The Catch-22 of Finding a Job

1. Do you know what Catch-22 means? Before you read, use a dictionary to find out.

Many companies these days have a long list of what they expect from potential employees. Before someone applies for a job, they are presented with a long list of requirements. Many of these requirements are based around education; a high school diploma, a university degree, a masters degree, a doctorate degree. Then, they also want you to have experience.

The reality for many people though,

is that even if they have all the qualifications, companies won’t hire them because they are then ‘over-qualified’. When someone is over-qualified, companies worry that they will have to pay them more.

The other problem is that companies want you to have experience but they won’t hire you if you don’t have experience. So, how can you get experience when nobody will hire you? This is the perfect example of a catch-22 situation.

At the same time, companies sometimes prefer inexperienced workers for some positions so they can pay them less. One person could have 20 years experience in their job, but a company will hire someone with 6 months experience because they will usually work for less money. 

The way that companies operate these days, makes it very difficult for people who have invested in their education to get a good job. If companies behaved more fairly, the job would go to the person who could do it best. This would be the ideal outcome for both the company, and society as a whole.