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[goodcow]

AOMORI, Japan — The city government of Aomori has fired two drivers for the city's bus services for concealing their college education backgrounds, which it said made them overqualified for the job, the city revealed Friday, according to the Kyodo News.

The transport department of the city government said the two men passed exams to be bus drivers, which are open only to those with education up to high school level.

One of the two, 43, had completed university education, while the other, aged 35, was a junior college graduate. They had been working as bus drivers for seven years and nine months and five years and nine months, respectively.

The city government in October last year fired another driver after learning he was a graduate of a junior college.

 

[fallout]

Damn university punks ... taking all the good jobs ...

 

[gofreak]

I personally hate the concept of "overqualification". If you have a bloody PhD and are applying to be a bus driver or whatever, presumably you want to do that job, so why discriminate against them? It's like they're trying to save you from yourself, but frankly, if you know what you want, who are they to question you?

 

[Dilbert]

I personally hate the concept of "overqualification". If you have a bloody PhD and are applying to be a bus driver or whatever, presumably you want to do that job, so why discriminate against them? It's like they're trying to save you from yourself, but frankly, if you know what you want, who are they to question you?

There are two main rationales for "overqualification," as I understand it, and as you might expect, both have to do with money:

1) The more experience/qualifications you have for a job, the more you can command in salary negotiations.

2) If you accept a job which is "beneath you," the suspicion is that you are simply filling the job until you can find something better. Since companies invest money in the hiring process and there is also a cost associated with training and knowledge transfer, it is in their interest to hire candidates who are expected to remain with the company for a while.

I would agree that there are cases where there are legitimate reasons why someone would want to try out a job that would seem to be in a "lower" category...but you have to know someone pretty well to be convinced of their intentions, and you simply don't know a job candidate that well.

 

[ChrisReid]

2) If you accept a job which is "beneath you," the suspicion is that you are simply filling the job until you can find something better. Since companies invest money in the hiring process and there is also a cost associated with training and knowledge transfer, it is in their interest to hire candidates who are expected to remain with the company for a while.

Doesn't really explain firing people who've already been drivers for the past 6-8 years already though.

 

[Iceman]

Doesn't really explain firing people who've already been drivers for the past 6-8 years already though.

yeah this is the part I can't wrap my head around.

 

[supermonkey]

Phew... I sure am glad I found this out before I got my degree.

 

[APerfectCircle]

Phew... I sure am glad I found this out before I got my degree.

exactly! i was gunna start my Uni degree next month, but i might have to reconsider it now. What if the guys can't get jobs elsewhere, and need to feed kids or something?

 

[Pellham]

they really should make exceptions to rules.

especially since both persons involved had worked there for over 7+ years each so it was obviously they were content with their salary and what they were doing.