There’s talent to be found in all our ‘class’rooms

Sinead Hasson

The brightest talent needs more than a privileged social background to help them break into elite UK firms, says Sinead Hasson, MD and founder of specialist recruitment agency Hasson Associates.

In June last year a study on behalf of the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission revealed that top firms are sidelining the UK’s brightest working-class applicants in favour of privileged and ‘polished’ candidates. The report – which surveyed staff from 13 elite accountancy, law and financial services firms – found that those companies recruited nearly their entire staff from the Russell Group universities. And at the start of this year, the Sutton Trust revealed: “Our research shows that your chances of reaching the top in so many areas of British life are very much greater if you went to an independent school. As well as academic achievement, an independent education tends to develop essential skills such as confidence, articulacy and team work which are vital to career success.

“The key to improving social mobility at the top is to open up independent day schools to all pupils based on merit not money as demonstrated by our successful Open Access scheme, as well as support for highly able students in state schools.”

It has been a topic on the agenda for some time now, with the fall-out leading to the usual rants on news and social media sites claiming it is the fault of a weak UK education system, which prevents talented state school applicants from gaining a place at those selective leading universities and then going on to secure top jobs.

But having been in the recruitment industry for over 20 years and placed a broad range of candidates from a myriad of backgrounds into elite UK firms, I can’t agree that our academic system is to blame. In fact, I believe a vital issue has been overlooked.

Researchers should head into state schools and ask some of the talented students if they’re even applying to the Russell Group universities. From experience, many feel they lack the softer social skills and confidence needed to apply for a place at one of the top universities. More worryingly, they don’t have the right type of support network in place to help them develop such skills. Nevertheless, confidence and the ability to communicate well will ensure greater success and that is something that could be enforced in the classroom.

To address this issue, those interested in applying to university need regular access to role models or mentors from the business world to allow them to gain the confidence and poise needed to catch the eye of these prestigious institutions. Because I’ve witnessed it myself, once inside those hallowed walls, the cream will always rise to the top.

And when they emerge armed with their degrees, it is important that all use their networks of contacts – the public schools are good at this, less so at the state level.

Over the past few years, several organisations have introduced recruitment procedures that attempt to foster greater diversity in their workforces, recognising that there is a flaw in the system. Deloitte, the world’s largest professional services network, was one of the first companies to announce “university blind-recruitment, ensuring that our recruiters do not consciously or unconsciously favour those who attended a certain school or university, so that job offers are made on the basis of present potential, not past personal circumstance.” Such policies are to be welcomed and promise much, as long as they are not simply paying lip service to the issue.

Since then, and only just recently, other corporates, like the BBC, have pledged to introduce similar practices and for this to become standard procedure in their hiring process too. However, it is important to remain aware that there may be limits to what the occlusion of academic background on CVs and job applications can achieve.

Dr Louise Ashley from the University of London, who led the Government’s social mobility project, believes that removing such information will not put paid to interviewers looking for other indicators of a privileged background. I agree with her that such a move is not a panacea, particularly with certain traditional professions that looks for cultural capital in those they hire. Ashley believes that “when you remove not just the name but also the educational background from the CVs, which provide those indicators, those signals, to the interviewer, they are then more likely to look for those proxies of quality elsewhere in the interview process.”

So what’s the solution?  There are no easy solutions for a problem as complex and systemic such as this. However, we must face the issue, as the UK needs to make the best out of the talent we have if we are to avoid a continuation of the boom and bust years that have dogged our economic development. So I’d like to see the government bring together schools, universities and businesses leaders to create a support network that ensures the brightest working students who want to progress to the top level have the necessary toolkit of academic and life skills to get them there. Like I say, there is talent in ALL our ‘class’rooms – and confidence and presentation skills are key.

Sinead Hasson is MD and Founder of specialist recruitment agency Hasson Associates, which she established in 2008. The company specialises in placing marketing and market research/insight professionals in research agencies, brand and strategic marketing consultancies, market analysis and business information providers, as well as in-house research teams in the UK and internationally.