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AIBU?

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Original poster

WTF! Why do you need a degree for customer service???

40 replies

Dogonthebed · 01/09/2023 22:57

I’m not outing any company particularly, I am talking generally. I have no intention of naming names but it’s a growing trend for jobs advertising salaries £20’000 - £25’000 a year, stating pref a degree!

I have had many varied roles through my life always working up to supervisor and managerial level through hard graft and giving my all. It doesn’t matter what you do for a living from cleaning toilets to being GM, my work ethic will always be the same, you are paid to do a job to the best of your abilities. It is a contract between yourself and employer.

Yet…. I can’t get even a customer service job interview apparently because I don’t have a degree! I have run telesales teams, Legal Offices, Legal Cashiering! I took a break to look after my ASD child during the Pandemic and now can’t even get to the next stage!
If I had a degree I wouldn’t be applying for entry level roles! RAH !!!!! I have life and work experience, proven competency from being promoted.
anyone else?

OP posts:
RoomOfRequirement · 01/09/2023 23:11

Requiring a degree for a role like this shows the HR/Recruiting departments don't have a clue what they're doing. I have a couple high level degrees/certifications, but I also believe the obsession with Uni is becoming ridiculous. Not every job needs a degree and for many those with lived experience will do a much better job than a career student who has never lived in the real world.

Have you looked at the NHS? Many of their roles don't require a degree.

Original poster
Dogonthebed · 01/09/2023 23:34

I am looking everywhere really. I need remote to be here when my daughter gets home from school. She is independent mostly but not to be a latch key kid. It is so frustrating as I am more than capable of fulfilling a customer service role. I can’t seem to get a 2nd interview. Age 45? Education GCSE levels, lots of CPD courses, life and work experience - 28 years in a customer facing role/ supervisor/ manager! I seem to be under qualified for roles I could walk in and out of in my 20s but didn’t give an * about! Crazy!

OP posts:
SamW98 · 01/09/2023 23:45

It’s not a new thing. It was happening in the 90’s where a degree of as essential for almost any office job

I was doing a temp role in an investment bank - with 10 years experience in a similar role. The manager thought I was a perfect fit for the role and went to HR to offer me a perm position. However despite being able to do the job with my eyes shut, I couldn’t be considered as I didn’t have a degree

So they would rather employ a graduate with zero experience than someone with 10 years doing the job because that’s company policy

SamW98 · 01/09/2023 23:48

And just to add, I ended up being a team manager in an investment managers and I recruited over the years

I can honestly say that some of my best apprentices (who started at 16/17/18) were every bit as talented as many of the graduates. Hand in heart, there was very little difference in how they picked up the job and how they performed.

Original poster
Dogonthebed · 01/09/2023 23:59

SamW98 I can relate completely. Whilst I was a Telesales Supervisor and knew my job inside out I had to recruit staff from a temp agency during busy periods. Particularly students, they were harder work to train than your normal job seekers.
I am not dissing students, my daughter is one. There is a place for everyone, I just wish companies would go back to the days where your proven employment and working ethos was enough to do a fairly simple job!

OP posts:
Ariela · 02/09/2023 00:04

Given the majority of young people HAVE degrees it's not dissimilar to asking for A levels when I was a teenager (a v low %, was it under 10% went to Uni late '70s?)

TheHateIsNotGood · 02/09/2023 00:16

It's probably not the degree but the 'time out' taken for the additional care your DD needs. I have this T-shirt and a fucking degree, PG quals, mahoosive experience and the ultimate job application crapper of being self-employed for way too long (best way to work and care).

And then, there's a great dollop of ageism on top, after you've devoted so much time to ensuring the best life outcomes for your autistic child.

Whilst some might say I need to have a better 'attitude' (at 61) to get that decent job; I actually think Fuck You all you HR people and your STAR frameworks and all that tripe. You don't want a hard worker like me, your loss.

Time for bed, but happy to have spoken my truth afore I go...

Original poster
Dogonthebed · 02/09/2023 00:22

I kind of understand what you are saying. I will say though to that, my kids at uni are clueless. I’m glad they are getting degrees don’t get me wrong but, compared to myself I am far more capable at a customer service role than they are 100% just as they are more capable of working at a trendy bar than I am.
My main gripe really is against the large employers that want stop gap Graduates so they don’t have to pay for maternity/ paternity etc etc etc I will avoid these companies in future for any services I require in life! RAH that is my little protest!

OP posts:
Catsmere · 02/09/2023 00:26

I remember some dumbfuck manager in the '90s smugly saying she required a degree when hiring someone to do the filing "because they'd be able to spell". 🙄

Tangled123 · 02/09/2023 00:27

I have a degree but have never been asked to prove it for a job. For a retail job, I would just lie about it. Like you say, it isn’t required.

Original poster
Dogonthebed · 02/09/2023 00:36

Depressing isn’t it? So much for all the tripe about rainbows and jigsaws!
I assume you have walked the same path as us and given up with all the crap people spout out to be inclusive and so called experts not older than my own children.
I hate all the bollocks virtue signalling

OP posts:
Original poster
Dogonthebed · 02/09/2023 00:38

Ah maybe I should 🤥 I would be terrified of being found out though!

