Sunday, May 6, 2012
Experience vs Credentials
Last week I added a task to my "to-do" list which I know I will procrastinate on and put off until as late as possible, and which gives me tummy butterflies whenever I think about it. I have to write a job application for the job I've been acting in for 2 years. It's been vacant for a while but due to other deadlines and projects, it's only now that a bit of room has been found in the schedule to fit in the recruitment process for the job. So this is make or break time for me. I'll either get to continue permanently in a job which I have considered to be "mine" for some time now, or I'll get pushed out by some outside superstar and be sent back to my "regular" position. I won't even try at this point to imagine how I would deal with that scenario if it really happened.
People keep telling me "Oh don't worry, you'll get it for sure", "I wouldn't worry if I was you", "They'd be crazy if they didn't give you the job!"...... And I know I have great experience in the job, have a successful track record in it, and have a really good chance of landing myself in it permanently, yet on the other side of the coin, I'm achingly worried that I won't get it. I've been in this situation before, and that time, there was a small parcel of worry at the back of my mind but for the most part I was confident that I had the job in the bag. And I did. But this time feels different.
I'm at a higher level then what I was that last time, and also, this job actually sits on my desired career path and is exactly where I need to be right now (let me emphasise the "right now" bit, as I do have the tendency to change my mind about "what I should be when I grow up" every now and then). But that's not the only reason that the stakes feel higher.
This job sits at a level where there could potentially be lots of people applying who have various degrees of some sort or another. Guess what my degree is in? Oh that's right....I don't have one. Gawd, I feel almost alien typing that. Who in this day and age doesn't have a degree after all?
Don't get me wrong, I wish I did have one. It's just that I've never fully settled on just the one ultimate career for me, making that kind of commitment and condemning myself to years of study/financial burden scares me. And let's face it, there are too many fabulous choices to pick just one. Therefore, I've never stuck with the idea of any of them for long enough to actually consider carrying out study related to it. I do have a diploma which has relevance to the job I'm doing and need to apply for, but what weight does a diploma really carry?
So I may be the applicant with all the experience in the position and in the organisation, but I'm the one without the framed piece of paper with the seal on it to back it up. Sometimes I think I should just choose to study something quite broad that can translate in to anything, like "management" or something like that, just so I have some kind of credential next to my name. It's not a bad idea actually, but I know that signing up for uni is not something to be taken lightly, especially when you have a family, a mortgage and childcare payments to be thinking about.
It really gets me down at times. People are surprised when they ask me what my degree is in, and I tell them I don't have one. They give me a stunned look, and I feel I need to explain how I got to where I am without one. Not that I'm sitting amongst the lofty heights of the executives or anything like that. I certainly never will be if I don't study to get there! But seriously, it does make me feel.....inferior at times. Like I'm a faker, or someone who just lucked out in managing to be where they are. Like I'm not intelligent or informed enough, regardless of the breadth of experience that I have.
Is that really sad? Am I really sad?
When it comes to experience vs credentials, what do you think is more important? And I'm not talking about a technical or specialised field here, more administrative and customer-service based. And please don't suggest the possibility of someone who has BOTH experience and credentials. I may just have to put my hands over my ears, close my eyes and sing "la la la la la" at the top of my voice until it's all over.
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Oh gosh Janelle. I know exactly what you're going through. I was in that position when I was with the State Govt many times. I was acting in a position for about 2 years before I went on maternity leave. They managed to recruit the position just before I left and gave it to someone else. I had no intention of going back but that wasn't the point. I could've got my maternity leave at a higher rate and who knows? Maybe I might've gone back? As an older, more mature person now, I don't think you can get more life experience than just working but I'll always regret not doing Human Movements at Uni when I left high school. I'd love to have the hindsight of "Sliding Doors" just to see how my life would've panned out. But I hope to have a 'career' in the health/fitness/sports industry in some capacity by the end of the year. Not necessarily a degree but something I want to do. I don't think you'll have any worries. I'll happily proof read your application for dotted i's and crossed t's. Good luck. You'll be right.
ReplyDeleteAnne xx
That mustn't have been a nice feeling at all Anne. Did they know already that you were going on maternity leave before the process started?
DeleteYour comment made me think of it in another way too - if I just picked the thing I liked best at the time to study straight after I left school, for the sake of going to uni, I have no doubt I would have changed my mind ten times since then by now. By gathering all this work and life experience first, I know myself now a lot better than I did when I was 18, I know what I like and what I don't, and what I'm passionate about. Surely I am more "qualified" at this age to make choices about my future, and take it seriously, then I was then?
Oooo, what are you thinking of doing in the industry? I hope to hear more!
You are such a sweetheart for offering to look over my application. Hmm, might not be a bad idea to have some objective feedback. I may just take you up on that!
If you are intelligent and capable enough to get to where you want to without a degree, then you deserve it.
ReplyDeleteI admire your positivity ("there are too many fabulous choices to pick just one."). I also change my mind about what I want to do, but overall I keep thinking that there isn't really anything that appeals to me!
There are people who have a degree and either are useless in practice, don't have people skills or make you wonder how they ever got through university (due to their general lack of intelligence). We have a graduate in our area who has a law degree (supposedly) and I am constantly racking my brain as to how she got through university with average marks and yet cannot do simple legal research tasks. She also writes terribly, cannot structure an argument and does not take any initiative. Moral of the story? We would much prefer someone who doesn't have a degree but is a fast learner and takes initiative.
People value hard work, your attitude, how capable you are and how you interact with others and work in a team. Once you have demonstrated this to your selectors, having a degree is neither here nor there in my opinion. The difficulty would be applying for a position at a new organisation, where they may be more likely to dismiss your application on that basis. That would be their loss though, because if you have good references and can demonstrate the level at which you complete tasks... that's what should count!
Thanks Lisa. Your comment makes me feel TONS better. And I think really, when I look past all the doubt that my anxiety conjures up, I know that what you're saying is true. But sometimes you just need someone else to structure it and hand feed it to you before you can believe it!
DeleteI've certainly known a few of the people like the one you're talking about.
Hey Janelle, I totally get what you're saying, but I'm on the other end. I'm half way through a PhD and when I say that people instantly put their hands over their ears and sing 'la la la la la'! I often feel shut out because I'm doing a doctorate and people think I'm not accessible or too 'academic' That's really difficult. I don't apply for academic positions, I love researching so I often work as a private consultant but I still get that sort of a response.
ReplyDeleteWith the experience vs credentials question, I think common sense helps (I'm lacking in this area) and personality are so much more important then credentials. I've worked with some people who have no degree at all, and no experience in the area but their willingness to learn and their general pleasantness was refreshing. I'm trying to be more like that!
Hi Vanisha,
DeleteI never thought about it from the opposite angle, but I can see what you're saying.
Thank you for your thoughts, I've appreciated the comments here. They've made me feel a lot more confident about the whole thing, particularly important as I've just submitted my application for my job today!