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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/34162
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

It's a simplistic answer, I know, but the qualification both Orwell and Wodehouse shared was that they were excellent writers.

There's a tendency to think of qualifications as pieces of paper issued by an academic body, but it's a much broader term. When the question comes up in an interview a skilled candidate can use it to show how they know they're good at what the job involves. A piece of paper from an academic institution is a nice shortcut, but it's not the only way to answer the question.

With academic study, the qualification is the time spent studying and the understanding of the subject obtained from that. The Degree (or other) issued is just an indication that this has happened. Any interviewer worthy of the name will not take a certificate as their only evidence of a candidate's suitability, and will ask questions to demonstrate understanding of the requirements of the job.

You've set up something of a strawman in the simple answers you've suggested Orwell might have given to the question. I think he would have played it differently and spoken evocatively about how his experiences had given him insight into language being used as a political weapon - proving his qualifications by an alternative method.

And if I was to say that a banker would have no knowledge of how the elite were more dependent on their servants than they might have wanted to think, I would expect people to look at me as if I was the smell of onions. [One for the Wodehouse fans out there...]

Original score: 5