When to leave grad school off your resume (2012)
blog.penelopetrunk.com
blog.penelopetrunk.com
More reasonably, nobody has the right to dictate to you how to spend your time, once you are an adult. If you want to study a subject in depth (and contrary to the author's assertion, there are some things that are virtually impossible to learn on your own) you have every right to do so. If an employer doesn't respect your education you almost certainly don't want to work with them.
The liberal arts have always been a privilege of those who don't have to worry about where their food comes from or how they'll pay off a huge debt. I'm one of those privileged few, and it's endlessly enriching to have studied and understand various humanities and "impractical" fields of study, but I'm fully aware how lucky I am.
> nobody has the right to dictate to you how to spend your time
That's true, but they have the right to decide how they perceive you and whether they want to pay you.
> If an employer doesn't respect your education you almost certainly don't want to work with them.
That may be true, but (as I said above) most people can't make decisions this way. They're lucky to be covering their expenses with each paycheck, and they can't afford to be choosy about employers.
In some cases, their field is small enough or their resume is weak enough that they're desperate for any job at all. The employer has the power in most industries.
That is a lot of proven work, ability, and expertise that very few other people on the planet have in your specific area.
Also: I'm wholly of the opinion that people who have strong backgrounds in multiple subjects are deeper and more creative thinkers. (And just generally more interesting to have around.)
> Grad school on your resume is a formal announcement of a mistake.
Studying something is a mistake if you don't dedicate the rest of your life to it, really?
> She lives on a farm in Wisconsin and homeschools her sons
This tells you everything you need to know about the author.
More power to her, her professional success has allowed her to pursue her passion. I think the lesson then is that to pursue your passion you first need to earn it.
> Grad school on your resume is a formal announcement of a mistake [if not working in the field]
Success is working forward, and not worrying about or admitting to mistakes
This doesn't make any sense because after writing a dissertation, you have by definition learned something that no one else knew, therefore, no one could have taught it to you. How does that make you a poor self learner?
Need career advice? By all means, ask a person with no experience in your field!
Sure, don't emphasize irrelevant stuff but, in general, this seems like pretty silly advice.
Edit: looking at another post, http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2011/08/29/voices-of-the-defen..., it's obvious that she is only considering humanities degrees and ignoring STEM fields.
Certain parts of the recruitment and interviewing process are effectively black boxes. You can guess at things that HR/hiring managers want - experience and achievements related to the role they're looking to fill, relevant qualifications - and there are some cultural things, (you wouldn't put a picture of yourself on a CV in this country for instance,) but beyond that it's a very muddy game. There's limited advice on that front - though my personal take is that it would be a great shame not to be hired because you've not given the best account of yourself. Or, perhaps worse, to be hired because you've given someone the wrong impression of yourself (assuming you're not desperate for the money of course) and end up in a role that's going to make you miserable.
Culture plays a huge part on the perceived value of degrees. On my case I did not do a degree to learn things but mainly to have the right stamp at the right place. You can be sure people will have a look at this part of the CV even with 10 years of experience in the field. This article looks a bit too american-centric.