually friendly, relaxed self to acting like a feral cat. I became guarded, bit defensive, and ready to attack. I know it was reflected in my tone, body language and response to this question, and really every subsequent question.
Why? What set off this reaction? I will admit my major (music) is generally not perceived as relevant to what I do (remind me to tell you in another post how it really is relevant). I’m not ashamed of my major though and I’ve encountered this question in many interviews I’ve gone on over the years, so what made this time different?
My best answer is two things 1) I wasn’t being asked in a genuine ‘I want to get to know more about you way’ 2) it felt as though I would be judged by my answer and it was going to reflect negatively on my chances of being recommended to employers by this agency. I was now defending my life and my choices. They didn’t care about my personality or my nearly 20 years of experience in my industry. The approach was truly antiquated considering the next questions were about why each and every position I had ended.
So the real question is, in this current job market is this question even still relevant? Even if I had majored in Human Resources it would be 20 years old and given how quickly things change in this industry it would be as irrelevant as my actual major. Personally, I believe that what a person is currently doing, in the present, to keep their knowledge up to date in their field should be weighted more heavily and almost exclusively. This is not a question I was asked.
I had such a visceral reaction to this question because it showed such limited, inside the box, ‘this is how we’ve always done it thinking.’ The job market has changed and continues to change apparently at a faster pace than most companies are choosing to keep up with. Ultimately they will suffer and be left behind in the wake of companies that are willing to change. This is not an agency that I want representing me and I will most likely never hear back from them anyway.
There is a great article on the SHRM website that addresses this exact situation and how forward thinking companies are adapting their mindset in the new job market When Degree Requirements Don’t Matter
In a candidate driven market at a time with such low unemployment rates it’s time to be open to alternate possibilities and get creative with your candidate requirement