How much value do hiring managers in engineering industries place in previous menial jobs for applicants to engineering positions?


I have received conflicting answers to this question. At one end of the scale are managers who say that there is little value in previous menial jobs as the employee acquires very little in the way of useful knowledge and skills, and prolonged time in such jobs dulls the mind and reduces the ability to think intuitively and make good decisions. At the opposite end of the scale are managers who basically won't employ anybody unless they have first cut their teeth on menial jobs because it signals work ethic and grit.


There is some evidence that mass immigration from eastern Europe has given work ethic a new meaning, and taken it to a much higher level than it was back in the 1990s, but has this impacted engineering industries or is it mostly with menial and basic jobs where the bulk of eastern Europeans are employed?