A recent government commissioned review has warned that recruiting companies which only accept graduates who have achieved a minimum degree classification of 2:1 are running the risk of contravening government set diversity requirements. The review which was conducted for the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills suggests that companies which limit their acceptance standards to the upper echelons of academic achievement are unfairly focussing their recruitment on graduates from an elite group of universities and consequently graduates from non-traditional backgrounds are not being given fair consideration.
The presumption which these companies are making is that a higher degree qualification or the more prestigious an institution someone graduates from, will directly translate to superior capabilities in the real world of employment. Professor Tim Wilson who is in charge of the recent review acknowledges some of the logic in this recruitment process but recognises its inherent problems, 'In the context of reducing the applications to manageable proportions this is understandable, but it has flaws.' Wilson goes on to note the discriminatory nature of this process, 'An algorithm that includes a profiling filter may reduce the selection task to manageable proportions and hence an acceptable cost, but it also has the potential to exclude graduates with skills profiles that are appropriate to company needs.' Companies which filter applications according to just academic achievement are ignoring equally important qualifications a graduate with lower academic qualifications might offer, including commitment to extra-curricular activities and personality types which may be perfectly suited to specific types of work.
The Telegraph estimates that in the current employment climate, three quarters of top employers use high academic grades as the minimum threshold for accepting candidates for an interview. Tim Wilson argues that this both 'militates against a widening access agenda' and is 'not necessarily consistent with a diversity agenda that the company may operate'. Whilst these concerns are entirely valid, there are fears that this review is advocating a reverse discrimination policy, in which companies are being guilt-tripped into foregoing excellent candidates for the sake of hitting diversity targets. If it is to be believed that better grades do indeed positively correlate with better work performance then this type of action which encourages the employment of less capable workers could have a negative effect on company productivity.
Business Secretary Vince Cable has declared that the government will 'carefully consider' the findings of the report and with increasing moves amongst universities for widening participation, it is likely that in the coming months several employment institutions will also come under scrutiny according to their recruitment processes.
