| But suppose we gave HR some other shortcut besides a college degree. Something that still attested to a similar level of work ethic and minimal qualification in a field. If we just set the "college is important for well-rounded life experience blah blah" party to the side for a second and consider it strictly as a job-prep factory (because why else would an average schmuck spend that much on something if not for a good ROI), apprenticeships seem like an obvious better pattern for everyone. 1. They run for a similar length - multiple years 2. They attest to work ethic in the same way college degrees do 3. They're actually productive, unlike (most) undergrad programs 4. They train actual job skills and provide actual job experience, unlike (most) undergrad programs 5. And on top of it all, apprentices still get new life experiences, but probably more productive ones than Greek Life. To me, it seems companies providing apprenticeship programs as a replacement for an undergrad program should lead to a better-equipped workforce and provide HR with better signal to filter by. Never mind that a successful apprenticeship could lead straight into a longer-term job offer in many cases, making things easier both for new worker bees and for HR. |