Do you have a 2.2 and “exceptional abilities”?
Thousands of graduates are denied the opportunity of working with top companies because they don’t have a 2.1 degree. Increasingly automated recruitment processes use the 2.1 or above as a filter to reduce the number of graduates that can pass the first stage of their graduate selection process. Perhaps a new initiative by PwC, Britain’s largest private sector graduate employer, may mark the start of a turning-point away from “the tyranny of the 2.1″ among top employers.
Sonja Stockton, head of recruitment for PwC announcing its new “inspired talent” programme said that some people did not earn 2.1s because “they were doing extraordinary and enterprising things”. She dispelled the myth that PwC needed “dull accountants”,explaining that “we need people who can go and sell PwC to clients”.
Ms Stockton acknowledged employers’ growing concern that the standard required to gain a 2.1 varied widely. For example, students who attended Imperial College stood a worse chance of getting a 2.1 than those at a less prestigious institution.
However, the bars to entry at PwC through the “inspired talent” programme will remain high. Whilst the scheme will be able to recruit a maximum of 75 people, it was possible that as few as five might be taken on out of planned recruitment of more than 1,000 graduates. Candidates would have to pass a special test of “intellectual rigour and agility” as well as showing an unusually impressive extra-curricular record.
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August 1st, 2010 at 09:28
I graduated in 2004 with a 2:2 hons degree in Human Biosciences. My degree took me 4 years to complete and it wasn’t easy. During my degree I worked selling insurance over the phone for about 20-24 hours a week; I needed a way to fund myself through uni as I come from a poor family. When I finished uni, I needed a deposit immediately to start renting a flat because there was no room for me at my mum’s house. So I had to use the rest of my student overdraft and I had to find work fast. I didn’t have time to be fussy.
I now feel that my degree was a waste of my time and money as I’ve been stuck working in a call centre for almost 6 years, saying the same thing on average every 30-60 secs and being treated like a moron by the general public. Luckily, I’ve recently been made redundant from this mind-numbing, soul-destroying job, but I’m hoping for a better future.
I find that most employers don’t even acknowledge my degree. I end up having to apply to every day jobs because decent careers are always asking for a 2:1 or above, so I don’t even get a look in. I’m beginning to think now, that I would have been better off doing an apprenticeship because at least then I would have had better prospects. It’s too late now though because I’m 28 and most places say I would have to be between 18-25. I wouldn’t be able to afford my rent and bills on those wages anyhow.