To be upset about ‘university blind’ recruitment

[Newname576]

DS has overcome so many challenges and has an unconditional offer from Cambridge after achieving 4 A star last year. He has worked so hard and we are so proud of him! But I was upset to learn that so many companies are recruiting “university blind”now - what the hell is the point of going to a top Uni if no one will know about it! My younger child says she will apply to Manchester Met and have a ball even though she too is predicted stellar grades as there is no point going to a top Uni

AIBU to be sad that companies are recruiting blind?

They'll know about his grades and his degree. That's enough.

Going to uni is not all about the job you get afterwards. Cambridge will give an amazing experience that will be pretty special compared with what you get elsewhere, even in other top unis. And imagine the network of contacts he will have too! I am envious .
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Top universities don't necessarily produce the best future employees. I for one am glad they recruit blind, why should jobs go to those fortunate to have had the circumstances to get into a handful of universities?

Get a good degree, interview well that's how to get a good job, not where you went

It's the people he'll meet there that will be the key. That's really the bit that the Oxbridge differs on.

totally disagree, this is progressive. Oxbridge are so elitist and do little to further diversity. Very surprised you are surprised about this. jobs that don’t require a degree should not put it on the requirements anyway.

Depressingly... (but still good for him, IYSWIM)

as a hiring manager I would focus almost entirely on experience. Having a degree (and I have two) doesn’t help you do a lot of jobs

But all degrees aren’t equal @NeverDropYourMooncup - someone who gets a 1st from Cambridge has covered a lot more than the equivalent degree from uni of Hertfordshire!

Does that mean they will be better at the job they are applying for though?

“So many companies”
who??

i haven’t seen this once recently. Such a drama lama over an elite problem. going to a top university will still lead him to have a good career! Honestly get a grip.

@Lcb123

Oxbridge are so elitist and do little to further diversity.

it may be a different kind of diversity to the one you recognise but your comment seems more relevant to the myth of Oxbridge rather than present day reality.

you know that not all lecturers will have attended Oxbridge universities themselves?

Well done to your DS for getting into Cambridge despite his challenges, but you need to get over this. As other posters have said, getting a degree is not solely about job training, his education will still be valuable in other ways and he should be making sure he has developed employability skills too.

Your son is going to an outstanding university with one of the best reputations in the world, will be taught by top academics in the field, and will get much more value out of what he pays for his degree than many other students going to lesser universities.

You should not be upset about that.

It's because degrees are absolutely meaningless now. Every tom.dick and Harry has them and they aren't necessarily any use for most jobs.

Most young people need work place training, so it makes no difference if your got your degree in whatever from Cambridge or Herts, because you need to learn all sorts.

Why do you think Unis are pushing employment skills and extra curricular stuff / volunteering evidenc now? Because it shows that you're more employable than the 2000 other people in your university school

The Big 4 and some magic circle firms are definitely moving to this. And of course some elite universities are increasingly turning down pupils from independent schools. What’s interesting though is that when candidates go for jobs with a ‘blind’ CV that doesn’t name their university or school, and go for competency based interviews, the private school and Oxbridge kids are still getting the jobs in the civil service over others.

As a hiring manager, I don’t care about grades/degree outcome/university attended. I rarely even look at these on an application other to check they have the required C at maths and English GCSE. Students are better off getting a job and building up their employment experience

I would hope that the experience would be greater than just the ability to trade off its name. So exposure to leading ideas, thoughts, research that sort of rub off.

I didnt go to university so probably have an odd idea of what goes on.

I do actually think it's unfair, and I come from a very WC background, first in my family to go to uni etc.
I have two degrees one from an RG with an excellent reputation and very high entry requirements, the other a former poly (work related). I got a good 2:1 at the former and a first at the latter. They were worlds apart, the teaching at the RG much better, the expectations higher, the work so much more rigorous, regular formative and summative assessment, expectation to attend labs, tutorials, seminars.

The former poly was dire, badly organised, lectures were appalling, no real seminars, only assessed work set, the work I submitted was definitely of a lower standard (working, studying, young child) , lecturers didn't know who the students were so there was little accountability, extensions given freely and yet I got higher grades. So an employer recruiting blind might think I had worked harder, or shown a better standard for the second degree but I really didn't. I worked much harder and learned an awful lot more the first time. I think if I put the names of the universities they would know that.

Going to Cambridge or Oxford is totally unlike going to Manchester Met. If someone doesn't absolutely thrive and delight in being stretched to the limits of their intellectual capacity then they won't enjoy Oxbridge and indeed should go to a less challenging university. The people who get the top jobs will be the ones that demonstrate during the interview process how well they thrive under pressure and it will be a lot harder to demonstrate that if you have coasted through an easy degree course that didn't stretch you to your limits. It's not all about the university-blind grade on the application form and a weekly tutorial is very rigorous training for future job interviews, and for presenting and defending your ideas, and that's something that you simply don't get at most universities.

DD is an Oxbridge graduate. She went to a state school and found the academic work challenging but it was absolutely the right place for her and she had the most amazing 3 years. I think that whatever life throws at her she'll always have those years to look back on. She isn't working in the highest paying sector but for us that's not the most important thing.

I do welcome this policy.

As the PP said, it's typically people from quite privileged backgrounds who get into top Russell Group universities, so this is a long overdue means of making things much fairer.

However, Cambridge will give your son such a great experience that his subsequent confidence on paper and in writing will make him extremely employable.

There are some Uni Names that would make me drop a candidate like a stone - normally the mega woke ones such as Oxford - I'd be wary of getting an indoctrinated, intolerant TRA in the team...

It can be a great thing for employers. In the last many have been very biased to certain universities and, as many have discovered, that doesn't always lead to the right candidates being employed.

Dh's firm had a clear bias to some universities. However, good universities don't always produce the type of solicitors they actually need. A lot of the new trainees they've had in the last just can't do the job effectively. Many dint have the people skills to engage with clients from all backgrounds, don't have the resilience to get knock backs, do stuff wrong and then pull themselves back, etc. They have the academic skill - but that's only a small part of the job.

Dh now tends to recruit for his own department and looks way behind the schools and/or university someone went to. A sit down chat as part of the interview and being open to trainees from 'lesser' universities is bringing in much better candidates,

What area/industry do you hire for?

University of Herts has some very good courses that are academically as good.