OP posts:
justasking111 · 02/09/2023 00:45

There are jobs being advertised in our area. Said degree graduates needed. Turned out to be a cold calling centre commission based. The turnover in staff is very high because the commission is paid rarely and if you argue for it there's the door.

ShadyPaws · 02/09/2023 00:53

I'm the opposite, I have a degree but can't seem to get any further than min wage because for a 30k job they want about 5 years experience in that field and relevant qualifications plus a load of other stuff
What's the point in advertising for a trainee manager with.. management experience

user68997555098 · 02/09/2023 01:02

If it's just 'pref' a degree, but you fit the rest of the criteria, then I would apply.

Christ though. I have a degree but I think they have some cheek requiring a degree (in what, from where, how is it relevant to the role) for wages at that low level.

user68997555098 · 02/09/2023 01:04

Given the majority of young people HAVE degrees it's not dissimilar to asking for A levels when I was a teenager (a v low %, was it under 10% went to Uni late '70s?)

What is the percentage who go to university and have degrees now?

Though that number will start to fall, I suppose, over the next few years.

NerdyBird · 02/09/2023 01:12

The company I work for is actively removing the requirement to have a degree from many of the job roles. It's meant to increase diversity, but it's a fairly new thing for them so don't know if it's made a difference.

Catsmere · 02/09/2023 01:13

ShadyPaws · 02/09/2023 00:53

I'm the opposite, I have a degree but can't seem to get any further than min wage because for a 30k job they want about 5 years experience in that field and relevant qualifications plus a load of other stuff
What's the point in advertising for a trainee manager with.. management experience

It was like this in my job hunting days twenty years ago - job agencies wanted applicants to have degrees, have some years’ experience in the specific job (they had apparently never heard of transferable skills) AND they really wanted you to be seventeen, so you’d be on youth wages. All said job agency staff seemed to be twentysomethings to whom anyone over 30 was far too old to be considered.

Toomanylaughs · 02/09/2023 01:21

ShadyPaws · 02/09/2023 00:53

I'm the opposite, I have a degree but can't seem to get any further than min wage because for a 30k job they want about 5 years experience in that field and relevant qualifications plus a load of other stuff
What's the point in advertising for a trainee manager with.. management experience

It’s just typical employers wanting as much as they can get for very little and effectively underpaying people.

Their entry level jobs are often given to moderately experienced people who are just in need of some more experience.

I did a masters in a new field when I was 30 and despite having several years of work experience before my masters that was all dismissed and when I graduated I just had to start at graduate/entry level and even then I noticed a lot of the roles wanted experience in that particular industry.

Original poster
Dogonthebed · 02/09/2023 01:23

ShadyPaws, my DH recruits in a position that you absolutely need a degree for. It is a smaller company but pays well. He would rather see work ethic rather than a 1st. If you have a degree in the area you are applying, I would go for smaller established firms.

OP posts:
sofasofa42 · 02/09/2023 02:09

Are they saying BD as standard OR degree level. This is so different.
Degree level is considered 5 yrs plus in the work place at a clerical level. So not school leaver with 5 yrs experience at Tesco's for example.
Ignore the job descriptions. Apply and make sure you cv looks amazing. No waffle and no photo.

givemeasunnyday · 02/09/2023 02:49

I agree, it's ridiculous. None of the CEOs of the business I used to work for had degrees, they all worked their way up from the bottom, so to insist on a degree for a basic job is ridiculous, not to mention it cheapens degrees.

I can't see that anything learned in a degree course could benefit someone in a customer service job.

polokiss · 02/09/2023 02:54

I saw this trend emerging 10 + years ago even to get a cleaning or security position you needed some kind of qualification. I think as more and more people get these specialised degrees and qualifications then employers feel they can ask for it. I also notice that you usually need GCSE Math and English at a C or 5/4 for pretty much any job and loads of people do not have maths at that level.

Hollyhocksarenotmessy · 02/09/2023 03:05

RoomOfRequirement · 01/09/2023 23:11

Requiring a degree for a role like this shows the HR/Recruiting departments don't have a clue what they're doing. I have a couple high level degrees/certifications, but I also believe the obsession with Uni is becoming ridiculous. Not every job needs a degree and for many those with lived experience will do a much better job than a career student who has never lived in the real world.

Have you looked at the NHS? Many of their roles don't require a degree.

Don't blame us in HR - we are rarely the ones setting these requirements.

This week I had to persuade a Director to remove a degree requirement from a new role they've just created the JD for. Not necessary at all and they saw my point in the end, but a lot of Managers see it as a lazy way to say 'needs a bit of a brain'.

ThinWomansBrain · 02/09/2023 03:08

Apply anyway - with more mature applicants (sorry!) they will base the selection decision on your experience.

I have a professional qualification and an MSc now, but I was about 50 before I got the degree.
I've always applied for anything, despite most part and post qualified roles in my profession specifying that a degree is required (and most in my field will state degree plus prof. qualification).
I've never even bothered to reference the lack of a degree in my applications. Who knows, I may have been sifted out of the shortlist for that on some occasions, but I have a pretty high hit rate of being shortlisted, and it rarely came up as a question in interviews.

I went to a uni open day the other week to discuss doing a part time degree (my own interest rather than career related), and the professor I was speaking to jumped in straight away to suggest I'd be better off doing an MA rather than an undergraduate degree.