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?

Experience is a very fair alternative to a degree. But, @powerrangers , the hope is that your three years studying history or philosophy or whatever have taught you how to think and how to write. Both big assets for logistics, town planning, etc

Yep

Oh knob off. Its a degree.

Your snottiness is the EXACT reason blind recruitment shouldn't be allowed. So normal people recruiting for jobs can actively avoid elitist snobs like yourself.

If your ds is as bright and shiny as to get into Cambridge - they should be as bright and shiny to not need the Cambridge badge to succeed. I’m so glad lots of kids more are getting the opportunity, from a company perspective it’s a no brainier - talent is talent - we need to look everywhere for it!

Calling us "Mumsnet Honks" is the most racist thing I've seen on here for a LONG a time. That's appalling language off you, regardless of your own ethnicity. I'm absolutely fuming about this. How dare you!! Can you imagine the uproar if one of us 'Honks' called any BAME people names? I'm completely stunned.

Entry grades aren’t necessarily a measure of the quality of the degree. This is misunderstood by a lot of people.

Traditional universities set entry tariffs as high as they can - they are a measure of how popular the course is. Popular subjects have higher tariffs than less popular subjects, even if they are just as good. So do universities in popular cities. They set them high because it’s a lot easier to teach students who’ve done very well at A Level, they should all get at least a 2:1 and already have good study skills.

Widening participation universities are specifically there for ‘non traditional’ students, ie students who haven’t had a straightforward path or are from groups who don’t usually attend university. Perhaps they got made homeless during their exam years, or had a mental health crisis, or a baby. Maybe they joined the army at 16, or learned a trade, or went to work in a shop, and later want to study. Maybe they are a refugee. Maybe they spent their teenage years caring for a parent or younger siblings.

These institutions need lower tariffs because all of these circumstances can stop someone fulfilling their academic potential at 16-18. Low tariffs are there to give people an opportunity. Some will thrive on this opportunity and excel, and others will struggle and end up with a lower degree.

Your DS deserves a lot of credit for overcoming difficulties to get to Cambridge. But equally, the best students at widening participation universities deserve credit for also overcoming difficulties to also succeed academically. I welcome the fact that employers are recognising that there can be many routes to excellence.

she is not calling you Mumsnet honks FGS! She means honks as in ‘sucks’! Are you not familiar with urban slang! https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=honks

If you’re going to weigh in on racism, it would be good to know what racism is, and the difference between racism and discrimination/prejudice.

Exactly.

@FarmGirl78 you don’t know the meaning of honks. Think of it as stinks. So all the OP was saying that is Mumsnet stinks sometimes! Are you looking to be offended?

@FarmGirl78 assuming you are a graduate, your misreading of honks shows, perhaps, that all degrees are not created equal 😂😂

Wouldn't a 40 year old seem a bit out of place? I assume the person in their 40s has worked before? So why not continue from that?
Because experience in one sector doesn't automatically translate to experience in another.
We find some older trainees have been reluctant to accept direction and advice because they forget that they might have been very good in their previous degree, but it doesn't make them an expert teacher.

Equally I know a lot of excellent teachers and leaders who left teaching and took more junior positions in other areas because they had a lot to offer, but needed to gain experience in their new fields.

Oh dear me @FarmGirl78, may I politely suggest you climb down from your high horse and invest in a dictionary?

I see what you’re saying but I just think your responses have been slightly hurtful. My daughter will be going to Manchester Met in September because she got a great feel for the city and Manchester Uni didn’t do her course. She is not a straight A* student (more ABB).

I for one am pleased that if she goes for a job she won’t be treated differently by the university she has chosen.

when I recruit I couldn’t care less about what Uni someone has been to, I am more interested in their work experience/volunteering/extra curricular experience from their CV as well as a GCSE in maths and English (just to ensure they have at least that standard).

All of the hiring I do then Obvs is based on interview and personality also makes up a huge part of whether they will fit in.

im not sure what job your son would think of doing with a history degree but I’m sure the experience he gets and the opportunities he will par-take in at Cambridge to add to his cv may well out weight the opportunities that say my daughter at Manchester Met may be presented with.

My ds is at Lancashire so not even a rg uni 😱 I'm fairly sure that he will do well in interviews though as at 20 he has also been working for the CS since he was 18 I'm assuming some experience in the world of work will be seen as a positive

May I ask what he has been doing with the CS?

A degree is generally a gateway to employment and mosylt irrelevant. Your son is only disadvantaged if he is crap at the role he is applying for. Degrees and the university they are from mean very little in the workplace.

He is with the MoJ

Why on earth would I be familiar with urban slang?

"honks" isn't "urban slang" it's just a British English synonym for "smells bad/stinks".

It's been in use for decades.

I do know BOTH meanings of honks, and one of them is very racist. If she's using racist language in an ambiguous way then ohhhhhh that alright then I suppose 🙄. She could have chosen to say the much more widely used typical phrase "stinks", but instead chose to use a racist term? I don't like anyone using racist language regardless of whether it's meant intentionally. Can you imagine if it was the other way round?

Admittedly I don't hang out with racists so not down with their chat, but I had no idea "honks" was a racist term. Which race is it aimed at?

What about honky tonk, as in women/piano, is that OK?

Entry grades aren’t necessarily a measure of the quality of the degree. This is misunderstood by a lot of people.

I've said this many times on various threads in Education @Elastom and it's absolutely right. A student with 3 x Cs is starting from a lower point than a student with 3 x As, but if they get top-class teaching at whichever university they go to (and top-class teaching can be found anywhere) and work hard, who's to say that they can't catch up over the course of their degree?

University-style teaching and learning are quite different from that you find at school, and often the exams are very different too. So while A level grades at 17 or 18 tell you a little about those DCs entering university, they tell you precious little about the student exiting university 3 or 4 years later.

For evidence of this, it's worth noting that if you apply for a Masters course, the majority of universities do not ask for A level grades. That's because they deem them irrelevant to a student's suitability for post-graduate study.

Yes why would you, given that you confused honks for honky. It doesn’t sound like you are that familiar.

You haven’t answered my question above.