Experience gives education meaning In today’s world, where opportunities are as rare as the eclipse , it’s important to make career decisions that will lead you to success. With the rising cost of university education and the removal of the national bursary for many students, you certainly don’t need to waste a ton of money on education if it won’t pay off in your field. However, limited education is also not an option in many industries where a degree is the norm. It’s no secret that further studies open many doors but let’s face it, sitting down and learning something from a professor is not equivalent to someone that is already out in the field. For example, scholars of entrepreneurship and their professors who don’t even have a business running can’t measure up to an uneducated man who owns and runs a hotel, a mall and a bus transport company. He does follow-up on most of his accounting, his return on investment and critical market analysis and trends, while the student is learning about all this theoretically. Big institutions have learnt the trick. In the past, a person spent time studying for a degree, then a few months after graduation, they would go for a masters and two months after apply for a job and get it because they had all the necessary qualifications. In actual sense, these people have all the information needed to execute their career but they are slow; not as effective and make mistakes because no matter how smart they are, it’s the first time they are doing it.So these days,companies want a degree or masters and some years of experience which is really crucial. Take a look at more serious jobs like doctors and pilots. The experience and number of hours on the job means everything. If this is the measure of how good someone is in these fields that directly touch lives, why shouldn’t the same apply in other fields? Universities with limited entries these days would rather take students that have worked or started their own businesses than fresh graduates because someone with experience has a different way of thinking. The working environment isn’t just about knowledge, it’s about character and how to react to different situations. These simple things can get between you and your promotion or recommendation and those are things you will never find in your course units. I had a talk with a student last week about how he would have to study and graduate then work three years before he can apply for some jobs. I asked him why he wasn’t working while studying or what he does during his holidays. Even though this is unpaid, it helps build a credible CV that puts graduate steps ahead of his/her fellow graduates. Many ambitious young people think that lower-level jobs are an impediment to success because they’re time consuming and cause employers to stereotype you as someone with lower-level skills. But they actually show someone with a wide range of skills doing a number of things. University students should not be afraid to spend the holidays putting in a few hours of work, no matter how menial the job may seem. patrick.buchana@newtimes.co.rw Education is the icing on the cake The 21st Century workplace is quite a new place compared to that of the past. Today, skills are a huge bonus, but education is essential. It is majorly brain-power, not hand-power which now runs institutions and even nations. At the highest level, national economies are no longer fed directly by factories and grinding mills. At the lowest, hiring managers seek not just hands-on experienced employees, but those with deeper understanding to back that experience. Now, of course between two employees in pursuit of job X (one with experience, the other with credentials), the former entices the hirer more. But, this is only true because of the hirer’s natural inclination towards certainty. The experienced applicant seems to him more likely to deliver results at the moment. Not necessarily because either of the two applicants is better at the job. I mean, he cannot even begin to prove that. Besides seeking security in their decision, employers are constantly calculating rate of returns. Please excuse them; they don’t have much time for boring talk, unless those words are generating money (and these days, such is commonplace). That’s all very understandable. However, let’s bring our feet back down the ground. Practical experience alone makes for limited productivity. It is amazing when one is practically capable of doing the job, but it is extraordinary if they have intellectual, analytical know-how on top of it. Education is the icing on the cake. While theoretical knowledge can easily be dismissed as a vain show of expertise, it is a hub for future possibilities. We need not forget one simple fact: progress in the workplace is conceptualised, actualised and tracked by minds that have been intellectually challenged to do so. In as much as productivity is a byproduct of the physical efforts exerted, it is a conception of intellect. Education therefore cannot report to experience. Rather, the opposite is true. The ever-increasing need for critical as well as analytical thinking skills in the workplace is another reason to consider education over experience. Education systems are fundamentally designed for this. School is basically a series of levels of challenges set to test the depth at which students have grasped the learned material. Granted, on this note, the line does get thinner here between merely memorising material and actually grasping it, but like all others, it is a fallible system. Otherwise, educated people are more apt for the constructive criticism and analysis. The point is that academic credentials aren’t simply words on paper; they are attestations to the level of expertise their holder has gained overtime. All she needs is platform to put theory into practice. Ultimately, hiring an experienced person over an appropriately educated one simply boils down to employers’ preference, not employee incompetency. Unless otherwise, of course. natashamuhoza28@gmail.com
