Which Uni or degree class

[stubiff]

I don't imagine this is written down anywhere per se, but which industries (their recruiters) would look at which Uni a candidate went to and which would just look for the best (with reason) degree class.

Engineering has been mentioned previously as an example of some Unis being strong in, or well regarded for.
IT, maybe, could be classed as one where which Uni doesn't matter so much?

Fast track civil service isn’t known for breadth of universities. Huge Oxbridge bias for decades.,

The issue of lawyers and English is interesting. They made the whole of the new SQE1 exam multiple choice as those with poor English were doing badly on the trial versions of it. Yet even so they have found not surprisingly a huge difference in pass rates based on if you are from abroad etc in the first results for it just out. 52% passed which rises to 66% for white candidates ( very similar to the 65% of white candidates to pass the existing LPC equivalent exam). The exam was taken in 26 countries.

"Data published by the SRA and Kaplan, the SQE assessment provider, showed no difference in the pass rates between men and women, with disability also making a negligible difference.

There was no significant difference between the performance of candidates who declared they went to non-selective state schools (57%) and those who went to a private school without a bursary (54%), or between those from a working class background (54%) and those with a parent or guardian from a professional background (56%).

However, two-thirds of those who attended a fee-paying school with a bursary (covering 90% of the costs) were successful, while there was a seven-point gap (58% v 51%) between those who had at least graduate parent and those who did not.

Other significant factors included achieving a top grade at university: 77% of those with a first-class degree passed, compared to 59% who had a 2:1 and 31% with a 2:2.

Some 57% of those with qualifying work experience – another element of qualifying as a solicitor –passed, but only 43% without it did.

Curiously, those who were already a qualified lawyer were less successful (48%) than those who were not (56%).

Although numbers were small (27 candidates), pass rates by solicitor apprentice candidates were well above average."
www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/race-disparity-remains-as-first-sqe-results-are-unveiled

I may have missed this, but was 'EAL' a category, or was 'white' taken as a proxy for 'English mother tongue'?

Also, slightly naughty, but presumably the % of Firsts who failed obtained their degrees from 'non-U' universities and the 2:2s who passed were graduates of 'U' ones?

I sit on the recruitment panel for my firm - global corporate finance. We recruit blind so I have no information as to the university the candidate went to.

@MarchingFrogs
2/2 grads probably won’t get jobs though. Recruiters have so many others to choose from.

[quote Xenia]The issue of lawyers and English is interesting. They made the whole of the new SQE1 exam multiple choice as those with poor English were doing badly on the trial versions of it. Yet even so they have found not surprisingly a huge difference in pass rates based on if you are from abroad etc in the first results for it just out. 52% passed which rises to 66% for white candidates ( very similar to the 65% of white candidates to pass the existing LPC equivalent exam). The exam was taken in 26 countries.

"Data published by the SRA and Kaplan, the SQE assessment provider, showed no difference in the pass rates between men and women, with disability also making a negligible difference.

There was no significant difference between the performance of candidates who declared they went to non-selective state schools (57%) and those who went to a private school without a bursary (54%), or between those from a working class background (54%) and those with a parent or guardian from a professional background (56%).

However, two-thirds of those who attended a fee-paying school with a bursary (covering 90% of the costs) were successful, while there was a seven-point gap (58% v 51%) between those who had at least graduate parent and those who did not.

Other significant factors included achieving a top grade at university: 77% of those with a first-class degree passed, compared to 59% who had a 2:1 and 31% with a 2:2.

Some 57% of those with qualifying work experience – another element of qualifying as a solicitor –passed, but only 43% without it did.

Curiously, those who were already a qualified lawyer were less successful (48%) than those who were not (56%).

Although numbers were small (27 candidates), pass rates by solicitor apprentice candidates were well above average."
www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/race-disparity-remains-as-first-sqe-results-are-unveiled[/quote]
I'm sure this wasn't your intention but your first paragraph seems to imply that anyone who is not white is "from abroad".

if they look at A levels anyway the actual university probably doesn't matter as people with AAA and above don't tend to go to uni's asking very low grades do they? (unless they have to go to a local place due to caring responsibilities.

We recruit blind so I have no information as to the university the candidate went to.

What else is 'hidden' about a candidate? The schools they attended? Their name?
What about school and University grades?

Really depends on the industry.

Politics at Hull for example offer a year in parliament - Hull is otherwise a bit of an average uni but going into something politics related it would make you stand out.

Psychology at Birmingham or Liverpool is actually an BSc (BPS accredited), at other similar universities it can be a BA, so while the level of uni is the same, its the type of degree the counts.

*information correct as of 5 years ago when I worked in this realm.

@Lilaclavenders

We recruit blind so I have no information as to the university the candidate went to.

What else is 'hidden' about a candidate? The schools they attended? Their name?
What about school and University grades?

