{"id":680,"date":"2023-12-13T15:54:43","date_gmt":"2023-12-13T15:54:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sense.hr\/blog\/?p=680"},"modified":"2023-12-13T15:54:44","modified_gmt":"2023-12-13T15:54:44","slug":"are-degrees-going-out-of-fashion-with-employers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/senseworkplace.com\/blog\/are-degrees-going-out-of-fashion-with-employers\/","title":{"rendered":"Are degrees going out of fashion with employers?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>For the last 50 years, the undergraduate degree has been considered the blue-ribbon qualification. Historically, graduates have generally been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.universitiesuk.ac.uk\/latest\/insights-and-analysis\/what-did-graduates-do-after-higher#:~:text=Comparing%20graduates%20and%20non%2Dgraduates&amp;text=Unemployment%20rates%20are%20also%20lower,to%20non%2Dgraduates%20in%202021.\">more employable than non-graduates<\/a> and have tended to earn more than non-graduates in the long term. But, in more recent times, the value of a degree is being questioned.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>It\u2019s not quite degree Armageddon but there\u2019s a significant downtrend in their importance to employers.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This <a href=\"https:\/\/insights.ise.org.uk\/selection-and-assessment\/blog-2-1-degrees-and-personality-tests-lose-favour\/\">report by the Institute of Student Employers (ISE)<\/a> published at the end of 2022, found that the number of people managers requiring a 2:1 degree as minimum entry criteria for graduate jobs has dropped to 48%. This is the first time in the history of the ISE survey that the percentage of employers requiring a 2:1 degree had dropped to less than half.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The report also showed that since 2013 people managers are increasingly advertising positions with no minimum requirements and the number of employers adopting this approach has grown sharply from 21% to 26% in the past year.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s not quite degree Armageddon, (as a 2:1 degree is still the most common requirement for graduate roles), but it is still a significant downward trend and a historical milestone in the importance of degrees to employers.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.onrec.com\/news\/news-archive\/entry-level-job-adverts-referencing-%E2%80%9Cdegree%E2%80%9D-drops-by-31-in-5-years\">Totaljobs have weighed in on the debate with a big data analysis<\/a> of over 365,505 job adverts, the results of which were press-released in August this year. They found that the proportion of entry-level jobs that reference a degree has declined by 31% since 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A desire for diversity and inclusion is leading employers to look outside the graduate box<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Even though it\u2019s not degree Armageddon, it\u2019s clear that degrees are not as fashionable as they once were with employers. What is the reason behind this trend?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.onrec.com\/news\/news-archive\/entry-level-job-adverts-referencing-%E2%80%9Cdegree%E2%80%9D-drops-by-31-in-5-years\">Julian Probst, European Labour Economist at Totaljobs <\/a>has provided some insights into their data analysis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u201cEmployers seeking to foster a diverse and successful working environment are looking beyond traditional talent pools, [Graduates] whether that\u2019s targeting varying socio-economic groups, different parts of the UK, or supporting those with less education through more practical onboarding programmes.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, a desire for greater diversity and inclusion is leading employers to look outside graduate talent pools. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marketingweek.com\/kellogg-drops-requirement-for-marketers-to-have-degrees\/-applicants\/\">We saw a specific example of this with Kellogg\u2019s UK<\/a> who in June this year announced that they have removed requirements for job applicants at their HQ to have a degree to make them a more \u2018inclusive\u2019 employer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Apparently, in 2022 they trialled hiring sales staff without degrees, and it was such a success they are rolling it out across the business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Chris Silcock Kelloggs UK MD said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u201cAt Kellogg we believe everyone should have a place at the table and by ditching the need to have a degree we hope more people from different backgrounds will consider Kellogg as somewhere for their career, not just those who went to university.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Are degrees properly preparing graduates for the workplace?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Also, <a href=\"https:\/\/startups.co.uk\/news\/graduates-unprepared-for-work\/\">recent research from tech start-up multiverse<\/a> suggests that 70% of senior people managers believe that the current higher education system is failing to give students the skills they need to thrive in the modern workplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Could this perceived lack of workplace readiness of modern graduates be contributing to corporate disillusionment with degree qualifications?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Qualification-blind recruitment is further diminishing the the value of a degree<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>We are seeing the emergence of the new phenomenon of qualification-blind recruitment which is further diminishing the value of a degree in hiring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.personneltoday.com\/hr\/graduates-degree-recruitment-candidates-qualification-expectations\/#:~:text=More%20than%20a%20third%20of,not%20miss%20out%20on%20talent.\">33% of HR professionals are planning<\/a> to adopt qualification-blind recruitment in the future, while at the same time placing greater reliance on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/carolinecastrillon\/2023\/02\/12\/why-skills-based-hiring-is-on-the-rise\/\">skills-based recruitment<\/a> and apprenticeships.&nbsp;Degrees will simply be excluded from some selection processes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">This is not about degree-bashing; education is a good thing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>We are not here to bash degrees, as education is a good thing and half of employers still rely on degrees for graduate-level job applications, so they remain important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But as HR professionals and people managers, we shouldn\u2019t ignore the fact that the industry at large does not attach as much importance to them as it once did.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is a growing belief that to build a more diverse, adaptable, and effective organisation, employers will need to recruit heavily from outside the orthodox graduate box to draw in a broader and more diverse set of skills and qualities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The number of employers requiring a 2:1 degree from candidates has dropped to less than half for the first time in history. Are degrees going out of fashion?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":681,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hr"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Are degrees going out of fashion with employers?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The number of employers requiring a 2:1 degree from candidates has dropped to less than half for the first time in history. 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