I don't really have a lot of time for people who go around labelling others as "conformists". It's a bit of a content-free slur that seems to be the end of a thought process that goes like this:
1. Not many people agree with my opinions
2. But my opinions are obviously correct to anyone who has thought about it!
3. Therefore, nobody else has thought about it -- they're all mindless conformists, brainwashed into serving the interests of [insert favourite boogeyman here].
From the article: "in the last three decades the percentage of jobs requiring at least some college has doubled".
About 10 years ago, an acquaintance and former teacher noted a trend of qualification inflation. For example, in the UK, you need qualifications in numeracy and literacy as a pre-requisite for refuse collection. The job itself doesn't require these skills, its just a really easy method to eliminate candidates. For other jobs, certification and qualifications provides butt covering for employers.
Where does trend go? You'll need a degree and five years of training to do any job from burger flipping upwards. I hope another trend makes this situation moot because it would be dystopian to live in a society with such over-specialism.
Now think about this. You have to choose between two candidates, equal in every way except that one has college. Who would you choose? That's what I thought.
I'm not going to argue with your logic (it's as good as any), but I wonder about using "poachability" as criteria in hiring. My goal would be to have an unpoachable workplace. No one (desirable) should ever leave except to start their own business.
They cannot be equal - unless the first is Q one of them has spent at least a year in college, so my answer would depend upon what the other has done in the mean time and for what kind of job I was trying to fill the position for.
1. Not many people agree with my opinions
2. But my opinions are obviously correct to anyone who has thought about it!
3. Therefore, nobody else has thought about it -- they're all mindless conformists, brainwashed into serving the interests of [insert favourite boogeyman here].