Formal educational credentials should be the most important factor in hiring people.Discuss the extent to which you agree/disagree to the opinion stated above. Support with reasons and examples.

Formal education credentials are no doubt one of the factor of in hiring employees, but they can't be given the highest priority. Consider a case, two highly educated individuals pass out from same university and are specialised in the same field, would most probably have almost same knowledge about the stream. But their personality, IQ, and logical approach to the problem in hand can vary significantly. The point here is, one might have just mugged up whatever taught to him and other would have been really interested about his stream, and would have understood every concept and most probably would have implemented it too. The second person is clearly a more preferable choice for an employer than the first. So, just the credentials of a person aren't enough, the person needs to have sound knowledge about his credentials.

Also, there are cases in which people are highly intelligent, they are perspicacious and are keen to learn, but due to lack of opportunities and due to other problems, like financially weak, they aren't able to attain education they need. If a employer interviews such a person, and see the zeal to explore the field, the company works in, in his eyes, then he can be an ideal choice. Take a case, in India many students aren't aware about which stream to pursue after their high school. They just pick the stream which is in most demand in the market, and many of them soon realise that they like some other field and start to pursue that field without any formal education, and hence no formal educational credential. But they are so focused about their field that they can easily equal or even surpass a guy having a formal education in the same field. Such people should be given chance, though they are not formally qualified, but intellectually they are highly qualified.

In conclusion, along with formal educational credentials the employer should seek for the personality, the logical and analytical thinking capabilities, knowledge which is not taught in books and above all the person's interest in the field the company is working in. Also, it should be kept in mind that formal certificates and educational degree can be easily forged at streets but knowledge is always real.