2 days ago I listened to a presentation by Professor John Sessions from the University of Bath. He discussed about the importance of University education with a comparison to wages/income gain by those with and without University education.

In the brief Q&A session at the end of the presentation, I asked him if a person with a higher level of education can lead to greater career opportunities overseas. He, full of confidence, said definitely. Though I left out the "getting PR" question as he was rushing to somewhere else.

So in your opinion, will someone with a higher level of education, let's fix it to PhD since its the highest level of education that a person can get, get a better career prospect overseas? And in the end, is it sufficient to secure a PR for them in a certain country?

In Economics, I've learnt that with education, you will become a skilled labour, thus having the ability to increase productivity and raise production. Isn't this what countries are hunting for? Highly-skilled labour?

I am sure you know about demand and supply. If the demand for highly-skilled labour is high, then I am sure you can easily find a job. In truth, I think it's the opposite in many countries. In addition, the definition of skilled labour is vague. Does one who has more work experience qualify as a skilled labour compared to a PhD fresh graduate in the job industry? I am sure most would agree work experience is still more important than your PhD degree.

In my opinion, most companies are seeking cheap and experienced labour. If degree holders can do what Masters, PhD can do in their line of job, should I hire someone who is overqualified and pay him more just because he has a PhD but has very few years of work experience?

Furthermore, climbing up the education ladder is an opportunity cost. You are giving up working experience which is highly sought after in the industry for education.

I would say, doing postgraduate will not guarantee you better income neither would it guarantee you a PR (well, nothing is guaranteed in life). In fact, you overqualify for many types of jobs and PR are highly dependent on the specific country's conditions.

80% of American PhD holders are doing work that are unrelated to their PHD scope.

I think this sentence needs more consideration compared to the job prospects. obviously high qualification = high job prospects.
But is it related?

But then, if someone who is overqualified for a certain job, but is willing to accept the same pay as other graduates with lower qualifications, for example a PhD holder and a degree holder of a same field, doesn't it make the chances to be equal? And there may be people hunting you down since you have a higher qualification, thus higher job prospects? Just a thought haha

Anyway, is it a must for a PhD holder to go into the academic line? PhD in International Business to be exact. Couldn't you go into some MNC companies and secure a job with international prospects there?

Edit: Let's say I come up with my own company in the future, does holding a PhD widen up the opportunities that I will get outside? Since I may had published some research that people will feel interesting to study and will be willing to collaborate and stuffs? I don't know

This post has been edited by Screen: Mar 26 2014, 09:51 PM

It's not really related but it's still jobs. But then I came across tons of articles saying employers are scared of PhD holders, thus thinking of not hiring them...

If you put yourself in the employers shoe, here are a few reasons that I could think of that could lead to why they will not choose a PhD graduate although he/she are willing to down to the basic fresh graduate salary.

1. How long do you think this PhD graduate will be happy with his basic salary? They spent additional 5-6 years studying and no working experience he/she might start asking for increment very quickly because he/she thinks they deserve it. This statement is in support that you mentioned articles saying employers are afraid to hire PhD graduates because they may feel discontent very quickly.

2. What makes a PhD graduate so special that I couldn't just hire a normal graduate who are much younger, energetic and could be mold much faster than a PhD graduate who has similarly no experience, but is almost in his early thirties?

As a PhD holder you are known to be very specialised in specific fields. Obviously, you are not limited to the academic line, but where else could you apply your specialisation considering there are very limited jobs that require such specialisation? Even in the academic line itself would be difficult to get a job.

Personally I do not think higher qualification = better job prospect.

Yup, overqualification exists. Someone too smart may end up prying the company from the superior's hand, misconception since half of them are really just nerds.