INTERESTING news this week that financial services firm EY is preparing to remove academic qualifications from its entry criteria for job candidates.
The move, which will apply from next year onwards, follows an 18 month analysis of entry requirements by the Big Four accountancy firm.
From 2016 it will no longer require candidates to have a minimum number of UCAS points and a 2:1 university degree to apply for a job with the firm.
It is a welcome move by a global firm that may help bring more equality to the jobs market.
According to EY’s senior partner in Yorkshire, Stuart Watson, the firm has made the changes in a bid to attract the brightest and most talented individuals and believes it will better help it to find candidates from “a wider range of diverse backgrounds”.
It makes sense.
When did having a certain number of A levels or even a university degree actually tell you much about the quality of a candidate?
These days graduates applying for jobs tend to have a similar academic record – decent GCSE results, good A levels and then a degree.
When I was recruiting graduates I would always look at what they had done outside academia – work experience, holiday and weekend jobs, hobbies and interests – anything that gave you some insight into whether the candidate might have enthusiasm, initiative and work hard.
The one thing that would drive me mad would be the ‘candidate summary’ statement at the start of every CV.
I can understand why recruiters would add a summary about the relevance of an individual they are proposing for a particular job, but not why individuals embarking on their career write something in the third person about themselves that they think will sell them to a potential employer.
You know the kind of thing: “David is a diligent and hard working self-starter who is ambitious and motivated and works well in a team.”
As a description of me as an individual the words above couldn’t be further from the truth, but I’d write them at the top of my CV if I thought it gave me a better chance of getting a job.
But does a potential employer actually read them and take any notice of them?
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I WAS all set to write off the BBC’s latest attempt to produce a business programme – this time on children’s TV.
BBC Breakfast business presenter, Steph McGovern is to front a new business format for CBBC called Pocket Money Pitch which is a 10-part series to encourage young entrepreneurs and teach them about business.
Other than the odd decent documentary, the corporation doesn’t have a great track record delivering serious TV about business.
Dragons’ Den has its moments, but I’m sure most viewers tune in more to watch the unsuccessful attempts by floundering would-be entrepreneurs to convince the wealthy Dragons to invest in their ventures, than those that succeed.
And The Apprentice has now turned into a show that allows a group of fame-seeking show-offs to audition for a career in the media.
So that’s why I greeted the news about Pocket Money Pitch with a degree of cynicism.
But given that youngsters – whether it be in school or elsewhere – are rarely encouraged to see working for themselves as a potential career, then you have to welcome the BBC’s initiative to highlight the opportunities of entrepreneurship.
Each Pocket Money Pitch show will feature six young people aged between eight and 14 going head-to-head to pitch for a year’s worth of pocket money to invest in their idea.
They will meet and work with mentors to form their ‘Pocket Money Plans’ with the final show of the series revealing what happened next.
I for one will be watching it.
As long as it doesn’t clash with Rastamouse, Postman Pat and The Numtums on CBeebies.
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LAST time I went to a test match I think only one wicket fell all day and there was more to watch in the stands as the supporters consumed copious quantities of booze and attempted to construct ‘beer snakes’ from the plastic glasses before the stewards intervened.
Nothing could have been more different yesterday when I went with some old friends to the first day of the Ashes match at Trent Bridge in Nottingham.
Beer sales must have been well down before lunch as two Aussie wickets tumbled to Stuart Broad in the first over and then the rest of the team were skittled out before lunch.
Then Yorkshire pair Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow proceeded to help England build a big lead as the sun shone all afternoon.
If Carlsberg did cricket matches…
I think I needed such a performance to gee me up.
I had arrived at the ground feeling a little flat as one of my old school friends had asked me in a very loud voice in a packed train carriage, “why do you bother writing that rubbish blog, Dave, because no one reads it”.
Some delicate questioning revealed that he certainly never reads it and my offer of emailing him some of the highlights wasn’t greeted with the enthusiasm I hoped.
A trip to the bar was needed, where I bumped into a Yorkshire contingent of cricket fans including Dave Jones and Tom Flannery of Reward Finance.
Both claim to regularly read what I produce, so, needing some reassurance, I asked whether they enjoyed it.
“I do, Parky, but you always use my jokes and stories and claim they are your own, sort it out fella,” said Dave, who could never be described as a shrinking violet.
As plants go, he’s more of a Triffid.
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LAST week’s piece about working men’s clubs brought this memory from Ian Price:
“A friend of mine played in a band in the sixties and they played a working men’s club in Wakefield. After trying for an hour to rock up a storm while the audience largely ignored them, the lead guitarist concluded with the triumphant, rock-icon cry of, ‘Goodnight Waaaakefield!! You’ve got a great Halford’s!’”
Have a great weekend.
….well I certainly read your Blog David and long may it continue. Love the blend of hard hitting, make you think commentary interspersed with laugh out loud humour. Totally agree with the piece around qualifications, I have done work with some of the kids at Thornhill Academy ( Educating Yorkshire ) and whilst some of them will not go to University they demonstrated to me an enthusiasm and willingness to listen and learn which will serve them well…..given the right opportunities.
Keep up the great work.
Parki – where were you when I needed you.
I was ejected out of the ground by 14 (yes 14) stewards merely because I gave somebody the Richard Head sign as a result of him acting like an idiot all afternoon. The 14 stewards accosted me and asked me to leave the ground. They said the offensive gesticulation that they had witnessed was sufficient to ask me to leave. I asked them how could you eject somebody who was already leaving (the last ball had just been bowled) especially if you were only 20 yards from the exit. The 14 stewards looked at each other and could not come up with a suitable retort. Hence I left with my dignity intact and my good character untarnished.
I did say to them though that they should concentrate their efforts on throwing out camp men with horrendous coloured polo shirts who unbelievably think it is fashionable to wear their collar up. The 14 stewards agreed with me and and then set off in your direction.