“Personally, with everything I’ve done in my career, I can’t say that my degree helped me get here at all. I was a theater major.” —Pete Lawson, Inspire Talent
hired were self-taught. They had taught themselves how to code in their mom’s basement or wherever, but most recruiting companies wouldn’t give them a chance. I’ve seen Harvard graduates not pass that first assessment interview, and then others with no degrees who went on to get the jobs. The wrong way to build a recruitment strategy is to base it on degrees. That said, there are key schools teaching tech skills that are grooming the best talent, and we do consider those credentials.” Summer Jeffus says she has known many different business owners who never earned degrees. “Some of the most brilliant people I’ve ever worked with are the ones without degrees, and I look for that. They can be the best problem solvers and decision makers,” says the vice president of business development and marketing manager for California Statewide
Certified Development Corporation in Santa Rosa. The most successful businesspeople she knows are tradespeople such as plumbers and electricians, “and they don’t have all that overhead of paying back student loans.” She recalls what happened to a colleague many years ago who worked at a financial institution. When the company changed the education criteria for his position he was demoted because he didn’t have a degree. “When they later
Pete Lawson
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August 2024
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