Why You Should Get a BA Degree If You Don't Already Have One

A BA degree with advance your career

As a recruiter, I'm always a little disappointed when I read blog posts that bash a BA degree. Some say that a college degree is "just a piece of paper" and a "waste of time." After 15 years of being a headhunter, I have learned one infallible truth: the people that condemn a BA degree are always the ones without one. 

In fact, in a recent LinkedIn survey, I posed the question to the world: Is a BA degree a waste of time? 99% of voters said no. It will come as no surprise that the 1% of those who voted yes did not have a BA degree. I confirmed this by going to their profiles (the people who create questionnaires on LinkedIn can see the people who voted in their Control Panel). 

Essentially, the BA degree naysayers are trying to convince themselves, and others, that the degree serves no purpose. But, in the end, they are only hurting themselves and they need some career advice.  

One thing that not many people know about me is that during the time I started my recruiting business in the mid 2000s, I also decided to go to university and get my BA degree -- and I was almost 40 years old. It was probably the hardest thing I have ever done. In the end, I had a "no excuses" attitude because there were a hundred "legitimate" excuses I had for quitting. I persevered and got it done; and now I can proudly add "BA" to my resume (I also have my master's degree now as well). 

Nowadays, a BA degree is a sort of "hunting license" because you need one just to apply for even some low-level jobs. With that said, I'm not sure why people would condemn a BA degree because they are so important for candidates in today's job search. 

The myth that they are unless is just that -- a myth. I personally challenge anyone without a BA degree to find someone with a degree who would actually say that the BA is "just a piece of paper" and it's "worthless." The notion that someone could spend 4 years taking college-level classes and learn absolutely nothing is absurd. It's an insult to people who wanted to better themselves and went through the pain of doing it. 

In this day and age, to procrastinate not getting a college degree is almost career suicide because the longer one waits, the harder it's going to be to go back to college -- and the more expensive. 

And one final thought: While is true there are a small handful of billionaires who quit college, the exception isn't the rule. They only make up .001% of the workforce. Unless you are the founder of a multi-national company and you're on the Forbes rich list, the rest of us will just have to play by the rules and get professionally educated. 

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