There was a recent media flurry where the esteemed Medic
& academic Robert Winston put his neck on the line saying that he actively
did not recruit individuals who had a First Class degree. His theory goes that he prefers more rounded
individuals who have spent their undergraduate years becoming people, being
involved in lots of different things – not just studying. It got me thinking on a number of levels and
specifically does degree classification and indeed do degrees matter in the
marketing sector.
As ever, there isn’t a clear answer to the question. It’s subjective and dependent usually on
either an organisational bias or personal feelings of the hiring manager.
I also believe in the marketing sector, that the degree
classification is largely only relevant in your first or perhaps second career
role. After that, it’s experience that
counts. However, don’t underestimate the
importance of getting the ‘right’ first role and for that reason, I do think
it’s important to come out of university with at least a 2.1. It gives you choices and options.
At my most fundamental level of thinking, I believe a First
class degree is never going to do you any harm. Most employers are impressed by
them. Equally a 2.1 is always considered
a good degree to have . Interestingly I see a lot of candidates with straight
As at A level come out of university with a 2.1 rather than a First (do they
slack off the academic stuff a bit once they are outside of parental control?!). Clients who do look at degree classification,
do tend to look down on a 2.2 or below and for a graduate entry role when
employers are looking at CVs, they would naturally go for someone with a 2.1
over a 2.2 with all other factors being equal. In this way, it can give you an
edge. Certain sectors can be more
selective than others. For example, Law or Accountancy firms will ALWAYS want a
2.1 and a CIM qualification. Conversely,
I’ve never come across a marketing agency who use the CIM qualification as a
selection criteria.
Many moons ago when I was an undergraduate, things were
different. We did degrees without any
real sense of what career path we were going to follow (obviously with the
exception of Medics, Vets & other vocational courses). In the old days, the
degree classification was all important as it demonstrated the ‘transferrable
skills’ of a candidate. As a Chemistry
graduate I routinely trotted out lines at interview that doing a solid
scientific discipline had given me great analytical skills, and that whilst I didn’t see myself as a
‘bench chemist’, I’d learned a whole range of other skills that would make me a
truly fantastic Marketeer! Incidentally, I had to work my absolute socks
off for a 2.1, Dr Winston’s model falls down a bit there as with over 35 hours
of lectures a week, I didn’t actually have much time for making me more
‘rounded’.
Fortunately (for me), many
moons ago, there weren’t the range of ‘modern’ degree courses in marketing,
media studies, PR, Events Management and various other marketing
disciplines. So for my first industry
role, I was a Marketing Assistant for a global chemical company. I was also fortunate that my first employer
put me through the CIM Diploma which enabled me for all future roles, to cite
my ‘marketing qualification’ at the same level of a Masters.
This strategy still works.
I have several clients who want candidates with the following:
1)
Good A level grades
2)
Attendance at a good/old school university
3)
Minimum 2.1 degree
I’ve never come across a client who only wanted people with
First class degrees so perhaps Dr Winston has a point! Generally clients want employees who are
bright, engaging and most importantly who have a commercial mind/outlook. This can make it tricky if you’ve done a
degree in something like History or English Literature. You won’t have done a work placement during
university so you will have to work hard to prove that you a) really want a
career in marketing and b) you can adapt to life in the commercial world. In the old days, during our university
vacations, it was enough to work in the local pub or hotel to enable us to say
we were ‘hard workers’. These days in
marketing specifically, if you don’t have some relevant work placement
experience, it is increasingly difficult to secure that first break. If you don’t have a marketing or business
degree and you don’t have any work experience in marketing, you’re going to
find it tough (not impossible though) to break into the sector.
So in response to Dr Winston. I would say that in the marketing sector,
you should strive for as high a degree classification that you are capable
of. University choice is still
important. If you go for a ‘new university’ do justify your choice with some
demonstration of why that course was right for you. For example Leeds Met is particularly good
for it’s PR Degree course but many employers are a little sniffy about the old
polytechnics. What I believe is
absolutely the most important factor is getting work experience. You should start thinking about this as early
as possible during your degree. Send out
letters directly to marketing departments, creative agencies, digital agencies
– whatever you are interested in. Ask
for a placement. Whilst most agencies do
pay their interns, it’s worth working for monkey nuts as ultimately this
experience will pay off. Get in touch
with your university careers service as soon as possible to find out if they
have any links to local marketing agencies or blue chip companies. Go to any
careers service talks or events which are being given by local businesses. I think if you focus on just getting a First
class degree first and a job second, you’ll find it tougher than someone who
got a 2.1 but who put a bit of time into researching local businesses and
getting some placement experience.
I’d like to finish this one by saying that I did have a
candidate who had parents who were both Doctors. She loved art and creative design but pleased
her parents and did a deal with them that she would do a science degree
(Pharmacology) and then review her career options. During her degree, she did make sure she kept
up her creative work and steadily built up a small but high quality
portfolio. She got a 2.1 in her degree
but knew at the end of it, she didn’t want to work in the field. She’d sent her mini portfolio to lots of
Manchester agencies and because there was quality work there and she had a
strong pitch, she got a couple of placements.
She is now working for a top London creative agency and is a very happy
bunny indeed. I think her parents are
happy that she is happy! I like this
story because it proves where there is a will, there is a way. If you want something enough, you can achieve
anything. There’s certainly not many
Graphic Designers out there with science degrees!
My absolute final point is that I think things will change
over the next few years with certain degrees becoming slightly less important. There are a few agencies now who have
training schemes aimed at A level finishers (admittedly mostly the big agencies
like McCann Erickson). You’ll need a lot of ambition and chutzpah to get
accepted onto one of these schemes but ultimately after 3 years with a great
company, you’ll have been earning and learning relevant skills at the same
time. Of course, you’d need to be
reasonably sure that you want to work in marketing and I’d also look into doing
CIM or a part time distance learning degree simultaneously (many of the agencies
do offer day release to do this) but it’s worth considering to get ahead.
Particularly with degree courses in say Public Relations. It’s a very practical
area of marketing and I’m not sure that ‘studying’ it for three years makes you
a better PR Account handler than someone who has been ‘doing it’ for three
years*. The most important thing whether
you go down the degree route or not, is getting relevant experience. I can’t
stress that enough.
*Views entirely my own!