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<p>No doubt employers are using colleges as essentially ‘outsourced HR systems’ with which to pre-sort job candidates. For the employers, it’s actually far better than outsourcing. True outsourcing requires that the company actually pay a fee to the firm that is providing the outsourced service. A company that outsources its call center or its manufacturing facilities has to pay a service fee for the provider of said service. But, apart indirectly through higher taxation, companies don’t pay anything for the outsourced HR pre-screening ‘service’ provided by the colleges. The costs of that service are borne by the students (or, more accurately, their parents). It’s truly a fantastic deal for the companies. </p>
<p>But I’m not so sure that it’s such a fantastic deal for society. If companies are the primary beneficiaries of the presorting service provided by colleges, then shouldn’t they be the ones to pay for it? Why should the students have to be the ones to pay to pre-sort themselves for the benefit of companies?</p>