I saw a LinkedIn post this week which to paraphrase was 'GCSE's don't matter'. The subsequent comments and opinions were extensive and extended to 'degrees don't matter'. As someone who has always been of the opinion that qualifications DO matter, I've been mulling it over in my head and as I was short of ideas for the April blog, thought I'd talk about it here.
To be fair, by the time CVs make it to my desk, any decisions over GCSEs, A Levels and degrees are long gone. And for my more senior candidates, it is definitely a 'truism' that experience counts more than qualifications. But the individual who wrote that original post declared that 'nobody ever remembers their own GCSE results'. Hmm. Well I do. I can remember each and every one of them, getting the results, telling my parents and ultimately the sheer pride in having got over what I then considered to be my first life hurdle.
Qualifications for me have always been about 'options'. I went on to do A levels, a degree and then a masters degree. They were right for me then and I can absolutely vouch for the life skills that came to me through gaining qualifications. Those qualifications definitely gave me options and then when I made the decision to move away from science, I did the CIM Marketing Diploma outside work hours which gave employers a firm demonstration of my commitment to a change in tack.
We will always be able to come up with examples of successful individuals who have made it in life without any formal qualifications. And that's great. It's certainly possible to access all kinds of careers without formal qualifications. But it's wrong for anyone to imply that employers do not look for qualifications or are not interested in qualifications. It's also quite offensive to anyone who has absolutely worked their socks off to gain qualifications - somehow diluting that achievement.
When my clients are recruiting graduates for junior agency roles or junior marketing positions, they don't have a lot to go on. So qualifications definitely come to the fore. Interestingly, it's A level results that seem to count the most and clients vary in how they analyse them. I've got some clients who like straight As but equally several appreciate that a state school pupil with 3Cs has had to work harder for them than the public school pupil with higher grades. Employers like hard workers, they like grafters. Employers ask questions where a straight A A level pupil has graduated with a 2.2 (what went wrong? Did they enjoy themselves a bit too much? What does that tell us about the individual?).
Choice of university is another key marker for employers. Degree subject too. It's still quite subjective - there are traditional employers who still like a strong academic subject choice from a red brick university...but there are also employers who rate the newer universities with their business and marketing focused courses. The newer universities tend to promote a year in industry as part of their business courses and this is absolute gold dust for a new graduate coming onto the job market. I can't stress enough how much difference getting a good work placement makes when searching for a role.
Of course the difference that young people face now is that they have to pay for their tertiary education. It's more important than ever to weigh up the pros and cons of doing a degree, and if you are going to do one, do one that will 'count'. I still maintain the value of a solid academic subject, particularly if the individual doesn't have a clear idea of what they'd like to do. Just doing a degree teaches you discipline, self-learning, personal responsibility and also gives you a chance to grow up a little bit - and those extra three 3 years of maturity allows you to discover a bit more about yourself and to have more of an idea of what you want to achieve in life. I appreciate that for some, this feels like a luxury given the sheer cost of the experience.
We have seen a rise in apprenticeships over the last 5 years. Most individuals are joining these schemes post A level and there are several success stories. Often, there are options for ongoing education to be achieved alongside work and I think we'll see more of this in coming years.
One of the commentators on that original social media post observed that they worked in social media....and that a degree in social media was absolutely useless. Well. I'm not actually sure that such a thing exists but their point was that by the time you'd completed a 3 year degree in that subject, technology would have moved on and your experience would be out of date. Yes, that's all true. Which is probably why those degrees don't exist. But also why a degree in say, Marketing is of value. Being taught to understand the value of brand planning, consumer marketing, the psychology of consumers etc - all that is very valuable in the workplace (the marketing workplace...).
In my day, there was always criticism of 'Mickey Mouse degrees' and I think that still exists - there are certainly some courses that I see advertised and I wonder how they are allowed to be promoted. After all, going to university has to give a graduate 'options' - real options that are of value to employers. They're also useful if you think you have a vocation....but then it turns out that you don't after all. I see a lot of individuals who have done a Law degree only to find after 3 years that they are very disillusioned and have no intention of following through into a career in law. That's fine - it's still a good degree and you still have options to do a whole host of other things with your life.
I don't know the real statistic but I think a high proportion of employers and courses for higher education require a minimum of Maths and English GCSE. For that reason alone, GCSEs are not pointless. Yes, you might turn out to be an innovator, an entrepreneur, someone who can talk about having been to the university of life but it doesn't hurt to have the basics of Maths and English. There are routes to success for everyone and they're not always the same but I remain a firm believer in having options!
The next post I saw was about 'does spelling matter'. That'll be another epic one from me too! Watch this space.