From “Walker” in the comments at the Slate Star Codex blog (“Scott Alexander”), which had been discussing the overemphasis on college degrees as a prerequisite for mid- to upper-level management jobs that some persons without degrees could perform very well:
I am a mid-level engineering manager for a very large aerospace company. Their rationale for requiring degrees is clear and I suspect it is shared by many companies. They prefer to hire all of the skilled employees as “exempt”, meaning not subject to fair labor standards laws and not eligible for overtime. The state and federal labor overseers require that the company have well-defined rules for distinguishing exempt from non-exempt and the company uses a degree as one of the primary criteria. The HR folks will absolutely not allow deviations from this policy because it would jeopardize the entire company job category structure. I can cite examples and details if anyone is interested but this is a really clear policy across every place I have worked.
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I have long noted this issue of businesses requiring a degree for positions which simply aren’t required…
My wife, for instance, once worked as a contractor at a government agency and had applied for her supervisor’s position when he left…she was informed that she couldn’t have the job, as she lacked a Bachelor’s Degree – however, she was assigned to fill his position until a new person was hired…
After she handled a series of crises capably, and no degree holder could be found for the slot, they eventually decided to make a one-time exception for her…
My sister worked her way up into management in a title company before the love of degrees set in. For her company, requiring degrees for entry level title officer and similar positions is just an easy way of reducing a very large applicant pool. She dislikes it intensely, as she had far better luck with 22 year olds who had been working for several years and were looking for a better job that could be a career than with 22 year old graduates who far too often think they deserve more than the entry-level work they are assigned at a job they took because they couldn’t find something that paid more.