TARGETjobs Breakfast News 2:1 OR


NOTHING?


The 25th TARGETjobs Breakfast News in November saw a very passionate debate as the audience of 200 graduate recruiters, universities and agencies discussed that very old chestnut: should employers recruit on the basis of degree class, or put simply, is it a 2.1 or nothing? GTI Media’s Chris Phillips reports…


I


n the red corner was professional psychologist Professor Adrian Furnham from UCL. He believes that


we’re massively experienced at measuring intelligence and personality accurately in this country, and intelligence in particular, he said, was the most important predictor of success at exams. And what’s more, the criteria that predict exam success are the same as those that predict work success. You may not like it, he said, but a 2.1 is a good basic measure of intelligence and potential in the workplace.


In the blue corner stood Simon Howard, Chairman of


Iain Heath, Head of Graduate Programmes at Centrica, entered the debate somewhere in the middle as a blue chip company that, until this year, rather unusually accepted applications from 2.2


graduates. But not for much longer. Analysis of the 15% of their graduate intake that had a 2.2 showed them being


outperformed by those with a 2.1 or Masters.


Work Group, who pointed out that employers in France used graphology to select candidates and in parts of Japan your blood group was considered to be a window to your soul. Quite clearly, Simon says, these are crazy measures which nevertheless are still being used and so perhaps it is time to examine the consequences of continuing to embrace the ‘2.1 or nothing’ measure in UK recruitment.


Simon pointed out that over the past twenty years, the number of ‘good degrees’ has slowly increased. Now, 64 per cent of graduates have a 2.1 or above raising inevitable doubts about the claim that this is a ‘standard’. In addition, a 2.2 gained in one university is not comparable with a 2.2 in another. At best, he argued, it’s a broad measure of academic ability but in no way a measure of the person’s motivation, enthusiasm and suitability for work. He said it was not fair either. In the more difficult


degree subjects like engineering and law, a 2.1 bar will immediately select out 40 per cent of eligible applicants. Statistics also show that the use of the ‘2.1 or nothing’ approach means that certain groups are favoured, such as the privately educated and candidates from the top two socio-economic groups. Iain Heath, Head of Graduate Programmes at Centrica,


entered the debate somewhere in the middle as a blue chip company that, until this year, rather unusually accepted applications from 2.2 graduates. But not for much longer. Analysis of the 15% of their graduate intake that had a 2.2 showed them being outperformed by


22 GRADUATE RECRUITER


those with a 2.1 or Masters. So they were adopting a new approach which will bar 2.2s unless they have a Masters too. Proceedings, as always, were opened by Bryan Finn of Business Economics, who was cautiously optimistic. There was a small growth in GDP but we weren’t out of the woods yet. Recruitment activity was slightly up too as were retail sales. Consumer confidence, however, was unchanged and people were very gloomy. Job vacancies were rising but slowly and from a low base and even though graduate unemployment was still relatively high, it was not rising. Bryan forecasted modest growth for 2013 but still well under 2%. Jane Clark, Head of Corporate and Investment Banking Campus Recruitment with Barclays, who is on secondment to AGR, completed the distinguished line-up of speakers, with a thoughtful contribution on the value of the Higher Education Achievement Report (HEAR) to recruiters. HEAR has only just started in universities and the take-up and impact will not be known for a couple of years but it will provide employers with a record of achievement verified by the university for the first time.


TARGETjobs Breakfast News is a GTI Media event in association with AGR and is sponsored by Work Group.


SAD NEWS


Since writing this account, we have learned of the sad death of Bryan Finn, who has opened each and every TARGETjobs Breakfast


News with his summary of the economy and the recruitment market. Bryan passed away just before Christmas and the thoughts of everyone at GTI are with his family at this very difficult time. Bryan will be fondly remembered for his sound grasp of complex details delivered in a relaxed and accessible style. Audience evaluation consistently showed how valuable and useful his contribution was to this event.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32