Cannot progress without a degree... 😡

[Hmmmmminteresting]

I'm early 30s. I chose not to go to uni and to instead do 2 years at a business college (qualifications do not equal a degree, they were less). I then was promoted to an office manager at the age of 22 to 25, managing 17 people. Since moved on to a job I love and have been there 7 years. In this company you cannot progress without a degree. They are 100% adamant, 2:1 or more is minimum. They dont take any of your history into account. So many people getting promoted above me with no managerial experience but have a degree in random subjects not relevant. A few have since left as they just weren't suitable for that role.
I know I could do it and I have been told by so many others that it's frustrating I'm not qualified enough as I would be first choice.
AIBU to think this is a pretty old fashioned way of thinking?
I dont want to leave the company, I just wish they would change their rules.

@whiskeyandice check their websites, they have a lot of qualifications at different levels, accredited training providers, pre-requisites if needed, etc

As far as I know private businesses prefer CMI while the public sector is more into ILM.

PM me if you have more specific questions.

I’m 29 so a similar age to you OP and I work in a young industry where most have degrees, as do I.

I’m in a position where I hire both graduates and entry level non-grads, and our company policy is we can hire without a degree, but to progress to management (3 promotions from entry level) a 2:1 degree or higher is required and at least 2 years experience in the role. We make this very clear during the hiring process and there’s no exceptions.

However, on 2 occasions in 5 years I’ve gone to the business to make exceptions to the degree rule for 2 of my direct reports to secure them promotions to management despite them not having degrees because they’ve been exemplary in the role and I had the evidence to back it up. I made a clear business case that it was more expensive to lose them than it was to promote them and on both occasions their promotions were granted.

I mean this in the kindest way possible, but reading between the lines in your posts I think you are quite possibly over establishing your value and in the wrong way. No business, no matter how big and rigid will risk losing a well thought of, experienced member of staff over a missing qualification unless it’s an industry requirement. They just won’t.

Do you have a line manager on your side? If so, work with them to put a business case together with very clear working examples of you already doing the role you’re after and your capabilities. The fact you’re asked to train new management staff isn’t enough, knowing the role isn’t the same as doing it. Once you have the business case, take that to senior management, loop in HR and make your case very pragmatically.

DO NOT:
Assume you ‘deserve’ a promotion based on your tenure

At any point mention that you train managers and this upsets you (this comes across bitter)

Bring emotional rationale to the table. This is a pragmatic decision.

Threaten to get another job if they don’t promote you.

If the answer is still no and the feedback you get is still a lack of degree and nothing more constructive, then you leave, take a pay cut but progress your career or you accept you’re over paid for the job you do compared to the industry and enjoy the reduced responsibility for the good money.

Might be harsh, but if you were one of my reports that’s what I’d be working with you on if I thought you were worth it.

We have a rule that all new recruits should be degree-educated, but HR will sign off exceptions if you have a business case. We are a technical department and specific technical skills are more important than a degree. Internally, it's not a hard rule - proven experience in the business counts for more. It also helps if you can have a chat with the hiring manager about what the job involves and what gaps you can work on to get there, in terms of gaining skills and experience.

On top of that, we also have a tuition assistance programme, which means there are funds available to every employee - you have to initially fund it yourself, then claim it back after passing, so you still have initial outlay, but you can do it module by module. People have used it for OU degrees, MBAs and other professional qualifications. You still have to find the time to do the studying, but having the funding is a good help. But this is an employer which believes in staff development and does provide a lot of resources to all staff for it.

In your position, I would probably think about moving to a company which doesn't insist on a degree and/or is more supportive of developing its staff and use that to gain extra qualifications. The other option (besides just accepting it is as it is and living with that,) is to fight to get the must-have-a-degree rule and get it changed, but ultimately, it might be less effort and more personally rewarding to study for a degree, not least because the further you get through your career, the more people there will be with both experience and formal qualifications.

I'm baffled by all these people saying just get a degree then. If the job doesn't need a degree to do it then why should it ask for one? Degrees - unless vocational - teach very, very little for the world of work and are basically just a proxy for a certain level of intelligence. OP has proved she has passed that through her lengthy time of work there so to demand she must get in tens of thousands of pounds of debt is outrageous.

I'm baffled by all these people saying just get a degree then. If the job doesn't need a degree to do it then why should it ask for one?

Because that is the expected level of qualification.

I have a number of nurses / ex nurses in my family non needed a degree (although one has taken one) but if you go into nursing now you have to do a degree.

”I have a number of nurses / ex nurses in my family non needed a degree (although one has taken one) but if you go into nursing now you have to do a degree.”

But that is presumably a degree in nursing, or similar, ie relevant to the job?

Where it is a ridiculous requirement is where the employer is unable to specify what degree is needed. If it doesn’t matter, then it is not a requirement at all. What may be required is a certain level of intelligence, or analytical skills or similar, and assuming everyone with a degree will have these and no one without a degree can possibly have them is lazy and potential discrimination.

I'm baffled by all these people saying just get a degree then. If the job doesn't need a degree to do it then why should it ask for one?

