According to the picture, an employer turns down a job applicant, for his degree is less advanced than the other applicants, even though he has a good resume. Actually, what’s behind the cartoon is the tendency that employers focus on academic performance when hiring.
No one disputes that a college or higher degree opens doors. Despite that, as far as I’m concerned, academic degree should not be the primary criteria in selecting talents. First of all, academic degrees only represent the applicants’ proficiency in their school work, and cannot demonstrate their personality or other abilities. For instance, the responsibility of a human resources manager is to deal with people, and thus it requires advanced people skill which is by no means shown in the diploma. Second, emphasis on degrees may stall the development of the company. They will lose real talents if they judge people only by their educational background, while it is often the case that college drop-outs like Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Steve Jobs, etc., run wildly successful enterprises.
Therefore, instead of running after applicants with higher degrees, companies should become more concerned about what it takes to do the job and what a college education actually provides.