In our process we have no interest in what school they went to. The initial application form does not ask for their name. We need their projected grades for their degree and the subject. We don’t need A level grades. It’s an online test, a day long observed group exercise, strength based in person interview and partner interview before we have a panel discussion to decide who to make graduate offers to. We have recruited from a range of Unis and some of our best did not go to Oxford, Cambridge or RG.

@Parker231
What percentage are from RG? For lots of top recruiters, these universities still outgun the other 100 plus.

Why would recruiters need to know what school a candidate attended?

[quote TizerorFizz]@Parker231
What percentage are from RG? For lots of top recruiters, these universities still outgun the other 100 plus.[/quote]
Last year in the U.K. I would guess it was 50:50. My best graduate trainee was from a couple of years ago and went to East Anglia - head and shoulders above anyone else in that year group. She is now going on a secondment to the New York office.

[quote TizerorFizz]@Parker231
What percentage are from RG? For lots of top recruiters, these universities still outgun the other 100 plus.[/quote]
it really does depend on what field you're in though. As a pp noted quite often these threads seem to focus on Law, which does favour Oxbridge and RG, but none of the members of my immediate family work in professions where which university you went to is even a consideration.

50/50 is heavily weighted towards RG. One great swallow does not a summer make.

Ok, let’s not get into whether one company’s recruitment methods are right or not. Parker’s is obviously, I assume, happy with the way they do it and the candidates and then employees they get.

And re the summer, if they had restricted to Oxbridge/RG they wouldn’t have got that candidate at all, regardless of whether you get 1 person or 50% by their way of doing it.

Interesting thread, OP. Hoping we get some more posts from people with experience of graduate recruitment in fields other than commercial law.

I have recently applied for a civil service role and was required to remove all information identifying my name, gender, age and educational institutions from my cv, due to their recruitment policy.

I have recruited a lot for the BBC and nobody cares which university people went to.

Sorry about moving it to law. The reason the new law exams are interesting is that one body only sets the exams and marks them -Kaplan so everyone whether from Sunderland University or Oxford who wants to be a solicitor passes exactly the same exams with the first such exam SQE1 being entirely multiple choice and specifically designed to try to ensure there is no unconscious bias in the exam questions.

(Yes, as someone noted above, I certainly did not mean to suggest British meant white and in fact in law as we are a bit better at equality and do things more on merit -can you pass the wretched exams etc - BAME people are slightly more over represented than in the general population. They are going to a study into why the BAME entrants did worse i the first SQE1 exams and I suspect it is because as it was taken in 26 countries it was an issue about non British people from different systems trying to pass UK exams rather than much to do with colour or race)

On schools a lot of the data collected is not passed to the interviewer and is just to gather background information for improving diversity purposes.

I have seen masses and masses of my twins' friends' linkedin profiles however and if recruiters are allowed to look at those then they will of course see whatever that student has chosen to put about themselves such as school attended, work experience etc. so if the recruiter thinks all rich people are thick as a plank and dreadful they might not hire that person or if they want someone who went to their old boarding school they could favour that. I suppose that is why to be fair employers make students go through so many long winded hoops before getting these jobs - in law eg paid week long full time work - vacation schemes and much else.

@stubiff
I totally accept that employers should look widely for recruits. I’m not saying RG only. Few companies think like that. I don’t see how you can extrapolate that from what I wrote.

What I’m saying is that citing one person, out of presumably quite a lot, doesn’t prove their recruitment methods produce different results from a company that knows everything about a candidate. If the results of not knowing info doesn’t change anything, it’s a hollow gesture. If if had produced overwhelmingly non RG or there was strong evidence recruitment patterns had changed over, say, 10 years, I would have more confidence that having little information actuality works in anyone’s favour. It’s fairly well documented that when employers have on line tests, observations, and interviews, skilled people from a small number of universities still get the lions share of the jobs: as 50:50 suggests.

I think what is interesting about the SQE is that it isn't MCQ in the usual sense. The answers are all correct answers but the candidate is asked to choose the best answer. Thus nuance of language may well have an impact.

@RampantIvy

In fact good English is needed for any public facing professional job.

I agree, and not just public facing. My background is copywriting, proof-reading and website content. Our copywriters absolutely must have good written English skills. I'm in Yorkshire, so it's a good job they don't write how they speak

There was someone on my PGCE who made me cringe whenever they opened their mouth, things like, "with my class we was looking at..."

I was surprised they didn't pick it up at interview and I do wonder if she has found work.

Government bodies (FCA, Bank of England).
High finance - investment banks, PE firms, etc.
Programming jobs (I cringe when people say ‘IT’) that require a strong theoretical background. Reason being most ‘lower ranked’ unis teach more practical skills. Like how to use a specific language instead of actual computer science (unlike higher ranked units).