It's a competitive job market and one way of weeding out the number of applicants is to put a level of education required far higher than necessary to get fewer, but "better" applicants.

There's also the Kudos of "some" firms who like to gloat about the number of senior staff with degrees and put uni/degree history on their "about us" website pages to improve their perception from future customers etc.

@flowery not having a degree isn't a protected characteristic so they are allowed to discriminate.

Some of the companies I've worked for that have insisted on degrees for promotions or specific departments as they are international companies. As they have required staff to work abroad, take secondments abroad and/or allowed staff to move abroad permanently they have had to convince immigration in those countries that the person had skills the company could not get locally. Having a degree is a simple way of showing this even if the degree could be argued not to be directly related to the area of work.

A policy that states you must have a degree discriminates against people on the grounds of age and disability.

When you say they are allowed to discriminate; they are allowed to have standards.
OP is correctly pointing out that the standards they use are nonsensical. If you insist that experience cannot count and an employee must have a degree, the degree should be a relevant qualification.

From ACAS;
''Most employees have the right to ask for time off to carry out training that will improve their performance at work. Employers don't have to pay for the training or study, however, some employers will pay all or part of the fees if they think it will benefit the business.''
archive.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=5722

"flowery not having a degree isn't a protected characteristic so they are allowed to discriminate."

Never said it was. As I said earlier, and others have too, it's indirect age discrimination, as younger workers are more likely to have a degree than older ones. Requiring a degree (or any qualification) where this is not justifiable is indirect age discrimination.

The OU do something called 'Recognition by Previous Learning' it's generally made up of two types: recognition of certificated learning (RPCL) and recognition of experiential, or work based learning (RPEL).
I'd have thought you'd be eligible.

This won't (I think) give you a whole degree but will certainly shorten the course.

Have you really considered a masters degree? My husband who has no first degree took one (in his 60's) partly for the same reason as you, he'd hit a ceiling at work, but mainly because he was interested. It took two years.

A part-time degree is hard work. I did mine when my DD was about 1, and I was working. I look back on it now and wonder where I got the energy. I nearly gave up a couple of times.
Friends were invaluable. One drove me 50 miles to give in the essay I'd finished, but was convinced was rubbish (I got B+). I'd missed the last post so I 'knew' I'd failed, Bless her.

Remember a first degree is basically just saying you can read and write and reason. It's not magic, once you have it nobody takes much notice.

I would have thought you could still work and do a part time degree, my aunt did 4 while she was bringing up her kids on the Open University and got a fabulous job when the kids went to school.
There is a helluva lot of competition out there and quite honestly if you wanted to work elsewhere and you were competing against people with degrees you could be in trouble.
You don't even notice you are paying a student loan, it gets taken straight out of your salary before you get it, I barely noticed mine and now it's paid off.

See the degree as professional development. Yes, you can do the job, but maybe the education or training would help you work differently? Why are you against the degree or the study?

In most jobs I have had a degree has been required. The only other option I can think of is for you to create a business case for your self to be prevented to the company as to why you should be promoted without a degree and how this will benefit the business. This will involve researching and speaking to management to understand the underlying reasons for the policy. then you can create your argument. Then you can also decide is this is the right business for you.

YANBU but I guess it depends on the role you want to move into.

Unfortunately it's not old fashioned but a fairly recent event. There are people with degrees working on the shop floor of your local supermarket - companies therefore can pick and choose based on qualifications these days.

To become competitive - get a degree but also ask your employer if they would provide some form of study support/bursary!!

The whole point of a degree is to be skilled to do a Job? If you are experienced enough to do the job (and then some!) then you are qualified to do the job!! Also you for into the business culture so it seems madness to me to spend time & resources going outside!?! Look elsewhere or stay put and slowly die of frustration! I know what I would do. Their loss!! 👩🏻

OU is not the only option, especially for an MBA which would be a great move for you. Your existing experience would almost certainly be useful

Last time I checked, several business schools offered distance learning, including Henley Management College, Warwick and Aston. It's not ideal, as you don't get the full pressure cooker experience but that suited me very well and was 'only' two years.

Since you have not already had tertiary education, I'm sure you could get a loan at those advantageous rates.

Good luck.

I competed a degree with the OU in three years - I would do one module start in October and one in February each year. I was working full time as well. It takes serious commitment but is do-able. I found it tiring and frustrating at times but I actually miss it now and have thought about doing some more distance learning. It helped progress my career too.

Completed*

You could ask where you work for them to sponser you to study for a degree with day release.

Study for a degree through the Open University.

Every job I have had has had the requirement "a degree in any subject" it's normal, it means you can study , apply yourself, have a certain level of literacy etc. Do a pt degree, most universities do distance learning

after reading your update I think yabu.
you have progressed as far as you can within your organisation without a degree, but now you are stuck and have basically 3 coices:
1 suck it up
2 do a degree (great advice from lots of posters)
3 change jobs, take a pay cut and work yourself up to current level

So many of these answers just illustrating the self-serving nature of HE.
Find another job. They don’t deserve you.