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Comment by timr | Hacker News Reader

Even if not all college degrees are worthwhile, it doesn't mean that companies are wrong to want college degrees.

In fact, it's probably true that the highest-paid, highest-skill jobs have the most genuine need for college degrees. And for the rest, virtue signaling is a real thing: if you have more applicants than jobs, you set up high filters to winnow the pool.

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You seem to be suggesting that the simple addition of a degree requirement is good because it narrows the search field. By this same argument, I could say I will only accept candidates that are left handed.

"By this same argument, I could say I will only accept candidates that are left handed."

If you find that filtering for people who are left-handed improves the average quality of your candidates, then yes.

But of course, a college degree is not even remotely as arbitrary as you're suggesting.

The assumption is that holding a degree is a proxy for IQ, or work ethic, or some other positive trait. Left-handedness doesn't signal much of anything, beyond perhaps a slightly shorter life expectancy.

Does a candidate being left-handed add a significant amount of confidence that he/she is a good candidate?

You should blindly throw away half of all resumes. Why? Because you don't want to hire someone with bad luck.

Depending on the job, it might be "good" luck...

Winnow the pool to rich people who can afford college that is.

Or perhaps less cynically, winnowing the pool to the group of people who have the personalities and temperaments necessary to complete a college degree. It doesn't have to be a perfect filter; false negatives don't matter so much if your filter leads to enrichment.

I'm not saying it's "fair", I'm just saying there are rational reasons to do it.

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