Are Online and Traditional Degree Programs Equal in the Eyes of Hiring

Managers?

The Department of Education projects that the number of students age 25 or older enrolling in degree-granting institutions will increase by 39% and many of them will be seeking online degree programs (Gresham, 2008).

Additional Results from a Web-Based Survey Revealed that Online Students were statistically more likely to say they were “very satisfied” (61%) with their program than were traditional students (40%).

Many Hiring Managers are Skeptical about Online Degrees because the words “Online Education” conjures up images of Spam E-Mail, and other means for obtaining a degree with little effort and time.

Audience:

Undergraduate and graduate students considering between earning a degree online versus a traditional instruction delivery method.

Importance of Study:

It could affect the opportunities available and future outcomes of graduates’ credentials in the eyes of hiring managers.

The purpose of this study will be to differentiate a hiring preference of candidates with degrees from universities based on different instructional delivery methods.

Question #2:

◦ Does the age of the hiring manager have an effect on the hiring preference?

Question #1:

◦ Do hiring managers assess the merits of a degree earned online as being less acceptable than, equal to, or more acceptable than a degree earned in a traditional university setting?

Null Hypothesis Alternative Hypothesis

Ho:

◦ There is no relationship between a hiring preference of candidates with degrees from universities based on different instructional delivery methods.

Ha:

◦ There is a relationship between a hiring preference of candidates with degrees from universities based on different instructional delivery methods.

Online Degree Traditional Degree

Online Degree: more than 85% of the class occurs online

Traditional (in class/ face-to-face) Degree: Less than 40% of the class occur online.

The study was based on undergraduate degrees because most companies hire on the bases of an undergraduate degree.

Companies’ preferences rely on the job requirements regardless of the method the degree obtained.

The Personal as well as the companies’ preferences.

Companies’ values sometimes might be related to where the candidate got the degree or how.

Companies’ might use different categories to choose candidate: degree, work experience and both.

Sample Size:

◦35 Human Resources & Hiring Managers from:

General Mills Supervalu Wells Fargo Fairview Hospital

Quantitative Data was gathered from the survey◦ 2 questions used to identify industry of

employment and age

◦ 8 “yes” or “no” questions

◦ 35 total participants from various industries 19 answered as being 40 years or older 16 answered as being younger than 40

years old

Survey monkey.com was used to distribute and collect the survey that the researchers created.

SPSS was used for analyzing the results

There is no relationship between the field the respondents work in and whether they prefer a traditional degree over an online degree

The contingency coefficient has a value of .433

This means the relationship is weak.

Pearson’s Chi-Square indicates that the relationship between the two variables is week

◦ This reiterates that the null hypothesis has to be rejected

There is no relationship between age of hiring personnel and preference towards a traditional degree

Have you ever encountered a job applicant within the hiring process who had an online degree?

Do you work for companies that research whether the candidate applying for the position has an online degree vs. a traditional degree?

Are online degrees just as equivalent as traditional degrees?

Do you prefer to hire a candidate with an online degree over a traditional degree?

Is equal consideration given to both types of degrees?

Limited Sample size makes discussing the reliability and validity of the study limited

The study could be replicated

Results of study could not be generalized to other corporations or organizations

Questions that need to be addressed in order for online and traditional degrees to have the same weight in the eyes of employers

Type of degree that is a better fit within a certain industry sector or specific job Types of inquiries done by companies that do research the instructional delivery method of the degrees earned by job

candidates

4-R Model

◦ Direction setter Looks ahead and anticipates that online

degrees will become more prevalent

◦ Spokesperson Going to universities and telling them

what their industry is looking for in a job candidate

◦Change agent Shape or change policy to reflect a

standard concerning types of degrees that fit certain positions within the company

◦Coach Educate other people within the company

who may not understand the difference or may have a bias towards one type of degree