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Are degrees losing their value?

May 14, 2015  /   No Comments

Jo Faragher

There used to be a time when hiring managers in major employers wouldn’t even consider an application unless a candidate had a 2:1 degree or above.

An upper second-class degree, it was believed, was a useful benchmark to sift out those who would do better; some employers even restricted the range of universities from which they recruited to just an elite group.

This did little to improve diversity in the UK workforce. In 2014, social mobility adviser Alan Milburn published his report, Elite Britain, which found that 75% of senior judges, 59% of the Cabinet, 47% of newspaper columnists, and 38% of the House of Lords all held degrees from Oxford or Cambridge. By contrast, less than 1% of the whole population are Oxbridge graduates, while 62% did not attend university.

Thankfully now, a growing number of employers have begun to broaden out how they recruit young people into their workforce. Having a degree isn’t the only way into a ‘professional’ career such as accountancy, as more companies offer higher-level apprenticeships or school-leaver schemes where people can learn on the job.

Firms still recruit graduates, but are less blinkered about how they measure their ability and potential – last month, for example, consulting firm PWC scrapped its high A-level UCAS points requirement for its graduate scheme because it felt it discriminated against those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Matt Edmonds, head of HR at recruitment agency RED, certainly believes degrees are losing their value – both when placing candidates and hiring internally. He says: “With regards to the candidates that we place, it’s probably fair to say that degrees are not the be all and end all. Experience with and/or a certification [in a relevant program] is the predominant determining factor, and having a degree is not a prerequisite to gain either of these.”

He adds: “From an internal hiring perspective, RED’s selection process for entry-level internal hires (which are essentially our ‘graduate’ jobs, or at least would have been previously) is specifically designed to level the playing field, and factors out the influence that having a degree may once have had.”

As Edmonds highlights, university is certainly no longer the only option for ambitious school leavers. One of David Cameron’s pledges prior to the general election was to create three million new apprenticeships over this parliament, and in 2011 the coalition introduced a £25 million fund for advanced and higher apprenticeships, the equivalent of two A-level passes and a foundation degree respectively. Far from the ‘grease monkey’ image apprenticeships had decades ago, they can now be the first rung on the professional career ladder.

At online accounting company inniAccounts, neither a degree nor an apprenticeship qualification is a stipulation to work there. The company actively seeks out school-leavers “with an aptitude for success in accounting, and who are ‘office ready’”, according to co-founder James Poyser. He says: “It’s costly going to university or further education, but school-leavers think they are the only option. They need to be shown that apprenticeships and degrees are not the only route to life-long employment.”

But what if there are two great candidates, and one has a degree and not the other? For some employers, a degree is evidence that someone can apply themselves to a goal. “At Petrotechnics, we judge candidates first and foremost on the culture fit, and their attitude and aptitude,” explains Liz Croughan, HR manager of the enterprise software solutions company for hazardous industries. “But if we had two candidates in the running for a role with the same cultural fit and experience and only one candidate had a degree, we would question why the other was not degree educated. We would be looking to understand their decision, and to understand if a lack of degree implied a lack of drive.”

That said, there is an argument that introducing school-leavers to the world of work earlier helps to manage their expectations and get them used to the challenges of office life. A CBI survey last year found that more than half (52%) of business leaders were dissatisfied with school-leavers’ communication skills, and half said they lacked problem-solving skills.

But Kevin May, founding partner of strategic consulting company Sticks, disagrees, arguing that going to university can give young people time to consider their life choices, rather than jumping headfirst into a career. He says: “There is probably some advantage in delaying entry to the world of work until you have matured sufficiently to make some wise choices, rather than setting yourself impetuously on a path that may prove difficult to escape.”

Either way, the diversity statistics speak for themselves, and it’s becoming less acceptable to recruit based purely on narrow criteria such as certain universities, certain degree classes or someone’s A-level grades. After all, how does performance in a three-hour exam at the age of 18 really reflect someone’s potential to be a good manager or creative problem-solver? Indeed, the scientist and TV presenter Lord Winston has publicly admitted he rules applicants out with first-class degrees because he “would rather have young people around me who developed other interests at university and didn’t just focus entirely on getting that first”.

But Bobby Benson, director of Robert Adams Search and Selection, makes the point that – for those with ambition who really want to make it to the top of their selected profession – a degree could be an important differentiator, even if a candidate doesn’t acquire it straight after school. “I’ve come across plenty of good people who have been successful in business without a degree and moved into management positions, but senior directors invariably have a degree and often a Masters or an MBA,” he says.

Ultimately, it will be shifts in how jobs are advertised that dictate whether a degree is essential any more, and it could be decades before employers completely stop regarding that certificate as the golden ticket for entry into a career.

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  • Published: 9 years ago on May 14, 2015
  • Last Modified: May 14, 2015 @ 12:24 pm
  • Filed Under: Featured Post

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